Hear me out. Buying real maple syrup is one of the best things you can do for the environment. Maple trees sequester carbon, prevent erosion, and support wildlife of every sort from birds to foxes to lichens and mushrooms. Plus it’s delicious! So splurge, you’re doing it for the sake of humanity, nature, and your great-great-grandchildren. How? I’m glad you asked!
Beth Dooley’s Berry or Chokecherry Wojape SauceA Dakota dish that’s so simple and great, wojape is just berries or chokecherries cooked and sweetened with a bit of maple syrup. You can use it as a sauce for ice-cream, or like cranberry sauce with meat. You don’t have to be too fussy about what berries you use, get whatever looks fresh, and frozen work great too!
Maple Old FashionedAll the hipster bartenders are sweetening their Old Fashioneds with maple syrup. The flavor just slips so prettily into bourbon. If you want to up your hipster quotient whip up some bacon-fat washed bourbon to use. It’s pretty easy. All you do is steep bacon fat in the bourbon for a few hours, then freeze it, and skim it out. Start practicing and you can really amaze people by the Fourth of July.
Maple Roasted SquashThe easiest of all squash recipes. Just cut some acorn squash in half, scrape out the seeds, put them on a cookie tray so their little cups point towards the sky. Rub butter on the sliced surfaces and throw a little more in the cups with some maple syrup. Bake. You’re a winner!
Quick Pickled Apples Just three apples, a little white vinegar, some maple syrup, and a few star-anise pods and you’re most of the way to having one of the loveliest things you can put on a cheeseboard. Sweet and crunchy, try them on top of some brie melted on bread for the easiest open-faced sandwich.
Maple-Apple Upside Down Cake Like an all-American version of French Tarte tatin, this recipe is just everything you could ever want in an upside down cake: Sticky, craveable, and really easy to pull off.
