Maple syrup is made by collecting sap from maple trees in a sugarbush, mainly in northeastern North America, though it can be made wherever suitable species grow, including efforts in New Zealand. Trees are usually tapped from age 30 to 40, and each can support one to three taps depending on trunk size. An average tree gives 35 to 50 litres of sap per season, up to 12 litres a day, when temperatures are above freezing. Sucrose stored in the roots over winter rises through the trunk as sugary sap. Tapping usually lasts four to eight weeks in late winter and spring. Climate change is shifting the season earlier, while warm summers lower the sugar content and drought or heavy rain affects forests.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.