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BS: Maple Syrup recipes?
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Subject: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Morticia Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:13 PM Animaterra was good enough ( bless her warm heart) to send me some real New Hampshire maple syrup. Now, this is a serious luxury over here where you have to take out a mortage to buy a small jar of it. So, aside from pancakes,are there any other good recipes/ ways of using it that I wouldn't know about?And can you hurry because I'm eating it with a spoon at the moment and that seems a bit of a waste but my word, is it good! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Joe Offer Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:27 PM Hi, Morticia - try syrup and a dab of butter on oatmeal. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Morticia Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:28 PM oatmeal=porridge,Joe? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Burke Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:31 PM Pancakes & waffles are the main thing. You could put it over ice cream with nuts. Any place you use other sweetners - over fruit, porridge (now that's a waste). I haven't tried in in tea or coffee, so I'm not sure. Eating it straight it fine (I usually use my finger), that's just liquid maple sugar candy. It's too sweet for you to eat too much at a time. Follow it with milk. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jeri Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:32 PM You can always put it on ice cream, or click here for recipes. Have fun, Morticia! (Wonder if it would make something like mead...) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Morticia Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:38 PM Oh boy! Thanks everyone ...( can be heard singing to herself) Have yourself a sticky little christmas..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jon Freeman Date: 13 Dec 00 - 06:42 PM Morticia, I went through a pot of pure New Hampshire maple syrup a spoonful at a time (not all in one go though) and did not consider it to be a waste - I loved every mouthfull. I have a second jar that I have managed to resist opening and am taking that to my parents when I visit them at Christmas. My mum is almost sure to wan't to try some recipe which uses it. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Willie-O Date: 13 Dec 00 - 09:02 PM Put it in coffee. But not in tea. (Some kinda weird flavour conflict). The main reason for making maple syrup is so you can put it in your java 365 days a year. That's my excuse anyway. Wonder why they don't make it "over there"--you have maple trees don't you? You can also make syrup from birches. I know someone who makes a maple mustard. Hear its pretty good. Willie-O |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jon Freeman Date: 13 Dec 00 - 09:11 PM Willie-O, I would really like to know why we don't. I belive that maple is what we call sycamore in the UK. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: MMario Date: 13 Dec 00 - 09:14 PM it's possible that the weather conditions don't cooperate in the UK |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Bob Bolton Date: 13 Dec 00 - 09:16 PM G'day Jon & Wille-O, Perhaps it is a climatic / regional thing. I do seem to remember reading once that the Scots used to make a wine from their local maple syrup. Maybe they just aren't telling the Sassenach about it! Regards, Bob Bolton (down in the Antipodes, where maples don't grow at all) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Little Neophyte Date: 13 Dec 00 - 09:22 PM I hear in Japan they make a 'To Die For' Bonsai Syrup. Hard to find though and very expensive. Little Neo |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Hotspur Date: 13 Dec 00 - 10:01 PM We have sycamores (Platanus spp.) too, they're not the same as maples (Acer spp.) But only sugar maples really produce enough sap to make syrup, and they require very cold temperatures and heavy snow for an optimum "sap run." So I suspect you folks in the UK don't have cold enough weather to make sugar maples happy. Recipes: I like to put it on pieces of baked or roasted winter squash, such as Hubbard or acorn. Or drizzle on top of baked apples. I'm personally very fond of maple syrup on top of bread, instead of jam or butter. There's also maple snow, which we make with, well, snow, but you can use shaved ice too. You just heat the syrup until it is very warm, drop onto snow or ice, and let cool. Then eat like candy. MMMMM! Hotspur-who-is-in-the-midst-of-syrup-country |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jon Freeman Date: 13 Dec 00 - 10:13 PM I think I go along with the climate explainations but maybe we have the wrong variety of sycamore/maple tree too. I'm sure we would be making it if it was possible. Hotspur, I have just looked it up in my dictionary (Chambers 20th Century English). Our sycamore is the great maple (Acer pseudo-platanus). Your sycamore is what we would call a Plane (Platanus). Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: sophocleese Date: 13 Dec 00 - 10:21 PM Well after reading another thread which mentioned Yorkshire pudding I developed a serious craving and made myself some within the hour. They tasted delicious with a little butter and maple syrup. I also make hazelnut/maple syrup tartlets which disappear with great speed. Here's the recipe.
