Maple Sugar Hike

This weekend we took a day trip up to the Catskills to see how maple syrup is harvested. One of Lyndon's many dreams is to have his own maple orchard and make his own maple syrup. He is a farmer at heart. It had snowed the day before so our hike was really really pretty. Cosette walked the whole way. Our group was impressed that she had so much energy, if only they knew. 




The hike was held at a YMCA in Forest Valley. They have about 1,000 maple trees that they tap for the maple sugar. There is a network of tubes that catch the sap and transport it to their sugar house. There the sap is heating till the the water is boiled out and the sugar is left. And there you have maple syrup! 

We got to sample some sap straight from the tree. It was very watery. I truly understand why the water has to be boiled out so we get that delicious maple sugar. 


We took a bottle home with us and enjoyed it with some warm vanilla waffles. Yum! Crazy to think it was in a tree only a few weeks ago. 


Warm Vanilla Waffles

2 1/4 cups cold whole milk (I used skim)
1 3/4 tablespoons fresh yeast
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
Pinch of salt
2 cups warm water
5 large eggs
1 3/4 cups unsalted butter, melted
Nonstick cooking spray

Mix 3/4 cups of th emilk with the yeast in a small bowl. Whisk the flour, sugar, vanilla bean seeds, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the 2 cups of warm water, eggs, and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk in another large bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until well combined. Finally, stir in the melted butter until just incorporated.
Let the batter rise at room temperature until it doubles in size and begins to bubble, about 40 minutes. Using a whisk, stir the batter several times to allow some of the air to escape, and then let the batter rise 5 minutes longer. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.
Heat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spray the waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and ladle enough batter just to vover the surface. Close and cook per the manufacturer's instructions, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately. 

Recipe is from Fresh From the Market by Laurnt Tourondel and Charlotte March.

Comments

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