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Celebrating Sweetness

March 26th, 2013

It’s no secret that Mr Chiots and I LOVE maple syrup. Typically we make our own, sugaring is one of our favorite activities. This year it wasn’t in the cards, with the move, travel and lots of work, we just didn’t have the time. Not to worry though, we got our fix of sugaring this past Sunday on Maine Maple Sunday.
Maine Maple Sunday 15
We visited two different sugar houses with our neighbors. One that usually makes around 80 gallons of syrup and one that makes around 600.   The difference in the two operations was amazing. Here is what maple sugaring is all about in Maine.
Maine Maple Sunday 2
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Maine Maple Sunday 22
Around here, maple syrup is our main sweetener. I use it in just about everything from pumpkin pie to hot cocoa.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy maple syrup?

19 Comments to “Celebrating Sweetness”
  1. Robin on March 26, 2013 at 6:48 am

    I love maple syrup in banana bread. It gives it a richer flavor without being too sweet. Delicious!

    Reply to Robin's comment

  2. daisy on March 26, 2013 at 8:02 am

    Do you use it in place of sugar entirely? I’m just wondering how you would substitute it for a solid. We use sucanat, but I’d love to incorporate more maple syrup into our recipes.
    Looks like a fun day!

    Reply to daisy's comment

    • Susy on March 26, 2013 at 10:23 am

      For the most part I simply swap maple syrup cup for cup for sugar. Since we like our food less sweet than normal, I usually half the amount of sugar in the recipe, meaning I put in half the amount of maple syrup as the recipe calls for in sugar. It doesn’t work in recipe for things like cookies where the granulated sugar helps with the structure of the end product, but in pies, bread, custards and other things it seems to work quite well. Sometimes there is a need to reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe, in things like brownies.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. Brenda on March 26, 2013 at 8:14 am

    It’s interesting, the differences from country to country isn’t it? In Australia, maple syrup is not really used at all. XxBrenda

    Reply to Brenda's comment

  4. whit on March 26, 2013 at 10:02 am

    I have the same question as Daisy does. How would you use it in a recipe requesting cane sugar?

    We are just branching out with our use of maple syrup, no longer relagated to pancakes and waffles. We use it as the sweetener in our yoghurt and granola. I make a huge batch of cheese each month, and one of my favourite flavour combos is maple and chive cheese. We also use maple sugar itself in coffee or tea. When i make scrambles that include bacon or ham, my secret is to put a little bit of maple syrup in the scrambled eggs before i cook them, borne of the favourite breakfasts of my childhood where the maple syrup from the pancakes ran into the eggs on my plate.

    Also, do you know of you can make maple lollipops, like you can make honey lollipops?

    Reply to whit's comment

    • kathi Cook on March 26, 2013 at 4:56 pm

      Maple lollipops sound delicious!

      Reply to kathi Cook's comment

  5. KimH on March 26, 2013 at 11:40 am

    I love maple syrup and this is one thing I really wish I had some acreage here to tap into.. (pun intended ;) )
    I use maple syrup daily in my oatmeal and in my rosemary tea usually.. just a tiny bit.. Im not into gaggingly sweet.. just a touch…
    I get mine from the CSA Geauga Co Amish folks.. got a pretty good deal last time but Im afraid prices have gone up along with everything else under the sun.

    Reply to KimH's comment

  6. Jennifer Fisk on March 26, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    This is turning out to be a perfect season. I had my doubts early on. Is the last sugar house pictured in Union?

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

    • Susy on March 26, 2013 at 12:39 pm

      Yes it is in Union. The son of the owner is married to a Colombia lady, we chatted in Spanish.

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Jennifer Fisk on March 27, 2013 at 7:28 am

        I went there a while ago when my oldest lived in Appleton.

        to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  7. kristin @ going country on March 26, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    Yogurt. Oatmeal. Buckwheat cereal. Maple custard. On top of Cheerios. In place of chocolate syrup to make maple milk for my son. Our friend that we sugar with accidentally made some maple nugget candy stuff when he was making maple sugar, and MAN, that stuff is addictive.

    I love maple syrup more than almost anything we make here. Our last sugarin’ day is going on right now, actually (the trees are going to keep running for another week at least, but work stuff is getting in the way and we’re pulling our buckets today). We’re going to end up with about four gallons for the year. It will be gone by December, I suspect.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

  8. Brad on March 26, 2013 at 3:13 pm

    Would you please share some pictures of the wool filters you made? Maybe some dimensions? You don’t happen to have a pattern still? :)

    Reply to Brad's comment

    • Susy on March 26, 2013 at 3:20 pm

      I actually just ordered big sheets of organic felted wool and washed it a few times in hot water. Then I keep it in a piece about as large as a kitchen towel and line a colander with it. As I strain the maple syrup, I slide the towel over so that there’s fresh felt in the colander (I roll up the side that’s been used). This keeps things filtering faster as the felt will get plugged up with maple sand.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  9. Dan on March 26, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    I enjoy drinking maple sryup right out of the bottle, thats got to be the preferred method!

    Reply to Dan's comment

  10. kathi Cook on March 26, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    I like it on my oatmeal and plain yogurt. I also like to use it in savory dishes like oven baked salmon with a maple glaze. I would bake with it more if it weren’t so expensive or if I made my own.

    Reply to kathi Cook's comment

    • daisy on March 27, 2013 at 8:47 am

      Ooooooooooooooh, on salmon! That sounds divine!

      Reply to daisy's comment

  11. Karla on March 27, 2013 at 7:51 am

    This year is the first year I’ve tapped the maple tree in my front yard. Here in southern MN, this is the first week with appropriate temperatures (after an erroneous weather report nearly four weeks ago that led me to tap the tree early), and today is the third day in a row with temperatures above freezing. There’s no sign of sap yet; perhaps it will start today. (The tap did come out at one point, and since it was going to stay well below freezing for the week I waited to reinsert it. I hope that wasn’t a mistake.)

    Reply to Karla's comment

  12. Bettina on March 27, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Over fresh figs with cinnamon ice cream……

    Reply to Bettina's comment

  13. kathie on March 27, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    Love your photographs. We love maple syrup in everything from marinades to salad dressings to simply poured over vanilla ice cream…

    Reply to kathie's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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