I cup packed golden brown sugar pastry, whatever recipe you like to use for basic pie or tart pastry, shouldn't be sweetened. Preheat oven to 450F. Beat sugar, syrup, butter and flour in a medium bowl to blend. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Mix in the nuts. Let filling stand while you prepare the tartlet shells. Roll out pastry dough and cut into 16 rounds of about 3 and 1/4 inches. Fit the rounds into lightly greased, 1/3 cup sized muffin cups, pressing them lightly on the bottom and partially up the sides. Spoon 2 tablespoons of filling into each shell. Remember to scrape from the bottom a bit as the nuts sink. Bake until the filling browns and a crust forms on the top, approx. 12 minutes. Cool completely,run small sharp knife around muffin cups to loosen tartlets then turn them out. They can be stored, right side up, in an airtight container for no more than two days. Best eaten really fresh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jon Freeman Date: 13 Dec 00 - 10:42 PM Sophoclese, I think I will stick with roast beef, gravy, etc with the Yorkshires but maybe I'll give it a go. As for the tartlets, I think that has become the one I will try to persuade my mother to make they sound delicious. Hotspur mentioned "syrup country". I know some posters here are in Canada and that mine (from Jeri) came from New Hampshire. Can someone give me an idea of how much of North America is "syrup country"? Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: paddymac Date: 14 Dec 00 - 12:45 AM One of my lads reported roasting a ham on the grill for turkey-day (Thanksgiving). He said that he basted it often with a mixture of maple syrup and coca cola. He's never been one to especially enjoy cooking, but he couldn't stop raving about how good the coke/syrup thing was on the ham. I haven't tried it myself yet, but surely will next time I bake a ham. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Morticia Date: 14 Dec 00 - 07:51 AM Sophocleese, what does a cup translate to, roughly? I plan on trying all of these things until the syrup runs out........then you will hear me whining all the way over there in syrup country......which conjures up a great picture of people with their feet squelching on the sidewalks :) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Allan C. Date: 14 Dec 00 - 08:22 AM Morticia, here is a good site which gives measurement conversions: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Willie-O Date: 14 Dec 00 - 08:46 AM Jon et al: Maple Syrup is produced in the northeastern quarter of North America, specifically central & southern Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, New England, New York, and some of the other northeastern states. The sugar maple is acer saccharum, also known as hard maple. It grows well on the thin Canadian Shield soils which predominate here in Lanark County, the designated "Maple Syrup Capital Of Ontario". It takes about 40 gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of syrup, it's not a terribly complicated process but the logistics are tricky the more you're trying to make, cause you'll get these terrific huge runs of sap which you need to be ready to transport, store and process quickly before it spoils. (Sap turns bad in a few days if not boiled, unlike the syrup which keeps very well.) A single tap (i.e. a spile placed in a tree) will produce a gallon or two of sap per day when there's a good run on. Last year I had 60 taps, gathered all by hand, buckets & pickup truck. (I don't have a tractor). Made 8 gallons syrup, a good crop for me. Commercial producers have thousands of taps--the biggest around here has about 10,000--and all the sap is pipelined direct from the trees via a web of plastic tubing which is sealed and on a vacuum pump. Syrup making has become a part of small farm operations because it is seasonally convenient--there's nothing else needing your attention in February and March, and it's fun to get out in the woods after you've been cooped up all winter. You can actually make syrup in the fall too, when the weather freezes at night and is warm in the daytime, but hardly anyone does. Nuff said? Willie-O
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jon Freeman Date: 14 Dec 00 - 09:40 AM Thanks Willie-o. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Burke Date: 14 Dec 00 - 12:36 PM Does Wisconsin also produce maple? Or am I including them because the Northeastern maple areas are also pretty large cheese & other dairy areas? From my understanding, it's not just getting really cold that's needed. The trick is cold nights & warm days. If we get a really warm spell at the wrong time of year with it staying warm at night as well the sap all runs up at once, the trees leaf out & there's not much maple syrup that year. Is it safe to assume that other maples & other tree species have sap that is not as naturally sweet? I can see where only northern Scotland might have the right conditions for good sap production. What about the Scandinavian countries, do they have any equivalent? I have a small block of pure maple that I bought from a local syrup producer. I guess I can put the whole thing in boiling water to make syrup. I thought I was supposed to be able to grate it for use in smaller amounts, but it is so hard I can't seem to do a thing with it. Anyone familiar with this & have any suggestions? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: MMario Date: 14 Dec 00 - 01:07 PM try putting it in a plastic bag with an apple - works for rock hard brown sugar. you would need very little water to produce syrup from your "lump" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: mousethief Date: 14 Dec 00 - 01:10 PM Burke: Cold chisel and hammer? Maple is one of nature's most perfect flavors. Love it. The better quality your pancakes are, the more the wonderful flavor of natural maple shines forth. The ol' Krusteaz just-add-water pancakes just don't show off the maple as well as the really good pancakes made with real eggs and real whole milk. Dunno why. Best ever recipe is the waffle recipe in the old Joy of Cooking. Tons of butter, lots of eggs, separated, with the whites whipped. Makes the most incredible pancakes. Alex
