Maple is a Great Gift

There are many ways to support local producers this season

The 2021 holiday season is upon us! All over the world, people are celebrating the birth of Christ, lighting the menorah for each night of Hanukah, looking ahead to the beginning of a new year, and celebrating the season with family and friends. When looking for gifts to give this year, look no further than locally made maple products.

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Maple is Versatile in the Kitchen

Endless ways to include maple in Thanksgiving and other holiday meals

November has arrived. The harvest is complete, the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the days are becoming shorter as winter approaches. November also brings the opportunity to see family and express gratitude for the blessings in our lives with Thanksgiving in the US as well as thoughts of Christmas. As we think ahead to these holiday gatherings, don’t forget to include maple and maple products in your feast.

Maple is a versatile product that comes in many different forms. Apart from its most well-known form of maple syrup, maple is also made into products like maple cream or butter, maple flakes, maple sugar, and many more that can be incorporated into Thanksgiving dinner. Maple has a unique flavor that can enhance the taste of well-known dishes or be the headline taste in a number of dishes.

For starters, maple is usable in many alcoholic and non-alcoholic specialty drinks. Maple blends well in various cocktails, like a Maple Amaretto Sour, or in a punch that all can enjoy, such as Maple Berry Punch or Apple-Cranberry Maple Spritzer. Maple can easily be added to any tea or coffee that is enjoyed pre- or post-meal.

The main feature of the Thanksgiving meal is usually the turkey. Maple can be used in various glazes or rubs to season the bird, such as Maple-Pear Glazed Roasted Turkey or Maple-Glazed Ginger Turkey. Maple can also be incorporated into stuffing that cooks inside the bird or other dressings that pair with the turkey, adding a distinct flavor to the main course. Some examples include Maple Cider Roasted Turkey with Cherry Compote or Turkey Rolls with a Maple Ground-Cherry Sauce. If going a non-traditional route and featuring a different meat or no meat at all, maple still pairs well with foods like beef, chicken, seafood, tofu, and more.

Maple can be incorporated into side dishes at the holiday table. Cooking with maple syrup or concocting a maple dressing to go on vegetables can give those sides a new twist. Consider whipping up a batch of Maple-Glazed Carrots, Maple-Nut Cauliflower, or Asparagus with Maple Vinaigrette. Maple can even add a new spin to the most popular side: try Maple-Cheddar Mashed Potatoes.

Don’t forget dessert! Maple’s natural sweetness lends itself to desserts, too, as the featured taste or as an additional flavor. Of course, maple pairs well with fruit, making it an easy addition to Thanksgiving classics like Apple or Pumpkin pie, and consider it with other fruit desserts, like Fruit Crisp or Maple Apple-Raspberry Squares. Maple works in a host of other desserts from cakes to cookies to pastries to puddings. And if your menu keeps things a little simpler, just pour some pure maple syrup over ice cream for an easy treat too.

While Thanksgiving is typically a day when people indulge, for those who want to make their desserts a bit healthier, maple serves as a good sugar replacement. You can always replace one cup of white sugar with one cup of maple syrup while decreasing the overall liquid ingredients to ¼ cup. If replacing other liquid sweeteners like honey or agave syrup, keep the quantity the same.

Whatever your family decides to include in your Thanksgiving spread this year, look for ways to make maple a part of it while you celebrate and give thanks for the blessings in your life.

All of the recipes mentioned in this article and hundreds more can be found at https://maplefromcanada.ca/.

Maple is Sustainable

Maple is a unique agricultural product used to create some delectable creations and useful products. But did you know that maple is also a sustainable product and can have a positive impact on the environment? Let’s take a look at the sustainability of maple production. Continue reading “Maple is Sustainable”

Maple is Scientific

Maple syrup is a sweet, natural product that many people enjoy on their breakfast, in their cooking, and in a host of other ways. However, maple syrup has been of interest to scientific researchers too for its properties and potential uses. Let’s take a look at some of the interesting scientific properties surrounding maple.

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Maple is Local

As we enter late summer, county and state fairs are in full swing celebrating the agricultural, horticultural, and creative endeavors of their local and regional producers. One product you may come across as you visit livestock barns, food booths, and rides is maple syrup. Since its discovery, maple has been and remains a local product.

Maple is a local product because of the specific region it comes from. Maple syrup can be produced only in the Northeastern part of North America. The majority of the world’s maple syrup comes from Canada, while the Northeastern United States adds to the global supply. Although maple trees can grow in a wider area, maple syrup production is confined to this specific region because of its climate, which is ideal for sugar maple growth and sap production. In order for maple sap to flow for collection, there must be cold nights with temperatures below freezing followed by relatively mild temperatures in the daytime. This region’s late winter and early spring offers this particular climate, making it ideal for maple syrup production.

Maple syrup has always been a local product. First Nations peoples in Canada and various Native American tribes in the United States were collecting sap and using it to make a form of maple sugar and for cooking purposes long before Europeans arrived in the New World. Through interactions with Indigenous peoples, French settlers in Canada were producing maple sugar by the early 1600s, and English settlers in New England followed afterward. Through these colonies, Europeans got to taste maple for the first time, and it was well-liked, leading to further development in the colonies. Although farmers in the newly formed United States tried to move maple production further south in the late 1700s, they discovered the trees did not thrive like they did in the Northeast and Canada.

Throughout the centuries, maple production continued to develop with improved tapping, the creation of the sugarhouse, and other inventions like the evaporator, tubing, reverse osmosis machines, and more to help the area’s producers and bring about the maple industry as we know it today.

Since maple syrup is unique to such a specific area in the world, maple syrup production is a unique activity to those who live in that area. Whether a maple farmer who has an operation with thousands of taps or the hobbyist who boils sap on the kitchen stove for fun, maple producers are locals making maple products for their neighbors. Although maple syrup makes its way to places around the world, it retains its local-community feel. Maple producers are highly involved in their operations and have a heart for their consumers to make a good product, regardless of whether their maple syrup goes across the globe or across the street.

So, even though maple season may seem far away, remember the maple syrup you drizzle on your pancakes at breakfast or you see in the grocery store may come from somewhere nearby. Your neighbors or others near you may be maple makers themselves – look for them in the maple tent at the fair. As much of agriculture looks ahead to the harvest, remember to celebrate your local maple producers and the unique harvest they’ve already completed for you!

About Real Maple: Real Maple is the only natural sweetener made from one botanical ingredient – maple sap – with no added colors or flavors. 100% pure maple syrup is a natural sweetener that contains vitamins and minerals that help maintain and support a healthy body. Real Maple truly is The Smarter Sweetener. Keep up with Real Maple on Facebook and Instagram (@userealmaple) for nutrition information, fun facts, recipes, and more!