Wild foods gave variety and flavour to the Iroquois diet. This trough was used in collecting sap from maple trees. The maple was viewed by the Iroquois as a special gift from the Creator. Sometimes the sap was simply consumed as a beverage. It is also reported to have been fermented to make vinegar. Most often, though, it was boiled to produce a thick syrup, or with further boiling, a sugar for sweetening foods. Empty quail or duck eggs were filled with syrup to sustain travellers on a journey.
The Iroquois used elm bark to construct the vessels (and other things such as canoes and houses) since they lived south of the range of the birch tree.
Courtesy: Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museums of Canada (S86-375)
