Maple syrup has been in the news recently and it was not to remind people that it’s good on pancakes.
The talk was focused on the health benefits of maple syrup, which is being touted for its disease-fighting antioxidants and immune-boosting minerals.
It’s also a natural product free of the additives you might find in other syrups. For example, Aunt Jemima-brand syrup, made from corn syrup, also contains, among other things, cellulose gum, caramel colour, salt, artificial flavour and sodium hexametaphosphate, a thickener used in food and non-food products.
Maple syrup is made from maple tree sap, which is about 97 per cent water. To make it syrupy and sweeter, it’s boiled and greatly reduced. It takes about 40 litres of sap to make one litre of syrup.
One of the roles of sap in a tree is to carry nutrients to various parts of the plant. So if you concentrate it like you do when making maple syrup, it makes sense that the nutrients in the sap would become concentrated, too.
But according to an article on maple syrup production on a Cornell University website, maple.dnr.cornell.edu, some question whether tapping the tree and taking out buckets and buckets of sap might harm it. But that same article says tapping removes 10 per cent or less of the tree’s sugar; an amount too small to hurt a healthy tree under normal environmental conditions.
Truth be told, if I were unaware of maple syrup’s potential health benefits, I would still use buckets of it because I love its flavour and culinary versatility. The latter is on display in today’s three recipes, which take you from breakfast to dinner to dessert.
The breakfast recipe is a smoothie in which maple syrup adds a balancing sweetness to tart ingredients — no-fat yogurt and lime juice. Those items are blended and enhanced with other flavours — banana, orange and ginger. It’s a nutritious combination and a tasty one, too.
My dinner recipe is pork ribs with maple mustard barbecue sauce. The sauce is simple. There is no cooking required; just mix things together and slather it on the ribs near the end of cooking. You could use either pork back or side ribs in this recipe. The cooking starts in the oven and is completed on the barbecue, where the ribs get a nice char before you apply the sweet and tangy barbecue sauce.
For dessert, I offer you something divine: maple walnut brownie bars. To make them, a dense brownie is topped with a maple syrup-sweetened icing and toasted walnuts. I’m not sure how healthy these are, even with the syrup, but as a treat they will certainly make you smile.
Banana Citrus Smoothies With Maple and Ginger
No-fat yogurt and citrus juice, and maple syrup, provide the sweet and tangy backdrop for these smoothies also flavoured with banana and spice.
Preparation: a few minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: About three cups (two to three servings)
1 cup no-fat Greek-style yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp lime juice
2 medium ripe bananas, broken into pieces
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• pinch grated nutmeg
• lime slices, for garnish (optional)
Purée all ingredients, except garnish, in a blender. (If large enough, you could also blend them together in the cup that came with your immersion hand-blender.) Pour into glasses, garnish with lime slices, if using, and serve.
Pork Ribs with Maple Mustard Barbecue Sauce
Tender, lightly charred ribs glazed with a homemade, sweet and tangy, no-cook barbecue sauce.
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking time: About 2 hours
Makes: 4 servings
2/3 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
• a few splashes each Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce
2 large, whole racks, pork back ribs, or 2 1/2 lbs pork side ribs, trimmed of excess fat
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple juice or beer
Combine ketchup, syrup, mustard, vinegar, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate sauce until needed.
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Cut the ribs into two-bone pieces. Set them, meaty side up, in a single layer in a large sided baking pan. Sprinkle and rub with the cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour the juice or beer into pan. Cover and bake the ribs for 105 minutes, or until quite tender.
Heat your barbeque to medium. Set on ribs and cook on both sides about five minutes, or until a nice colour is achieved. Turn the heat to low. Set the ribs meaty side up, brush with the sauce, let them heat through a few minutes and serve.
Maple Walnut Brownie Bars
Cocoa-rich brownies with maple-sweetened icing and toasted walnuts. Yummy!
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Makes: 24 bars
For the brownie
• vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter, melted
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
For the walnuts, icing and to finish
1 cup walnut pieces (see Note)
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a nine-by-13-inch baking pan with oil spray. Cut a 13-by-13-inch piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom and up two of the four sides of the pan. (The parchment extending the pan will later be used as handles to lift the brownie out of the pan.)
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a medium bowl, and then mix to combine. Place the sugar, butter and vanilla in a second bowl and beat to combine. Beat in the eggs. Mix dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Spoon and spread the batter into the pan. Bake the brownie 25 minutes, and then cool to room temperature.
Run a paring knife around the edges of the pan where there’s no parchment. Grab onto the parchment at each end of the brownie and carefully lift it out of the pan and onto a work surface.
Toast the walnuts by placing them in a skillet and setting it over medium heat. Cook and stir walnuts until lightly toasted and aromatic, about five to seven minutes. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Place the butter, vanilla, icing sugar and maple syrup in a bowl and beat until well combined and lightened. Spread icing on the brownie, and top the brownie with the walnuts. Refrigerate until the icing is set. When ready to serve, cut into bars and enjoy.
Note: Walnut pieces are broken walnut halves sold in bags or in bulk. Sometimes the pieces are small, other times they are large. If the latter, coarsely chop the pieces before you toast them.
Eric Akis is the author of The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
