Tin cans were used to store a variety of different foods, and in this case, it was used to package maple syrup for either personal use or to sell commercially. If the syrup was stored too long in the tin can, it would take on a slightly metallic flavor and therefore was not the best material to use for this purpose.
Maple syrup production is one of the few agricultural processes in North America that was not a European import but learned from the Native Americans in New England. Sap is typically collected from the Sugar, Red or Black maple, though it can be collected from other tree types. Northeastern North America is the most common area for maple syrup production, with Vermont, New York and Maine leading production in the U.S. Once the sap is collected, it must be boiled down to reduce the water content. It can require anywhere from 20-50 liters of sap to make one liter of syrup, depending on the sugar content of the sap. Each tree is capable of producing 35-50 liters of sap.
Chuck Williams, the founder of a successful chain of retail stores (Williams-Sonoma) specializing in kitchenware and household furnishings, began his work in Sonoma, California in 1953. He brought professional and restaurant quality cookware, marketed through mail order catalogues and high design stores, to an American market that looked beyond its domestic roots for food and cookware. Williams, a great home cook, used the products he brought to an American audience including his original Cuisinart and several other models. Williams eventually gave this one, c. 1978, to the Smithsonian.
American inventor Carl Sontheimer developed the Cuisinart food processor as a more domestic version of the semi-industrial French Robot Coupe. In contrast to classic French techniques that call for everything to be prepared painstakingly by hand, the food processor quickly dispatches all the beating, pounding, mixing, mincing, and sieving common to “La Technique.”
Sontheimer gave Cuisinarts to Julia Child and to Chuck Williams, who began selling the machine in his stores. When Julia Child demonstrated cooking around the country, she carried her new favorite cooking tool with her, increasing its exposure to home cooks. When Julia used it, cooks then demanded it, and entrepreneurs like Williams provided these new things that Julia and others had inspired new cooks to use. The regularly improved versions have been best-selling kitchen appliances since their introduction in the early 1970’s.
