Another Maple Post

It seems I forgot I was doing a maple post for BlogHer this week, too.  You can never have too much maple, I say.  Here's the abbreviated version (recipe links are in the original).

Sugar maples.  Who would have thought that a simple tree could provide us with one of the most amazing gifts in the whole wide world?  I mean, besides paper.  Oh, and shelter.  Shade.  Oxygen.

No, I’m talking about maple syrup.  The real stuff.  Liquid gold.

Do you ever wonder how the Native Americans figured out that if you make a hole in a tree, sap will come dripping out?  (Or are the Pilgrims going to take the credit for that, too?)  I have my own theories about this discovery and they involve spontaneous bow and arrow skirmishes between restless adolescent natives who complained that nothing exciting ever happened.  Just wait, said the tribal elders.  Excitement is on the way.  And while you’re waiting, boil that sap.

Sugaring season begins when the weather fluctuates from freezing cold at night to warmer, non-freezing temperatures during the day.  The change in pressure causes the sap to flow, usually at the end of February and often through most of the month of March.  Here in Massachusetts, the trees are already being tapped, clear sap pooling in galvanized buckets across the state.  Sap is about 2% sugar, with water comprising most of the rest of the volume.  Evaporators are often used to boil off the excess moisture.  It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, which explains its price point. 

Personally, I grew up on Aunt Jemima Lite.  At some point, I graduated to Log Cabin.  Once I actually tasted real maple syrup, I found it to be too sweet.  Still, I was intrigued enough by the flavor to start mixing one part real maple syrup to one part of the fake stuff in those squeeze bottles you often see at diners.  Now I have to take it straight.  Four or five shot glasses over pancakes or sweet potatoes.  My personal goal is to try out all the different grades to see which one I like best.  It takes a while.  Those jugs last forever.

So, why would you want to switch from maple-flavored corn syrup to actual pure maple syrup that costs ten times the price during the recession?  I don’t really know how to answer that.  Like honey, maple syrup is one of the great culinary treasures of the natural world.  Sometimes you just have to treat yourself.

Comments

[NurseJen]

As with butter and whole milk, I was raised on the real stuff. Never could abide "table syrup." I use it (maple, not fake) for all kinds of stuff besides breakfast. Try stuffing squash with rice and sausage and drizzling the whole thing with maple syrup, baking it until it's brown and crusty on top...

[Sally]

I imagine an animal found it first, weeping from a hole or break in the tree trunk. Then some enterprising Indian decided to sample it himself since it didn't kill the bear. However it was done, we are the richer for its discovery.

And NurseJen's squash sounds fabulous!

[Tammy]

Sally: That's a more plausible explanation, I expect.

NurseJen: I was raised with whole milk, but with fake syrup and margarine. Now I'm making up for lost time. Love your stuffed squash concept (except for the squash part).

[Jess]

Grade B maple syrup is cheaper and has more maple flavor. It is also not so cloyingly sweet.