Thursday, October 21, 2010

Maple syrup and the other good things in life







My husband repeatedly tells me, "It's not all about the food." To which I always firmly
disagree. When I go out to eat I want to feel like the people preparing and serving the food have pride in the product; starting with the ingredients, moving on the to preparation and finally the delivery; the way the plate is set down on my table.
Now, not all restaurants, diners or cafes lend themselves to the same experience. I am looking for something completely different when I go into Monte's in Fargo or the Viking in Fergus Falls; both by the way places I love.
There are a few things in life that I won't compromise on; one being half & half for my coffee~ I won't touch those "needs no refrigeration" things left on the table all day~ no way, that is not going in my coffee. Second, I only want real maple syrup. I do not ever want corn syrup with maple flavoring on my pancakes or waffles.
I implore you to only use real maple syrup. As a matter of fact get up now and look in your pantry for your bottle maple syrup (I'm using the term loosely) and read the ingredients. shocked? Disappointed? I know I was. They really shouldn't even be able to call it maple syrup~ it's a lie.
Recently I was out eating (a slightly below average experience) I ordered French toast (it was marginal at best) the waitress brought a bottle of store brand syrup to our table ~ huge faux pas~ never put the jug of anything on the table put it in a serving piece~ I might lightening up on this if you were serving REAL, LOCALLY MADE, maple syrup~ it might be nice to see that little bottle and confirm that it is indeed real. Any way this ugly, solid, cheap plastic bottle of store brand "maple syrup" is set on the table and if that isn't bad enough the bottle brags, "made with 2% real maple syrup." Really? Like that's something to brag about? Trust me, I'm not putting that on my French toast.
Real maple syrup is going to cost more than a cheap substitute. In my humble opinion that is probably because maple syrup does not receive the farm subsidies that corn does~ go figure.

But here is the story on real maple syrup. The Sugar Maple is a tree and in the spring when the days get warm but the nights still often return to freezing temperatures, the sap, which is stored as starch in the trees roots during the winter begins to run This is refereed to the sugaring season or sugaring off. Those harvesting the sap use a technique such as cutting a V shape or small hole into the tree and inserting a tube from which you hang a bucket and the sap slowing runs into the bucket. The harvester returns to the trees and gathers the sap that has collected in the buckets. It is beautiful, and the temperature is brisk it is this crisp time of spring before everything gets all muddy. My Grandfather, Gordon Supernois, used to make maple syrup and I remember collecting buckets of sap with the my dad, Gary. I never much followed what happened in that syrup making shed at the end of the driveway, it was warm and there a was glow from the heat of cooking sap which was to become syrup. I knew the end results tasted great and that people from all over came to puchase the locally produced syrup.

So there you have it, take some pride in what you put into your body and use real maple syrup. When you are out eating ask if they have real maple syrup, insist on it.

You can buy real maple syrup at Dean's Super Valu in Elbow Lake as well as Meadow Farm Foods in Fergus Falls. Cafe 116 in Fergus Falls uses real maple syrup.

http://www.cafe116.com/front/
http://meadowfarmfoods.com/
Dean's Super Valu
http://www3.mda.state.mn.us/mngrown/

1 comment:

  1. I only use real maple syrup too. Once you use it, it's impossible to go back! I try to use real butter, as well, although I prefer the "spreadable butter" kind with canola oil added, so I guess I'm not sure a purist there, am I?

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