I grew up on faux syrup. You know, the corn syrup with maple flavoring. Mrs. Buttersworth or Log Cabin or whatever. Well, when I dumped high fructose corn syrup lo these many years ago (three years? four?) I realized everything I really liked I could get another way--usually more expensively, but still pretty much the same, which definitely helped the waistline because I am more cheap than I am filled with willpower. I can make a rule and follow it, but it helps if I also save money.
But syrup did not translate. Of course it did, you are probably thinking. Maple syrup. Duh! Yes, we switched to maple syrup. But I didn't like it. I didn't really like it at all. I went so far as to stop using syrup at all--powdered sugar went on the french toast or pancakes, and peanut butter on waffles. We didn't eat those sorts of breakfast foods very often anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
At some point, though, I decided maple syrup was ok. Just ok. Just like how the switch from margarine to butter took a couple of years, the switch from faux to real maple syrup took time. I think we received some as a gift from Mary and Maloki after they got home from Maine. And we had it around, because the girls liked it just fine (having been raised on it).
Then the CSA started carrying it. I though, Missouri? Maple syrup from Missouri? But it was. Like the other stuff I'd had, it was thin and watery. And I realized that was what I didn't like about it. Faux syrup didn't soak in and disappear into a pancake. It was gooey and sticky and rested on the plate. Mmm.
Well, Indigo Bunting recently did a more than fair trade with me. I sent her two jars of peach salsa and she sent me a jug of syrup. Jug. I was happy to get it because, like I said, the girls love the stuff and it's not cheap, after all. And it's, you know, ok.
Mike made french toast out of the loaf of sweet potato bread we got in the CSA this week--we are notorious for forgetting about the bread when we get it, and then there's nothing we can do with it but make croutons or crumbs. But we used this the second day, used it up and put the leftovers in the freezer. We had it for dinner with pineapple and bacon on the side. And we brought out the syrup (even though the traditional Blake way of eating french toast is, in fact, with powdered sugar). I had myself a few slices of the stuff and poured the syrup out of the jug.
It poured like the fake stuff. Thick and gooey and resting in the center of the bread, not sinking in and disappearing. It pooled just a bit on the plate. I tried it. Oh.
I had 3 slices.
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5 comments:
I looooove real maple syrup. I use it all the time in cooking/baking. Very envious of your jug!
me too. maybe the problem is not maple syrup, but non-Vermont maple syrup?
I'm about to go out for brunch - so now I'm thinking french toast and maple syrup.
Whew! So glad you like it! If I'd known about your history, I'd have gotten you the even darker, thicker grade B. So many people like grade A fancy, which is the lightest stuff, that it can be risky. I went with the grade A dark amber, I think, with you, which is as dark as you can go before you hit B.
Texture can be such a big deal, can't it?
xxxooo
I thought I was the only person on earth who preferred corn syrup to maple syrup. Corn syrup is what I grew up with — here in Canada, with the Maple Leaf on our flag!
I rarely eat pancakes, so it doesn't much matter. But I like the taste of corn syrup better.
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