Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wonder if Canadians argue about maple syrup the way some Americans feel about BBQ sauce?

There's a fascinating episode of Rotten on Netflix (I think it was Rotten) that went over a maple syrup scandal. It was eye opening to just how much control and regulation goes on for maple syrup.

I wouldn't say Americans feel a certain way about BBQ sauce because that's just a small part of BBQ. But regional styles? Oh yeah that gets people going

This meme has been a favorite of our social circle:

 

[Buzz Rules]

There's a fascinating episode of Rotten on Netflix (I think it was Rotten) that went over a maple syrup scandal. It was eye opening to just how much control and regulation goes on for maple syrup.

I wouldn't say Americans feel a certain way about BBQ sauce because that's just a small part of BBQ. But regional styles? Oh yeah that gets people going

This meme has been a favorite of our social circle:
View attachment 613914

In the northeast, we all think we have the best apple cider and apple cider doughnuts. I think my area has the best but that’s just me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My original point when replying to this thread was to say North Carolina doesn't just have one type of sauce. The two regions have very different sauces.

That's totally fine. But you used KC to say WNC is similar to that which they aren't (in a variety of ways). If your point was just to say "hey Carolina is not just 1 type it's these types and here's the differences" well say that.

I'm not as passionate about the topic as you appear to be, so I'm going to let this go.

Well you sorta decided to try and school me (just as I did to you) on the styles so I guess you felt something..

Google isn't always the best source of info. WNC's sauce is sweet & spicy sauce with a tomato base.

Well it appears to show quite a lot of vinegar stuff. You said WNC didn't have vinegar. It does. That doesn't mean that the kind you prefer has vinegar much like how I can find vinegar based ones here but prefer molasses. And it's totally fine to have a tomato base but in what world does that make the styles or sauces similar? So much difference even if at times there are shared ingredients. That's like talking about a base recipe for chili and saying everyone's is similar because there's overlap in basic ingredients; people make it their own and they can taste completely different. Oooh that's another topic how one does chili (thin, thick, spicy, smoky, chunks of tomato, what kind of beans (or sans beans entirely), etc Do Canadians have chili or like what we have here??

 

[Frozen Canuck]

In the northeast, we all think we have the best apple cider and apple cider doughnuts. I think my area has the best but that’s just me.

Well, unless you are getting them at The Apple Haus in Long Grove, Illinois, then you are wrong. (Yeah, not exactly in the northeast, but they are still the best apple cider donuts of any that I have ever had in my life, and I have lived in both the Pacific northwest and New England.)

 

[tarheelmjfan]

That's totally fine. But you used KC to say WNC is similar to that which they aren't (in a variety of ways). If your point was just to say "hey Carolina is not just 1 type it's these types and here's the differences" well say that.
Well you sorta decided to try and school me (just as I did to you) on the styles so I guess you felt something..
Well it appears to show quite a lot of vinegar stuff. You said WNC didn't have vinegar. It does. That doesn't mean that the kind you prefer has vinegar much like how I can find vinegar based ones here but prefer molasses. And it's totally fine to have a tomato base but in what world does that make the styles or sauces similar? So much difference even if at times there are shared ingredients. That's like talking about a base recipe for chili and saying everyone's is similar because there's overlap in basic ingredients; people make it their own and they can taste completely different. Oooh that's another topic how one does chili (thin, thick, spicy, smoky, chunks of tomato, what kind of beans (or sans beans entirely), etc Do Canadians have chili or like what we have here??

I didn't try to school you at all. I said WNC bbq was more similar to KC style than it is to ENC bbq. It is. I'm a bit baffled on why that's appears to be an insult to KC bbq. You can continue your debate, but I'm done. It's bbq sauce. It's not something that I care enough about to continue a seemingly never ending back & forth conversation.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In the northeast, we all think we have the best apple cider and apple cider doughnuts. I think my area has the best but that’s just me.

lol there's a bit of that too here but only really between 2 places.

Louisburg Cider Mill and Dunn's Cider Mill both having been opened in 1977.

Sadly due to covid Dunn's last year and this year did not do apple cider and instead have only done doughnuts and it's a quick drive-thru (by that I mean a stand out front not an actual window) operation; it took us 30mins last time we went to get through the line it was so long. But Dunn's cider is not pasteurized and are pressed using wooden mashers and steel basins (that's from their website) so the shelf life is quite short. I grew up going to Louisburg as many people did because it was a common field trip destination (you can watch through a window how doughnuts are made) plus I grew up on their Lost Trail Rootbeer. But when I met my husband even though he also grew up going to Louisburg his family started preferring Dunn's and I got introduced to that. Dunn's is also a very short seasonal operation only open mid-to-late September closing mid-November at the latest. Checking out their FB page this year they closed on October 9th due to running out of supplies. Louisburg on the other hand is more year-round and has a lot more to it so more of a day destination than a quick stop like Dunn's is.

I will say not cider related but the best sour cream doughnut I had was in Lusby, MD (I think that was technically still Lusby) when my husband was living there for a project. It was in a place that served coffee and doughnuts on half of the place and the other half of the place was an ice cream shop. The coffee and doughnuts were soooo reasonable in price and quite good. Just haven't found a place that has that good of sour cream ones since.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm a bit baffled on why that's appears to be an insult to KC bbq.

Not quite an insult just not actually really correct. Only thing I can figure is your definition of similar is extremely different than mine I suppose.

You can continue your debate, but I'm done.

Okay

 

[fab1976]

I wonder if Canadians argue about maple syrup the way some Americans feel about BBQ sauce?

I wouldn’t say we argue about maple syrup but did you know there are different grades of maple syrup? It’s been a couple years since I went to a maple syrup place but they vary in colour and taste. I can’t remember what makes them different, maybe the amount of time they boil the sap for?

