So much more than syrup
Eight ways to enjoy the flavor of maple tree sap other than on your pancakes.
Wisconsin's maple tree sap run is on. As the state's syrup producers tap timber during the annual flow of sugary liquid, don't expect all sap to be boiled down to amber hued, sticky sweet syrup for bottles on breakfast tables. Some is aged in barrels. Brewed into beer. Whipped into cream. Reduced to sugar. Added to coffee grounds. Spun into cotton candy. Maple syrup is a dawn-to-dusk flavor even when breakfast isn't served for dinner. Here are just eight ways maple tree sap is being transformed into foods and drinks beyond the pancake stack. It's hardly a complete list.
Cream
Not ice cream, just cream. The sap is cooked past the syrup stage and whipped to a peanut butter consistency.
Spread it on bread to upgrade a PB&J a sandwich to a PB&M. Use it as pretzel dip minus the drippy stickiness of syrup. Spread it on cakes and cookies like frosting. Glaze some carrots and sweet potatoes. You get the idea.
Sugar
Cook sap long enough and all that sweet goodness gets compacted into tiny crystals, like salt or sugar.
Maple sugar can be used in place of white sugar in desserts, like baked goods and puddings.
Mixed with cinnamon, Mitch Hoyt of Skinny Sticks' said, it's great sprinkled on toast, ice cream, cinnamon rolls, muffins or apple slices. Skinny Sticks' sells a cinnamon maple sugar blend.
Katie Podgorski of Ski's Sugar Shack in Merrill says maple sugar is popular with campers because it can be added to hot water to make syrup.
Coffee
Maple Buzz in De Pere collaborated with LaJava Roasting House to release LaJava Maple Coffee earlier this year. The maple flavor comes from Maple Buzz maple sugar blended with coffee roasted by LaJava.
Cotton candy
Maple sugar gets heated and spun into cotton candy at Ski's Sugar Shack. Maple cotton candy has been a Ski's specialty since 2017.
Katie Podgorski, the sugar shack's master cotton candy maker, said she and the other family-member owners of Ski's Sugar Shack tried a sample at a
maple producers conference and liked it enough to invest in a cotton candy maker.
“It’s our No. 1 seller,” Podgorski said. “We have repeat customers for cotton candy who don’t actually like maple syrup.”
Yeah, it’s that good, and most customers are fascinated, that maple sugar can be turned into cotton candy, Podgorski said.
Balsamic vinaigrette
Moving to the savory side, Maple Buzz makes a balsamic vinaigrette for salads and other uses like dipping bread.
Maple Buzz co-owner Theresa Baroun said she hadn’t seen another maple balsamic option being sold in Green Bay when they launched maple balsamic vinaigrette last year.
It’s not overly sweet, said Baroun, but still adds a nice maple flavor.
Barbecue sauce
Plenty of homemade barbecue sauce recipes (a Google search produced more than 12 million results) use maple syrup as an ingredient.
If you want a splash of Wisconsin maple flavor in your barbecue sauce without the hassle of making it yourself, you’re in luck.
County Line Sugar Bush in Wausau makes three versions of maple barbecue sauce. The mild sauce is based on a family recipe, said co-owner Tom Ollhoff, used for pulled pork. That was about five years ago, and its popularity led County Line Sugar Bush to add horseradish and hot versions of the barbecue sauce.
PS Seasoning, a Wisconsin-based spice and sauce manufacturer, makes Sweet Tooth - Blueberry Maple BBQ sauce.
Beer
If paczki, Door County cherries and locally made chocolate bars are used as adjuncts in beer, you better believe maple syrup has found its way into Wisconsin craft beer. Even if it’s just for a season.
Badger State Brewing releases Porte Des Morts Maple Porter each November. However, it will take a bit of luck to find a four-pack at the store right now.
It’s “truly a fan favorite,” said Andrew Fabry, Badger State Brewing’s president. “There is still some available at the taproom (in Green Bay), probably for another four to five weeks.”
Badger State Brewing uses more than 50 pounds of Anderson’s Maple Syrup in each batch of Porte Des Morts, Fabry said.
Old Fashioneds
The fruity-sweet version of the OldFashioned already sets Wisconsin apart from the rest of the country when it comes to this classic cocktail. A halfounce of maple syrup muddled with orange, cherry and bitters makes it even more Wisconsin-y.
Not a muddler? Tapped Maple Syrup and Copper & Pines Cocktail Co. partnered to produce Old Fashioned Cocktail Maple Syrup made with orange-infused maple syrup and cherry-infused Bittercube Bolivar bitters. Add the liquor and mixer of choice, stir and garnish.
If a Tom Collins is more to your taste, stir lemon juice and gin with Tapped’s Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters Cocktail Maple Syrup.
Tapped makes other flavor-infused
syrups — like garlic, red pepper and hops — which can be used in all forms of cooking.
Many more Wisconsin maple syrup producers are making flavor-infused and barrel-aged syrups than just a few years ago. It turns out that only imagination limits maple flavor solely as a pancake partner.
Carol Deptolla, dining critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, contributed to this story.
Contact Daniel Higgins dphiggin @gannett.com. Follow @HigginsEats on Twitter and Instagram and like on Facebook.
Recipes calling for maple sugar often use it sparingly, such as a garnish for cookies or to lightly sweeten whipped cream. This recipe from Epicurious.com uses a lavish 1 cup-plus. It first appeared in Gourmet magazine in March 2006.
Maple Sugar Ragamuffins
Makes 12 pastries
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated maple sugar (see note below)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3⁄4 cup whole milk
For the filling:
3⁄4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, well softened
1 cup granulated maple sugar (6 ounces) Make dough:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large (17-by-14-inch) baking sheet with parchment.
Whisk together flour, 1 tablespoon maple sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Blend in butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add milk and stir with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. On a lightly floured surface, gently knead dough eight to 10 times with floured hands.
Lightly flour the surface again and roll out dough with a floured rolling pin into a 13-by-11-inch rectangle. Spread softened butter evenly over dough and sprinkle all over with maple sugar. Press firmly to help the sugar adhere. Beginning with one long side, roll up dough tightly, like a jelly roll. (Chilling the dough for 20 minutes will make it easier to slice, but it's not necessary.)
Cut roll crosswise into 12 slices with a sharp knife. Arrange slices, cut sides down, 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Gather any maple sugar from work surface and sprinkle on top of rolls. Bake until rolls are puffed and golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool until warm, about 15 minutes.
Ragamuffins are best eaten fresh and are especially appealing slightly warm. They can be made a day ahead and cooled completely, then kept in an airtight container at room temperature and reheated at 350 degrees.
Granulated maple sugar can range from fine powder to very large granules; if the granules are very large, pulse the sugar in a blender until more finely granulated before using for this recipe.