Mapleholics Anonymous

Ontario is known for it’s maple syrup. And there is now one cute Aussie who is maple syrups number one fan. Brett was introduced to maple syrup at the Elmavale Maple Syrup Festival last Spring...the largest maple syrup festival in North America. Ontarians loves their maple syrup so much that we dedicate entire days to gathering with a few thousand fellow maple lovers and stuffing our bellies with the wonderful sticky syrup and anything you can cover with it or make out of it.

Maple syrup is made in the Spring, when there are freezing nights and warmer days. Maple trees are tapped with a spout or with plastic tubing, and the sap is collected. Only healthy, older trees are tapped. The sap is brought to the sugarhouse and placed into a large evaporator. The sap is boiled so that the water evaporates but the sugar remains in the sap. Once the sap reaches a certain sugar content (about 65%) it is syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

Brett and I have always loved pancakes, but with real maple syrup available, pancakes suddenly became a weekend tradition. About a month ago I bought some maple cookies. This was when I started to think that maybe Brett had a slight addiction. He asked "WHY have you never bought these before?". Everywhere we went, so did the maple cookies. He started planning how to get the cookies sent back to Australia.

This past weekend in Collingwood, Brett tried a beavertail. That is not as gross as it sounds. A beavertail is just a flat pastry in a shape similar to a beaver’s tail. He asked for maple butter to be put on his. This was his first taste of maple butter. His eyes lit up. He started saying odd things like "We have to have this everyday" "This is the best thing in the world" "My new rule is that we have to buy one everytime we see one". We then bought our own small (but expensive) container of maple butter, which Brett talked about like a protective parent the rest of the day. "Is the maple butter safe?" "Will the maple butter be okay?" "Do you have the maple butter?"

The boy officially needs some kind of twelve step program. He has had maple butter on pancakes everyday since. BUT there will not be an ample supply of this sugary sticky goodness in Korea. I wonder if there is an online support group for people dealing with maple syrup withdrawal?!