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Mrrzy Date: 14 Dec 00 - 01:13 PM I remember learning when I lived in New England that the maple syrup that you want is the least expensive, least "premium" - because the premium-er the syrup, the more like SUGAR it is (because back when deciding what to label it, that was what was deemed higher-quality) and so what you really want is the lowest grade, as that will be the maply-est. Willie-O or others, is that something New Englanders tell us others so we'll leave the good stuff to them? Or is that true? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Hollowfox Date: 14 Dec 00 - 02:18 PM True, Mrrzy. Like honey, the darker, the more flavorful. Another tip; if you can get it, buy "grade B". This (I'm told) is from sap that accidentally became frozen after it drained from the tree, but before it was boiled down. This makes the final syrup cloudy (and therefore less saleable, for some reason), but every bit as tasty, and to my mind more flavorful, like the darker types of honey. Jeri, mead is defined as a honey-based alcohol, but I've seen maple cordials and liqueurs (there must be a difference, but I don't remember what it is right now). I don't remember any maple wines or brandies offhand at the moment, though. Mary (who's been known to tap a maple or two, here in Ohio) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: kimmers Date: 14 Dec 00 - 02:28 PM Try it with sweet potatoes: Cut the sweet taters into chunks, put 'em in a baking dish with some butter, bake at 350 or so until just barely tender. Drizzle some maple syrup (about a quarter cup, which is 2 ounces or about 60 ml for you UK types) on top and sprinkle with a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon. Pop back into the oven until bubbly. When in Vermont interviewing for residency programs, I had it over Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Vanilla almond or something like that. Two great regional tastes! I also love it over any kind of hot cereal/porridge, and it's great with pan-fried cornmeal mush. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Little Neophyte Date: 14 Dec 00 - 04:34 PM Well, I heard from the grapevine that Willie-O makes a 'To Die For' maple syrup. So Bill, when are you going to make me some of those yummy sugar maple leafs? They are my favorite! Little Neo |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: sophocleese Date: 14 Dec 00 - 05:34 PM We get the darker stuff as my in-laws make their own. The year that they made syrup for the market they had to make it a lot lighter, my mother-in-law dropped off a bottle for us saying "Here's some maple flavouring." Morticia, I hope that the site Allan C. found is helpful to you. I'm not sure what 1/3 cup would be in metric measurements either. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Burke Date: 14 Dec 00 - 05:46 PM I love sweet potatos with nothing but butter. With all their natural sweetness it's beyond me why people are always adding more surgar - maple, brown or otherwise to it. Some of our measuring cup have metric on one side & cups on the other, no need to translate. Be careful, a US cup is 8 oz. while a UK cup (.5 pint) is 10 oz. All your pints, gallons, etc. are 25% larger too. I'll give the Apple a try. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Jeri Date: 14 Dec 00 - 05:59 PM When I went to buy maple syrup last spring, I asked them for grade B. Friends had told me it was darker and tasted more maply. The people at the sugary (well, what do you call a place that makes maple syrup and sugar?) said that the grades had been dropped, and they now just called it "light" and "dark." I didn't get to look around the store much because they had a class of schoolkids in there and were giving a talk and tour on making syrup. I did get to walk around and see the room with the boilers though. The smell was heavenly! (woodsmoke and boiling syrup). My great aunt and uncle used to have a maple sugar farm in Vermont but I can barely remember visiting the place. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: NH Dave Date: 14 Dec 00 - 06:28 PM In oldern times Maple Mead or Beer, non-hopped, was made for local consumption the same way fermented cider was made and drank. (For our British friends, we refer to both clarified-and-preserved and freshly pressed apple juice as cider, which puts us at a loss when we talk about the fermented apple juice that you call cider, and Scrumpy is a complete mystery to us.) Some local folks make Maple-Jack, a distilled maple alcohol product, until they become famous or notorious and have tax difficulties with local BATF people.
