33 Sweet and Savory Maple Syrup Recipes for Fall (2024)

FAQs

What is the story behind the maple syrup in the Iroquois? ›

One Iroquois legend tells how Chief Woksis had thrown his tomahawk into a maple tree one late winter evening. After he removed it the following morning, the weather turned sunny and warm. Sap began to flow from the cut in the tree, and drip down into a container at the base of the tree.

I know, I know: Maple syrup season is technically the spring. I remember seeing the silver, sap-collecting buckets hanging from the trees every March. But hear me out on this: Genuine maple syrup, with its complex flavor and one-of-a-kind sweetness pairs amazingly with everything we love about the fall.

Maple syrup can be used to replace other sugars that a person with diabetes adds to food, while respecting their meal plan.

You can even use maple syrup to replace sugar in just about any recipe you want, and it adds a nice depth of flavor that's absent with sugar alone. Garten's favorite syrup is Stonewall Kitchen Maple Syrup.

Native Americans even have legends about how maple sugar was discovered. The story has it that Chief Woksis of the Iroquois found the sweet (syrup) when he threw his tomahawk at a maple tree in the cold of winter. The next day, the sun warmed the sap inside the tree, and from the hole sprung forth the tasty syrup.

To get maple sugar, Native Americans put the sap in wide, shallow bark vessels and left it out to freeze. This would separate the water from the sugar, and they would then remove the ice. As time went on, new and improved ways to process maple sugar emerged.

The reduced length and severity of this sub-freezing period in the fall may reduce water recharge within the tree, and thereby reduce the potential for large yields.

In Canada Federal Maple Product's Act makes it illegal to label any product as Pure Maple Syrup, Pure Maple Sugar, or Maple Syrup or Maple sugar unless it is made exclusively through the process of extracting water from maple sap until' in the case of syrup, it reaches 66.5–67.9 percent sugar by volumn.

However, because weather conditions vary somewhat from year to year, and from one location to another, trees can sometimes be tapped as early as mid- February or as late as April. Once temperatures stay above freezing and leaf buds appear, the maple syrup season is over.

People with diabetes should look for sugar-free substitutes for maple syrup. Maple syrup can cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels.

Which is healthier honey or maple syrup? ›

These sugars are primarily derived from simple sugars fructose. They also have a trace of carbohydrates and even lesser amounts of sucrose. Between honey or maple syrup, maple syrup is the healthier alternative because it contains less sugar as a whole. And essentially, it has less fructose.

Health Benefits

Real Maple Syrup has a glycemic index of 54. Maple syrup is defined as having a "medium" index. Coconut Sugar has a glycemic index of 35, which puts it in the "low" index. Real Maple Syrup is full of antioxidants that are anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-bacterial.

Grade B went to the factories and never appeared on my pancakes. If you are using it as a sweetener, using it with pancakes or in your baking as a sugar substitute, and you don't want the maple flavor to come through in your food, then grade A is probably the best choice for you.

Molasses is an excellent swap for maple syrup because its consistency and flavor are very similar. It isn't quite as sweet as maple syrup and has more of a robust flavor, but it's equally delicious drizzled over pancakes or stirred into a baked good.

No matter if it is light and delicate or dark and robust, 100% pure maple syrup is the healthy all-natural choice.

Maple syrup has been significant to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years, helping to sustain them. It was used for multiple purposes: as a sweetener, an anesthetic, to preserve meats through the process of curing, and eventually as a trade item.

Long before the arrival of European explorers and French missionaries, Abenaki peoples followed a multi-step process for collecting and condensing sugar maple sap into sweeteners; a process refined and passed down orally from one generation to the next.

In the realm of spirituality, the sweet scent of maple syrup often symbolizes warmth, nourishment, and the sweet bounty of life. It may also be interpreted as a signal of abundance coming into one's personal experience.

Traditionally, Indigenous people have used maple syrup to cure meats, as a sweetener for bitter medicines and as an anesthetic. Maple sugar also contains nutritious minerals, including phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium.