One of the things European settlers learned from the native peoples of north America, people who had thrived for eons before "discovery" was that the sap of a maple tree, when boiled down and condensed yields a delightful natural sweetener. Real maple syrup or maple sugar is very labor intensive, and the yield is very unpredictable, the flow of sap at the right time of the year is highly dependent on the weather being just right. You have to have the right trees, at the right time of the year, with just the right combination of cold nights and warm days, to produce. Then there is a lot of work in gathering and hours spent boiling down.
Hence it is expensive. At my local farmers market $14 for a 12 fluid ounce bottle. I can buy it at Trader Joes for less, and TJs is good, very good. But the seller at the local market is a small family producer, semi local (within 100 miles.) And he offers a variety of grades, I like the dark amber, it has a deeper almost burned taste that I have always liked. And the color is kind of pretty in the morning sun. I have an extra bottle in the pantry, to tide me through the winter.
French supermarkets carry Canadian syrup. Thank goodness. I grew up in upstate NY and enjoyed "real" syrup from there, from New England and, of course, from Canada. I always have a bottle or two in the house. No fake syrup for me!
ReplyDeleteThere were a few producers in Michigan where I grew up, still are. There should be places in Europe with the right climate.
DeleteWhen my friend from Vermont comes done, he always brings me two bottles. With the pandemic, he was kind enough of send me some. On Sundays lately, I have enjoyed it with my pumpkin waffles and side of bacon.
ReplyDeleteBacon!
DeleteReal maple syrup is so good. My cousin who lives about 1-1/2 north of NYC decided to make their own maple syrup from their own maple trees. They loved it and the process but after collecting a ton (not the excat amount) of sap and boiling it down and whatever else they did, they ended up with about a cup of syrup. A great lesson. They were back at Trader Joe’s to supplement their pancake breakfast.
ReplyDeleteIt is about 40 to 1, so that cup of syrup took about 40 cups of sap
DeleteI can't say that the maple syrup we import from I guess Canada is high quality, but it is not expensive. We only use it if we have pancakes.
ReplyDeleteWe don't use much, it is good. It also good over ice-cream
DeleteThe "good stuff" is always worth the extra money!
ReplyDeleteWe deserve the good stuff
DeleteI am not a fan of maple syrup, but Carlos loves the stuff, and he knows the difference between the real and the not so real.
ReplyDeleteWise man
DeleteWhen I was in California, I bought a bottle of Vermont maple syrup that was rum-barrel-aged. It set me back $23.00. I haven't opened the bottle yet and tried it. It sounds interesting so I'm hoping it is tasty.
ReplyDeleteShould be good, it can be pricey
DeleteCook's Illustrated regularly does a taste test to find the best of everything. Imagine my shock when they reviewed maple syrup and concluded they all tasted so alike you need not bother paying money for fancy !! I have never seen CI say this for any other product.
ReplyDeleteInteresting
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