Newport is becoming a big name in maple syrup, with Clarks, which is based in the city, selling 129,886 bottles of its maple syrup on Shrove Tuesday alone in 2016 - which is two bottles per second.

The firm, which is based at Queensway Meadow Industrial Estate, Newport, last year saw 392,717 bottles (77,579 litres of maple syrup) sold in the week leading up to last year's Pancake Day.

The firm, which was set up in 2008 by Bob Clark, now has more than 50 per cent of the UK maple syrup market, which in total is worth £17m.

The firm increased turnover by 24 per cent in 2016 and with total sales up by more than 25 per cent for the first quarter of this financial year (financial year runs from August-July).

And this year it is celebrating its busiest time of year by launching the UK’s first red maple syrup, which is tapped during the short red maple harvest in Quebec during early spring. Supply of this pure Canadian syrup is limited and unique to the UK.

Clarks employs 35 people at its factory on the Queensway Meadow Industrial Estate and supplies all major UK retailers, as well as the wholesale / foodservice sector and currently exports to 14 countries.

Speaking about the newest addition to the Clarks range, founder and managing director of Clarks, Bob Clark said: “Our skilled farmers in Canada introduced me to the syrup of the red maple tree. Its flavour is butter-like, richer and more complex – different from the syrup of the sugar maple tree that we are all so familiar with – meaning it lingers on the taste buds.

“The maple syrup market continues to perform extremely well and is currently worth around £17m in the UK. Clarks remains far and away the leading authority with more than 50 per cent of the volume of the total market.

“We’re very excited to be introducing special reserve red maple to UK supermarkets and it’s the perfect opportunity to offer our consumers this new flavour as we approach our busiest time.