December 17 may be one of my favorite holidays going forward, because it has been declared National Maple Syrup Day. While the sugaring season is still a few months away (hopefully – the weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating of late), today’s a day to celebrate what we already have.
Vermont Maple Syrup has a great fact sheet about how maple syrup is made if you’re not already familiar with the process. Long story short – drill hole, collect liquid, boil it down to its best essence and enjoy.
Epicurious, the home cook hotspot, lists 21(!) different ways to use maple syrup on this wonderful day. Check them out:
- Whisk it into salad dressing – Just a little bit adds nuance and balance more than it adds sweetness.
- Sweeten whipped cream – Because you haven’t had an apple galette until you’ve had it with maple whipped cream.
- Stir it into oatmeal or porridge – It’s the best way to make something as wholesome as oats taste as decadent as pancakes.
- Put it on bacon – Brush the bacon with maple syrup while it cooks. Warning: You may never go back.
- Stir into sour cream – You think maple syrup is good on pancakes? Wait until you try them with maple cream.
- Roast tomatoes – It brings out the natural sweetness in the tomatoes, and is a phenomenal pairing with goat cheese and crispy toast.
- Or any vegetable, really – Toss your favorite root veg with maple syrup before roasting for extra caramelization.
- Drizzle it on yogurt – Why should waffles have all the fun?
- Make maple butter – Beat the syrup into softened butter and slather it on toast, use it to sauté vegetables, drizzle it on popcorn or brush it on grilled fruit.
- Stir into your morning cup of coffee or tea – Buh-bye, pumpkin spice.
- Flavor frosting – Be it buttercream or cream cheese frosting, adding maple syrup to it will inevitably make it better.
- Shake and stir it into cocktails – Swap it in for sugar in an Old Fashioned or heat it with spices and water to create a unique simple syrup.
- Drizzle it over ice cream – Vanilla ice cream + maple syrup = one insanely good instant sundae.
- Or put it in ice cream – Once you make your own maple walnut ice cream you’ll never make a late-night run to 7-Eleven again.
- Add it to mashed sweet potatoes or squash – Just a few spoonfuls are enough to make your mash magnificent.
- Make candied nuts – It’s basically the perfect party snack.
- Drizzle it over pork or chicken before roasting – It not only flavors the meat but helps the skin caramelize.
- Make it a mustard – Honey mustard is good. Maple mustard is better. (Try it on chicken fingers.)
- Bake a pie – Maple syrup custard baked into a pie shell. What else do you need to know?
- Make granola – Because maple-sweetened granola is the best granola.
- Stir it into polenta – A few spoonfuls adds just a touch of sweetness to polenta, especially good if that polenta is going under a meaty stews or roast.
(And if I may add to #12…this summer at Empire Farm Days I bought a very tasty bottle of Maple Whiskey from Old Home Distillers. You can not only mix it into cocktails; you can drink your maple syrup directly.)
If you didn’t have maple syrup with your breakfast today, National Maple Syrup Day would be a great time to have breakfast for dinner!
