Answer: Maple Syrup

In the 19th century, the group of people opposing the continuation of slavery in the United States, known as abolitionists, found themselves in an ethical and political quandary for which the most practical solution was none other than maple syrup.

At the time, the vast majority of sweeteners, principally cane sugar and molasses, were produced by slave labor in the American South and the Caribbean. In order to both avoid using sweeteners that were unethically produced and infusing any money into an economy supported by slave labor, abolitionists turned to using sweeteners from other sources. The most abundant solution for Northerners, for want of a climate to grow their own sugar cane in, was maple syrup and maple sugars, extracted, naturally, from the maple trees abundant in the American Northeast and Canada.