Maple Teriyaki Salmon

Maple Teriyaki Salmon Recipe from Catherine Stevens, Jericho, Vt
1/3 c. apple juice
1/3 c. pure Vermont maple syrup
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. finely chopped onion
1-2 minced garlic cloves
4 salmon fillets
In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients; remove 1/2 c. for basting (cover and refrigerate). Pour remaining marinade into a large resealable plastic bag. Add salmon, seal bag and turn to coat both sides. Refrigerate for 1-3 hours. Drain and discard marinade. Broil salmon 4" from heat for 5 minutes. Baste with reserved marinade and broil 10 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily with a fork, basting frequently.

recipe ©2007 Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association & Vermont Maple Foundation

Maple Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups Grade B Maple Syrup- 1 1/2 cups sugar- 4 eggs- 3/4 tsp. salt- 3/4 tsp. baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 cups mashed pumpkin (I often use squash)- 1 cup oil- 4 1/2 cups flour- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda- 1 1/2 tsp. cloves- 1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Directions:Beat syrup, sugar, eggs and oil together; add pumpkin. Add dry ingredients. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Test with cake tester. Makes 3 standard loaves or 5-6 small loaves. This bread freezes excellently.

recipe courtesy of Carman Brook Maple & Dairy Farm · 1275 Fortin Road · Swanton, Vermont 05488 · (802)868-2347

url: http://www.cbmaplefarm.com/

American Maple Museum In Croghan, New York

Informative and fun! A great day for a couple or for the whole family.

The American Maple Museum was founded in 1977 to preserve the history and evolution of the North American maple syrup industry.

The former Leo Memorial School was acquired in 1980 through a generous gift from Robert and Florence Lamb. The Lambs have also contributed much of their personal collection of antique syrup making equipment, logging tools and antiques to the museum. Other artifacts have been gathered from maple syrup regions across the U.S. and Canada.

Those who founded this institution set out to collect the tools and equipment used to make maple sugar and syrup, from the earliest times to the present. The core groups were, and still are, from Lewis County but several others from across the maple region also joined in creating this repository of artifacts and written documents.

Exhibits depict the history of maple syrup and sugar making techniques ranging from those used by the Native Americans to plastic tubing and stainless steel evaporators in use today. Audio tapes explain many of the exhibits.

There are 3 floors of displays in the museum. On the first floor (Room #2, Room #3, Room #4, Room #5,) visitors will find a replica of a sugar house, equipment room and the American Maple Hall of Fame.

On the second level (Room #1, Room #6,)are exhibits of early syrup making techniques and equipment, maple syrup containers and sugar molds. Souvenirs and maple products are available in the Gift Shop.

Maple syrup production and logging go hand in hand thus the third floor (Room #7, Room #8, Room #9) is devoted to displays of logging tools and a replica of a lumber camp kitchen and office.

At the museum's annual opening ceremonies in May, two people, selected by the North American Maple Syrup Council, are inducted into the American Maple Hall of Fame. Members in this select group are from both the U.S. and Canada.

~MUSEUM HOURS~
Memorial Day (last Monday of May) to June 30
Friday, Saturday & Monday
11:00AM to 4:00PM

July to early September
Daily except Sunday 11:00AM - 4:00PM

~ADMISSION FEE~
Family (2 adults & 2 or more children, max. 10 people) $10.00
Adults...................................................$4.00 Children 5 to 14..................................$1.00
Under 5................................................Free
Group Tours Welcome
Reservations Requested
School Children - $1.00/ea.

For information call
(315)346-1107or e-mail maplehalloffame@westelcom.com
or write
American Maple Museum
P.O. Box 81
9753 State Route 812
Croghan, NY 13327

Native Americans and the Legend of Maple Syrup

Here were two interesting pieces we found about Native American cultures and the history of maple syrup.

One Iroquois Legend Shrouded in the gray mists of history, some early man in North America discovered - long, long ago - that sweet sap runs in the spring time from the sugar maple tree.

Perhaps this same man, or some of his clansmen, or perhaps someone more distant, found that boiling this sap over a fire soon reduced it to a brown syrup; and this syrup, when cooked longer, soon hardened into brownish sugars of various types.

All the books known to us are silent on how this discovery and cookery actually first came about. One Iroquois legend tells of Woksis, an Indian chief, pulling his tomahawk from a maple tree and going off on a hunt. The weather was warm and the gash dripped sap into a bark vessel under the tree. The chief's squaw, toward evening needed water to cook their meal and used the water from the tree to save a trip to the spring. When the chief neared home, he smelled the odor of the sweet syrup and when he ate his meal he found the meat very tasty. And the legend ended with the Indians tapping maple trees to secure this tasty and concentrated source of sweetening.
This however, is a legend, and legends never need truth to be interesting. As a rule of thumb, the more interesting the legend, the less likelihood of its truth. And this legend stands among the most interesting.

