• 3 Kikinamage Mikan, QC

  • 819 449 5170 ext 1800

Awazibi

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Welcome to Awazibi Pure Maple Syrup!

The making of maple syrup has been a First Nation's right-of-spring since time immemorial. It is with great pride that Kitigani Zibi is able to produce pure maple syrup on a commercial scale. 

Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg's community owned business "Awazibi Pure Maple Syrup" marked its first decade of operation with an expansion of the facility. It has grown from a 57 hectare maple hardwood area to 90 hectares and increased from 11,500 taps to 16,500 taps. The expansion necessitated the installation of 75 kilometres of food grade tubing with extensions to the main building, pumping station and the addition of two small shelters.

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Maple Syrup:
Maple syrup is a natural product with no colouring agents or additives. It is produced from the sap of the sugar maple. In the springtime, when the temperatures warm up, there is water in the trunk and roots. The heat promotes the expansion of this water and creates pressure inside the tree. The sugar maple then transforms starch, built up during the tree’s growth, into sugar. The switch between cold nights, where temperatures fall below zero, and days where temperatures rise above zero, promotes the flow of sap which is transported through tubing to the sugar house.

The First Nation people were the first people to create and produce maple syrup, which can be expected since they were the first inhabitants of North America, and this is the only part of the world in which maple syrup can be made. If you think about everything that is needed to make maple syrup, the proper season, the proper tree, all the boiling, it makes you wonder how anyone ever thought to try it.