Sugar Maple Sap

André de Thévet, a French explorer and historian, claimed the discovery of sap in sugar maple trees. In André Thévet’s North America: A Sixteenth Century View, Thévet credits himself for the discovery of the sweet tasting sap in 1557, however the Haudenosaunee had already been processing the sap as a sweetener. This false account by Thévet is an example of how Europeans adopted Haudenosaunee practices without acknowledging them as such. The Haudenosaunee and other Native Americans had already been tapping sugar maple trees for sap and refining the sap into a more concentrated product for years. The lack of credit given to the Haudenosaunee for creating this practice reduces their impact on Adirondack culture today.

1557