Still, all accounts indicate that the Indians of the Lake States, southeastern Canada, New England, the Appalachian Mountains knew and used maple syrup a long time before the first explorers and colonists came to America.

courtesy of the Lewis County New York website

http://www.lcida.org/iroquois.html

The Legend
The Native Americans were the first people to make maple syrup, which can be expected, since they were the first inhabitants of North America, and this is the only part of the world in which maple syrup can be made. If you think about everything that is needed to make maple syrup, the proper season, the proper tree, all the boiling, it makes you wonder how anyone ever thought to try it.

Below is the Native American legend about how the first maple syrup was made.
One day in early spring, an Indian chief came home from a long day of hunting and stuck his tomahawk in one of the trees outside his longhouse, as he did every night. Now being that maple trees are very abundant in his area, this happened to be a maple.

The next morning the chief woke and left for another hunt, taking his tomahawk from the tree. It just happened that there was a bowl sitting at the base of this tree, directly under the gash made by the chief's tomahawk. As the warm spring sun shone on the maple tree, the sap began to run out of the gash, down the trunk, and dripped into the bowl. As evening approached, the chief's daughter began to prepare dinner. She needed a pail of water to boil dinner in though. As she walked past the tree on her way down to the creek, she noticed the bowl full of "water" sitting by the tree. Rather than walk all the way to the creek, the chief's daughter decided to use this "water." As the dinner boiled, the "water" boiled away, and by the time dinner was done, the "water", which was actually maple sap, had boiled down to the first maple syrup. With a little experimenting, the chief and his daughter discovered how and when to make this new all natural sweetener. From that point on, maple syrup became an important part of the Native American's diet.

courtesy of

Thatcher's Sugarhouse

Dennis and Theresa Thatcher
12 Broom Street Plainfield, MA 01070

Telephone 413-634-5582
FAX 413-634-5785

http://www.bcn.net/~thatcher/index.htm

Ohio State University Extension Maple Sweet Potatoes

We got this excellent recipe from the Ohio State university Extension website.

Maple Flavored Sweet Potatoes
6 medium sweet potatoes or yams
1/2 cup Ohio maple syrup
1 Tbls. melted butter or margarine
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup Ohio apple cider
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Cook potatoes until nearly tender; peel and slice into a 10 x 6 x 1-1/2 inch baking dish. Heat the maple syrup, margarine, cinnamon and cider until just warm (do not boil). Pour over potatoes, sprinkle with almonds.
Bake in 350 degrees F oven for 45 minutes, basting occasionally.
Makes 6 servings.
For more information on maple syrup, contact your county office of Ohio State University Extension.
Partially based on research conducted by Barbara Drake and Randy James, County Extension Agent Agriculture and CNRD

for more info from Ohio State go to:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5522.html

Sugaring Time Simply the Best Children's Book on the Subject

Sugaring Time

by Kathryn Lasky

Photographs by Christopher Knight

In New England, there is a time between winter and spring when the combination of freezing nights and warm days starts sap flowing in the maple trees. This is sugaring time, when families like the Laceys of central Vermont engage in that still-flourishing American tradition, the gathering of maple sap for boiling into delectable maple syrup.

This is simply one of the best books out on sugarmaking. It's photos are simple and beautiful, and it's text is elegant and direct. A wonderful picturesque homage to the sugarmaking experience complete with knee deep snow and handsome ponies.

Reading Level: Ages 9-12Hardcover: 64 PagesPaperback: 64 Pages
Newberry Honor Book

ALA Notable

New York Times 13 Best Children's Books 1983

SUGARMAKING AT THE HUDSON-CHATHAM WINERY

Ralph Cooley Sr. made syrup on the side of the road on Route 66 in Ghent from the 1930s all the way to the 1990s. He was such a redoubtable figure the newspaper The Independent did a full page feature story on him in the early 1990s. It showed his lines connected to his sugarbush and it showed the elderly but sturdy renowned dairy farmer and cattle breeder standing over a boiling steaming vat of sap, watching the clear liquid simmer down to maple syrup. Back in those days it was not uncommon for schools to take class trips to Mr. Cooley's sugarshack so he could explain the magic of sugarmaking.




I have long wanted a winery. But I didn't know anything about syrup. But the more history I learned about Mr. Cooley and the former Brisklea Farms the more I got in touch with my sugarmaking side. I started to get into syrups, spured on by my Vermont brother-in-law Robin Hoover, who converted me to dark Grade B syrups some years ago.

I contacted some local sugarmakers through the good folks at Cornell. Dominique and I found seveal local folks. They helped us with securing local syrup and the instructions necessary to bottle. And we worked with Beth's Farm Kitchen to bottle, since they have so much experience canning and bottling, and they have a professional kitchen. Ralph Cooley's grandson, also named Ralph, and our Farm Manager, also helped out.

Today, we offer free tastings of our three grades of syrups - Grade A Amber, Grabe B Dark Rustic, and our own invention, Dirty Syrup. All three are 100% natural and we offer them just like a wine tasting. Visitors taste the thick nectars light to dark in tasting glasses. Come in and see what all the fuss is about.

NOW OPEN! SATURDAY 11-5 AND SUNDAY 12-5 UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Come on in!!!!