 

[FigmentSpark]

I don't argue about Maple Syrup... I just hide the good stuff from my heavy pouring DS and DH. Yep, I suck, as a wife and mother. I know.

 

[declansdad]

I wonder if Canadians argue about maple syrup the way some Americans feel about BBQ sauce?

Much more of a maple sugar and maple butter person than maple syrup.

The day after Christmas though is historically more seen as the return day but there's also sales that go on especially holiday-oriented items.

Not here, Boxing Day is a holiday.

 

[bcla]

I wouldn’t say we argue about maple syrup but did you know there are different grades of maple syrup? It’s been a couple years since I went to a maple syrup place but they vary in colour and taste. I can’t remember what makes them different, maybe the amount of time they boil the sap for?

The USDA grades for maple syrup have changed over the years. The original reason for them wasn't about maple flavor or quality, but about how neutral they would be as a substitute for table sugar. The lighter flavors were actually considered the higher grades. It has to be collected and boiled to concentrate the sugars, but it's my understanding that raw maple sap is very thin and nothing like maple syrup. Also - the lighter grades are usually taken earlier in the season, but the darker grades are usually from tapping later in the season. Boiling it longer isn't going to change the grade as it will eventually solidify once all the water is boiled off. It's about how concentrated the maple flavor is going to be once it's boiled down to a uniform sugar concentration.

I personally liked grade B because it had an intense maple flavor.

Frankly the best maple syrup I've tried was some I got from Wisconsin. For some reason Quebec has cornered the market, but I've heard that they're terrified at the possibility that New York state might threaten their position since there's a lot more trees, even though there isn't as much of a tradition of maple syrup collection/production as Vermont or Quebec.

https://www.localharvest.org/blog/49430/entry/new_york_state_maple_syrup

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not here, Boxing Day is a holiday.

Sorry I thought it was evident I was referring the U.S.

I know what Boxing Day is, the post was about not thinking Americans celebrate it, we don't but it's similar to our Black Friday, to the U.S. the day after Christmas is a big return day although shopping does occur. I was not discussing Boxing Day when I made the return comment but rather what December 26th means to Americans historically speaking.

 

[E&Cmom]

As someone who grew up in Quebec and have wonderful memories of going to the Sugar Shacks, it is good real maple syrup for me. I have never had table syrup in my home either as a child or adult.

 

[ronandannette]

As someone who grew up in Quebec and have wonderful memories of going to the Sugar Shacks, it is good real maple syrup for me. I have never had table syrup in my home either as a child or adult.

Growing up in remote northern Alberta, Quebec maple syrup was a practically mythical thing and the rarest of treats. This was our staple, refined from sugar beets grown on the Prairies and in BC.

 

[E&Cmom]

Growing up in remote northern Alberta, Quebec maple syrup was a practically mythical thing and the rarest of treats. This was our staple, refined from sugar beets grown on the Prairies and in BC.
View attachment 613958

We have the British version of Lyle’s Golden Syrup which DH ( British parents) uses on toast and steamed puddings. For waffles, pancakes, French toast, etc we get Maple syrup from Costco as well as the Summer land fruit syrups from here in BC.

 

[tvguy]

In the northeast, we all think we have the best apple cider and apple cider doughnuts. I think my area has the best but that’s just me.

I always think of apples as a west coast crop. I guess half all the apples are grown in Washington State.

 

[adkkev]

I always think of apples as a west coast crop. I guess half all the apples are grown in Washington State.

Very true. Here in upstate NY most stores carry mostly NYS apples except in the case of red Delicious apples (and maybe Granny Smith).

 

[ronandannette]

We have the British version of Lyle’s Golden Syrup which DH ( British parents) uses on toast and steamed puddings. For waffles, pancakes, French toast, etc we get Maple syrup from Costco as well as the Summer land fruit syrups from here in BC.
View attachment 613959

My childhood pre-dates Costco by about a million years but those fruit syrups have been around forever, haven't they? DH still buys them (at ridiculous prices in little souvenir shops or even at YVR) whenever he's in BC. Are they available in regular grocery stores there?

An interesting thing about golden syrup - it is a very British and Canadian thing and there is apparently no American equivalent unless you count corn syrup, which is quite different. A baking and tabletop staple since the 1800's; it may be the reason we dodged the HFCS bullet. Due to our climate, corn has not historically been grown as a cash crop in Canada so our sweets are made out of actual sugar.

 

[E&Cmom]

My childhood pre-dates Costco by about a million years but those fruit syrups have been around forever, haven't they? DH still buys them (at ridiculous prices in little souvenir shops or even at YVR) whenever he's in BC. Are they available in regular grocery stores there?

An interesting thing about golden syrup - it is a very British and Canadian thing and there is apparently no American equivalent unless you count corn syrup, which is quite different. A baking and tabletop staple since the 1800's; it may be the reason we dodged the HFCS bullet. Due to our climate, corn has not historically been grown as a cash crop in Canada so our sweets are made out of actual sugar.
View attachment 613996

Interesting!

We get the fruit syrups at a local farm market. I haven’t looked in the grocery store so not sure. We also went to the Okangan last summer and went to the actual Summerland farm and bought some of the flavours that we haven’t seen here. I love the Apple Pie one.

 

[Aladora]

Canadians, what Canadians cultural trait would you like see Americans adopt and what American cultural trait would you want your country to adopt?

Probably how polite we are. Also, calling it a washroom instead of restroom. I mean, when you use the facilities you wash your hands but who actually rests in there?

As someone who grew up in Quebec and have wonderful memories of going to the Sugar Shacks, it is good real maple syrup for me. I have never had table syrup in my home either as a child or adult.

I grew up in the Ottawa valley and loved going to the sugar shack every year. Here in BC maple products are SO expensive!