When the first Europeans settled in Canada, the American Indians had already discovered the secret of maple sap. It is in the beginning of the 18th century, that our ancestors began to seriously consider this product. They used to drill a hole in the tree trunk to insert a grooved cedar wedge that let the sap flow into a wooden bucket. In the beginning, people limited their production to their personal needs. Because, at that time, refined sugar was rare and expensive, the first settlers used maple syrup to produce hard blocks of sugar that could be preserved for a year. In the 19th century, when the maple industry became more profitable, the producers progressively acquired better equipment and kept enlarging their maple groves.