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Sweet on maple Syrup works with savory foods, too.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Deborah Pankey Daily Herald Food Editor

Iroquois hunter Woksis might have been the first person to enjoy maple syrup.

Legend tells of Woksis swinging his ax into a maple tree before he went to sleep. The next morning he removed his ax and headed on a three-day hunt. The tree gently wept teardrops from the ax wound into a container left at the base of the tree. The hunter's wife found the vessel and believing it to be frozen water used it to make a stew. As the pot simmered, a sweet aroma filled the air and the stew grew tastier. When Woksis returned, he devoured the delicious stew.

Woksis's tasty happenstance paved the way through the centuries for maple's use in dishes both sweet and savory, from pies and parfaits to chicken wings and salmon.

Don't confuse maple syrup with the plastic bottle sitting in your fridge for pouring over pancakes.

"There's a big difference between pure maple syrup and what you find on the grocery store shelf," said Janet Eagleson, a native of southwest Ontario and co-author of "The Maple Syrup Book" (2006 Boston Mill Press, $24.95). "Pancake syrup is mostly corn syrup with some maple flavor."

Pure maple syrup comes from maple trees, of course, most often the sugar of the black variety that you see around your neighborhood or in local forest preserves. Trees should be at least 40 years old before they are tapped, she said. Red and silver maples can also produce delicious syrup, though they contain less sugar so you need to start with more sap to produce syrup.

Maple trees are a hardy lot, so the wild weather experienced in...

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