maple flavored corn syrup nasty ass stuff.

and up there they refer to this stuff as Phone Pole Syrup (sirop de poteau) as that creosote soaked dead log is the only thing you could possibly tap to produce the shit.

I was making breakfast. Got out the Real Maple Syrup from Vermont. The guy asks if I have any "real" maple syrup. I told him it WAS real and pointed it out on the label.

The guy says, "No, that's not what I mean. I mean the "real" stuff, like Aunt Jemima."

"That's not real. That's corn syrup and coloring".

"Well, that's what real syrup is."

"No, real syrup comes from a tree."

"Well, that other stuff is the real stuff to me".

"No, I don't have any. I do have corn syrup if you'd like".

"No, I'll just put sugar on it".

He's probably married to the woman who came up to me and friend while we were chatting by the beer section in the grocery store. We were standing at the end with the microbrews and imports. She asked us, "Where is the regular beer?"

Order a beer and she asks what kind I want.

"What do you have that's imported?"

"Let's see?? Guiness, Heiniken, Michelob...."


Imported from Tampa I'd guess.

Or at least that is what a farmer I know told me while noting his crop was a dud this year.

Certainly their tourism is built on the idea that maple syrup is a major product, especially Vermont.

Who eats Maple Sugar Candy from Canada?

this year you will probably eat maple sugar from Canada if the Vermont crop was as bad as noted in the OP.

Quebec produces 75% of the worlds maple syrup and by extension maple products. Chances are that even a lot of the the maple sugar you've seen in Vermont stores is actually from a few miles up the road.

I am crushed

Fake Canadian maple syrup in cute Vermont jugs.

and btw, in my neck of Vermont almost ALL the syrup you see on store shelves is made in Vermont. In any case VT labeling laws around food produced here and particularly maple products is incredibly stringent and the state aggressively goes after those adulterating or mislabeling maple syrup.

I am not let down, honesty rules, maple syrup forever!

by the tablespoon!

and usually make (harvest? distill?) their own maple syrup in very small batches for personal consumption and gifts. It's a lot of time-consuming work, though, and didn't plan on doing it this year. Anyway, not just a Canadian product. (and yummy)

To me, REAL maple syrup is one of the greatest superfoods on earth. I can't afford much, but the lift in my mood and energy level means I will sacrifice to get some.

I'd rather pay $10 a month for a bottle of maple syrup than $100 to go to the doctor just so they can prescribe me some pharmaceutical company rep's latest "here try THIS".

I love real syrup, but I cut it and all other real and artificial sweeteners out of my diet (except for refeed days once every 7-10 days). No honey, sugar, aspartame, fructose, lactose, etc. except what naturally occurs in vegetables.

I don't have any recipes with it as an ingredient. I try to stay away from sugar, except in other, nutritionally dense foods such as fruits and vegetables, and red wine.

I don't really know of the nutritional benefits of pure maple syrup, but you say it has been great for you. May I ask how you use it? Maybe it would be a good thing if I did have it...I confess I don't know much about it

Cayenne pepper (in the form of hot sauces, powdered cayenne, or occasionally roasted peppers) is something else that I believe has some amazing rejuvenating properties.

And then there is my "Maple Wings" - mixing maple syrup and Franks Red Hot for an amazing glaze.

My friends are always pushing honey, sometimes agave, but for me, maple syrup blows them away on both taste and the way I feel afterwards.

I learned that eating at a Quebec sugar shack, where you can see how they tap the trees and make the syrup, and then pour it all over whatever food they serve in the shack amidst the maple trees.

Whenever I get some real maple syrup (very rarely) that's what I do - put it on fried egg sandwiches, or chicken and pork chops before roasting. I used to put it on hamburgers and hotdogs but don't eat them any more.

Most of my recipes for chicken vary from a piccata, a dijonaisse, or a tomato based sauce. I tend to have a constant supply of lemon juice, chicken stock, grainy dijon mustard, garlic, dry white wine, flat leaf parsley and of course EVOO, with tomatoes as needed.

Or a maple base BBQ sauce brushed on grilled pork. A little maple suyrp on your plain oatmeal is good for your soul. The deal is - what you want is actually the lower grade (B or C) syurp, because it has more flavor * - that's why you can use less for equivalent sweetness than cane sugar.

*And minerals - the late run sap, which produces the darker syurp, will precipitate minerals into the holding tank.

I rarely use BBQ sauce except on the grill, where I like it on chicken. I could, tho, see using this combo on pork chops...

IIRC, mustard base sauces are sometimes called Carolina style. Since you only need a few spoonfuls per meal - experiment! A little cracked pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika... I'm partial to McCormic's Seasoned Pepper blend.

Seriously...maple syrup baked onto chicken is heavenly.

thighs, breast, legs or even a whole chicken. I just baste the chicken with the maple syrup. If you want to get fancy you can tuck some cheddar cheese under the skin.

thanks!

harvested maple syrup so suppose I should get another bottle. I'm sure it will be more expensive but since we don't eat that much of it we'll manage.

I do know that most people didn't tap their trees until it was too late, no one expected the weather to be as warm as it was in Feb here in N.E. WI.

He uses the thin sap to brew beer. It's delish.

Great idea, but wouldn't that be a mead?

Reputed to be able to crack skulls clean through - but that may be from staying up most of the night boilin, drinkin' sap beer and a couple of pulls on the jug from up in the rafters.

And I hear coffee brewed with sap is mighty fine.....

Kicks your ass, too.

Though technically (according to my brother) the only thing allowed in mead to call it mead is honey, water and yeast.

He uses the sap in place of water for the beer. It doesn't taste sweet or anything, but somehow it tastes better.

put in more taps, but still it was nice to have a couple of quarts of homemade syrup anyway. Had some last night with waffles. Yum!

The most I've made in a year was 22.

I tapped way back in Feb, far earlier than I ever have before. Glad I did, it was pretty on and off with the sap flow.

Good enough for me, I haven't used more than a quart per year in many years. Mostly, I give it to my sister and her husband.

long in a family of four, I don't think.

Have you ever made maple sugar candies? I was hoping we could try that this year, but there just wasn't time to find out how to do it and then get it done.

making maple syrup until I cut a small branch off a maple tree and noticed sap dripping from it. That made me think I should try making it next year. Need to research this, but in general how many maple trees would one need to tap?

Albeit an enormous one. Silver maple. I put 3 or 4 taps into it most years. I use 1 1/2" dowels, hollowed out in the center with a quarter inch bit for the sap to flow out, and drilled out with a 1 1/4" bit about an inch deep on the tree-ward end to give more surface area for sap collection.

Collecting is easy, its the boiling that is an enormous amount of time and some work. More time than work, mostly just tending the fire, adding wood. The final boil-down indoors is more nerve wracking, because the stuff boils over easily and can also burn quickly.

My sap generally has a sugar content of somewhere near 3 %. This is middle-range, and it varies by year somewhat.
Sugar content influences how much final yield you get. Trees grown in open lawn situations with ideal conditions (fed, watered during drought, etc.) can outyield trees grown in natural conditions without such support.

I don't know what kind of maples I have but there are several all over the yard. I don't take any particular care of them, but they get plenty of water where I live. When I just broke off a tiny piece of branch I was so surprised to see the sap dripping out really fast. That's what made me think about collecting the sap. Not sure how I'd boil it down outside though...

Wow, 22 quarts from one tree, that's amazing. Thanks for the info.

I boiled sap every evening after work until about 11:00 - Midnight, and all day both days on the weekend for two straight weeks. I also used an ungodly amount of firewood doing it.

Water, sugar, maple flavoring, maybe a little vanilla. Don't have the recipe on this computer.

a $10 - $12 (on sale) quart of maple syrup will last us a year. Though, in February, I have a chicken and waffle party for up to 20 guests and we will go through one quart in a day.

a bunch of us that live on the same block tapped our trees and one did the boiling. I am set for the years!
Had some last night with Dutch Baby Pancakes, yum.

I am jealous, fresh is best, only the store bought kind available here.

Man, I go through a couple of gallons a year.

exclamation. will last me the year I hope.

screw wars for oil... a war for syrup though, that I might be able to get behind.

but these last few years we've not had the kind of temperatures where the sap really runs so I've not made any maple syrup in a few. I love the stuff especially if I make it myself.

But I'll do my best. Maple syrup is the best. After Mrs. Butterworth's of course.

only criminals will have it

and our pancakes will be defenseless

I won't tell anybody how awesome Trader Joe's Organic Grade B Canadian maple syrup is, no siree not me.