The state of Maine’s continuing effort to help promote and support our wonderful agricultural industry sponsors an annual event, encouraging syrup producers to open their sugarhouses and share the mysteries of maple syrup production. And what a tasty revelation it is.

The first Maine sugarhouse I visited was the Lucerne Maple Products off of Route 46 in Dedham (Lucerne-in-Maine is an incorporated village within the town of Dedham). A large crowd was moving in and out of the sugarhouse, goodies in hands and on plates being greedily devoured. A constant thick, gray steam was pouring out of the top of the sugarhouse and I could not wait to get inside.

Although very busy with all the folks moving about, it was easy to get close the open vat of bubbling gold from which that thick steam was escaping. All you could smell was the sweet maple sap, a slight crisp woodsy smell, but defiantly sweet.

Closer to the boiling vat you get, the stickier the air becomes. The evaporating water still held hints of the sap sugar. It sticks to your face and your hair, and fills your nostrils with the most delightful of scents.

At the sugarhouse you can learn about the boiling process. You learn that it takes 40 gallons of tree sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup. And the process has not changed much during the last several hundred years.

What has changed is how we use maple syrup. The reason why the processing houses are called sugarhouses, or sugar shacks, and the process is often referred to as sugaring, stems from the earlier demand of the maple tree sap used primarily as a sugar product. As the cheaper, readier supplies of cane sugar came into production, demand switched to syrup.

Most of the sugarhouses participating in the Maine Maple Sunday also offer walking tours to see some tapped trees and lots of luscious, maple syrup infused goodies to eat from muffins to baked beans to cookies. And of course fresh maple syrup tasting. To find out information about this annual event and find participating sugarhouses throughout Maine visit the very informative state Web site at www.getrealmaine.com. This is a great resource and they even offer recipes featuring maple syrup.

Personally I cannot imagine pouring any other syrup over my pancakes than maple syrup. Over the years I find want to incorporate this unctuous liquid into other cooking experiences as well.

Maple syrup can do wonders for chicken, pork and even salmon as a simple glaze. I have eaten bacon which has been cooked in the oven and brushed with maple syrup. And the very traditional boiled icing becomes a bit of magic when made with maple syrup.

As tempertures begin to vassilate between freezing and thawing, the late winter, early spring reveling as the sap flows often included pouring out boiled syrup onto packed snow creating a simple and quick maple candy. This sugar on snow, or maple crackle as my husband recalls, was accompanied by doughnuts, another traditional New England food, and sour pickles.

For a quick and easy way to share the unique flavor of maple syrup try this salad dressing adapted from the great cookbook “Perfect Vinaigrettes” by Linda Dannenberg. This is a thorough resource for dressings and salads composed from all sorts of foods. If the recipes don’t inspire, learning the basic mystic of vinaigrette making and the photos will surely tempt and delight.

Maple Dressing

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 garlic glove, minced

¼ teaspoon salt

Ground black pepper (to taste)

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

1 Tablespoon tomato paste*

6 Tablespoons olive oil

Combine the vinegar, lemon juice garlic and salt and pepper.

Add the maple syrup and the tomato paste.

Whisk until the ingredients are well blended.

Whisk in the olive oil until well emulsified.

*Dannenberg lists 1 T of ketchup and as an option. I have found the rich taste of the tomato pasted adds depth and color which is a good compliment to a salad accompanying beef, or a salad with cold roast beef mixed within it. Ketchup does work well but most commercial ketchups have sugar or corn syrup as an ingredient and I do not like to add the additional sugar.

Maple syrup makes a great glaze for roasted root vegetables and may even get your youngest eaters to enjoy more of those vegetables.

Slainte, Catherine.

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