Maple Sugar

Day 22 of Spicemas

The word ‘spice’ comes from the Latin species, which I think you’ll be familiar with.

c. 1200, "vegetable substance aromatic or pungent to the taste added to food or drink to enhance the flavor," also "a spice used as a medication or an alchemical ingredient," from Anglo-French spece, Old French espice (Modern French épice), from Late Latin species (plural) "spices, goods, wares," in classical Latin "kind, sort"

Maple sugar works, as a spice, then. The maple flavor is distinctive, and adds more than just sweetness to whatever you use it in. It’s not a common ingredient, for good reasons. I’ve made maple syrup, and Dad and I used to tap a small sugar bush for maple sap which was then sold on to a boiler who made syrup from it. We never made maple sugar, though, as the process is tricky to get it reduced down that far without burning, and we were running a tiny wood-fired boiler out in the woodlot when we did boil our own. I suspect this maple sugar was made by other means of extraction and evaporation. Commercial maple syrups and this sugar lack a certain something which wood-fired boilers add, and it’s not easy to find that outside of the cold regions where maples can be tapped.

Everything we worked with was packed in and out, or dragged on sleds when there was enough snow. Yes, that’s me under the pack basket!

The highest point of the network of tubing and lines that ran to collection barrels. This required daily monitoring to ensure there were no leaks or freezing places.

It was hard work, sometimes, but I enjoyed working in the woods, even when the snow was deep enough we couldn’t step off our snowshoes or I’d be up to my hips in the snow. The warmth of spring was making itself known, the sap was rising to meet it, and the work was over quickly in the season as time flew.

This morning, I added a couple of teaspoonfuls of the maple sugar to the Texas Pecan Coffee we are drinking. It was a Christmas gift from my son that had been forgotten in the freezer last year and is now being appreciated for it’s subtle nut-and-maple flavor. Pecans, when toasted, have a nice maple fragrance. The maple sugar, being less sweet than white sugar, sets this off and lends itself well to making my coffee special. There are so many ways to enjoy your coffee without having to pay coffee house prices!

I may acquire more of this ‘spice’ to make up candied pecans with , as that would be very tasty. My husband, who had never been exposed to real maple sugar (or syrup, for that matter, until I came along) was surprised to find the flavor delicate and not overly sweet to his perception. He’d assumed it would be aggressively maple, like the commercial extracts that are cheaply and commonly used in various processed products. He’s always said he didn’t like maple, but is reconsidering that stance now.

Two more days of the calendar, and then I will open my own spice cabinet to finish out December with some more unusual and exotic spices that I own and cook with. I’ve been using this month as my daily art, capturing the ingredients in some photographic way, and as my daily writing, composing something more than just a technical recipe, most days. it’s been a good exercise. January will bring a renewed focus on fiction, again. I should have an announcement in just a few days about Tanager’s Flight!