You may have noticed that maple syrup is hard to come by in your local supermarket these days. In some stores, Waitrose has even put a label up claiming there to be a world shortage of this delicious and natural sweetener.
Researching on the internet, it's difficult to find an exact answer to this shortage. This is the second year for bad harvests in both eastern Canada and the north eastern US. The maple tapping seasons have been woefully short; the minute the maple trees (sugar bushes as they're called) start to bud signals the end of the season. Generally the season runs from February to March and the sap only flows when it freezes at night and goes above freezing during the day.
It looks as if the producers have only two thirds of the normal yields which will no doubt mean higher prices, if it can be sourced for the UK. Rising fuel costs won't have helped with the price either.
It takes forty gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup. The basic production method hasn't changed much since native Americans first discovered its uses. You need to boil the sap to evaporate some of the water. Communities today still hold sugar on snow parties, where you leave the sap to freeze on the snow, freezing the water content to pure ice and leaving the sugar concentrate behind, ready to be eaten.
Maple syrup contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals than honey and has many health benefits. Used in all kinds of cooking, maple syrup is delicious with waffles and pancakes, poured over ice cream or stirred into Greek yoghurt with granola and fresh fruit. It can also be used in savoury food and works well if cooked with pork chops or sausages, parsnips and other wintery root vegetables. All this, if only you can buy some and if you do, apparently the best long term storage is in the freezer.
For more information and maple facts, visit
www.vermontmaple.org.
Some say agave syrup is a good substitute for maple syrup. The jury is out on that one for the time being but where needs must ... We will keep you posted on that one. Buy agave syrup from
www.fresh-network.com.
