Maine Maple Sunday

It’s Maine Maple Sunday’s 31^st anniversary this Sunday! The history of maple syrup began with Native Americans in the Northeast, who used it as an all-purpose seasoning and a staple food. They boiled the syrup by dropping red-hot stones into wooden containers filled with sap. This sounds like even more work than it takes to make maple syrup today, not to mention being a dangerous undertaking!  Europeans brought the iron kettle to the process, which made making maple syrup easier and cleaner.

An interesting fact is that Thomas Jefferson tried to develop a “sugar bush” at his Monticello home, but the attempt failed and didn’t produce sweet syrup. Maine is the perfect place for making maple syrup since the sugar in sap only appears when warm, sunny days follow below-freezing nights continuously in the spring.

How do you decipher the different colors and flavors when buying maple syrup? Choose a light, golden color for a subtle flavor (great on ice cream) and a very dark color for use in recipes that call for a strong maple flavor (cookies, breads, and baked beans). The most popular syrup is a dark amber color, great for any use.


Here’s our recipe for waffles – just one of the many foods to put maple syrup on!

Waffles:

   2 eggs (yolks and whites separated)

   1 ¾ c. milk

   2 c. flour

   4 tsp. baking powder

   1 tbsp. Sugar

   ¼ tsp. salt

   4 tbsp. melted butter

   1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Stir in melted butter, milk, and   vanilla. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the dry mixture.

Beat egg whites w/ whisk until they form stiff peaks and carefully fold them into the rest of the ingredients so as not to lose the airy volume.

Using a waffle iron, pour about ½ cup of batter onto griddle and close the lid. Cook for about 3-5 min. or until golden.

If cooking for a large crowd, you can keep waffles warm in a low       temperature oven, but you will lose some of the crispiness. Waffles can also   be frozen and come back to life remarkably well in the toaster.

Pour maple syrup on – real Maine maple syrup, of course. If you really want to go all out, sprinkle with walnuts or pecans, and top with whipped cream. Then sit down and enjoy this breakfast treat!