Other treats we enjoy in New England are allowing the syrup to get more concentrated and either pouring it out on snow - this was before chopped ice, which is much cleaner, was invented; or dipping doughnuts into it and then eating them fresh and hot. We also cook eggs in the boiling sap, for a distinctive taste. Since the system can only take so much concentrated sweet, dill pickles were usually available to give the celebrants a fresh start.
As has been mentioned, you need both Hard or Sugar maples, Acer Sacharrum and both cold nights and warm days to get a good sap run. With labor scarce and expensive, many maple syrup operations have taken to running 3/8" 1 cm clear plastic tubing from tree to tree, to collect the sap. This replaces the hundreds of buckets, covers, and spiles/taps which have to be cleaned and stored, and then emptied each day in season; as well as the gathering tank on sledge runners, pulled by draft horses, which was one of the more picturesque sugaring scenes. Unfortunately sleds and draft horses have gone the way of all good things, and plastic tubing is used if the maple trees are up hill from the sugar house containing the evaporating pans.
Although sap can be obtained in the fall, it has a leafy taste similar to sap taken too late in the spring, and the syrup is unsalable. Syrup grades run from A - D. The first two are what are usually retailed as syrup, while the lower two grades are usually wholesaled to companies like Vermont Maid and Mrs. Butterworths that make Maple Flavored Syrup or other maple products. This dark strong syrup is mixed with many times its own volume of cane syrup and sold as a table syrup to the unsuspecting. Since these people are used to a coarser dark syrup they are frequently disappointed when they are given pure syrup of a better grade.
Many farms making syrup also further evaporate the syrup until it begins to solidify, adding milk or cream, and whipping the fudge-like material to make moulded cakes of "maple sugar." Since this process can be accomplished with previously made syrup, it provides additional work later on in the year after the sap run is over, and is readily sold to tourists during the summer. Syrup or honey can also be whipped into butter to make a sweet spread for toast or biscuits, and garner more tourist money.
Dave
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: GUEST,John Leeder Date: 15 Dec 00 - 12:20 PM Morticia, my daughter is working on a maple syrup cookbook. I don't know how much she has written down yet, but she has lots of recipes in her head. This is the same daughter, Carla Lloyd, who is a chef at the Chineham Arms in Chineham. We corresponded about her and her husband earlier, when she first moved back to Britain. Better act fast, though -- they've given notice and are moving on to Bornemouth in a few weeks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: mousethief Date: 15 Dec 00 - 12:59 PM Roses are red Violets are purple Sugar is sweet So is maple syrple ---Roger Miller |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Penny S. Date: 16 Dec 00 - 06:34 AM Morticia, when I wanted to use US recipes, I bought a set of measuring cups - because the proportions are by volume, if all the amounts are in cups, it doesn't matter what size the cups are - except with recipes designed to fit a particular size of baking tin or other container! Having a set of cups does make it easier to get the halves and thirds. I also have a Canadian cookbook somewhere with maple syrup recipes in, which I will look out, and post in quanta. Penny |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Barry Finn Date: 16 Dec 00 - 10:01 PM Here's a Maple Syrup recipes site hope it helps. (http://frenchcaculture.about.com/aboutcanada/frenchcaculture/library/cookbook/blrec010.htm ). Being here in New Hampshire I'm alittle scared to say I'm not real hot on the syrup but the kids are so we usually hit one of the local farms & stock up or from time to time someone of the guys I used to work with drops off a bottle of the stuff they've made. The best as far as my tastes & the wife & kids tastes is the extra light grade. The darker grades are more used for cooking, I believe because it sells cheaper than the purer grades but I could be off on that. Canada is the big time syurp king probably producing 2/3 of what's sold, double at least that of the U.S. The local farms here also sell up Maple Sugar & Maple Candy, again a bit to sweet for me but again not for the kids. Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Maple Syrup recipes? From: Allan C. Date: 16 Dec 00 - 10:09 PM Cover that girl with maple syrup and...oh, wait...that was supposed to be chocolate, wasn't it?! |