The > light amber is basically a light maple sugar flavored water. We
do have > some of the C grade on hand for cooking--things like the
maple cheese > cake need the more intense flavoring.
The C, to me, may have an odd balance of
flavors. By the way, I find that the idiotic

It's a good cooking one where the flavors combine with other
ingredients.

Yes, but I've found coffee-like and other
flavors in it that are distracting to me; also
a woody bitterness, though the other ingredients
might smooth that out.

Vermont please-all-please-none grading system,
advocated by the industry, has been adopted by
the Canadian and US federal governments, and
all maple syrup sold to the public is Grade A
by fiat.

Somebody needs to straighten them out, not every beef is Grade A nor is
all syrup.

That's the thing - they've redefined grade A as
something else than a quality designation but
are counting on the public not to know that.

The only people to benefit from this change, it
strikes me, are the maple growers, and not even
them, just the syrup packers.

Sometimes, but not always, one and the same--maple growers and syrup producers/packers.

There are the small farms, sure, but even
such a traditionally made product has felt
the effects of massive agribusiness. Out west,
we get all our maple syrup from Trader Joe's,
which though a generally worthy operation, is
hugely corporate.

recipe I found suggested as optional. It turned out quite good; we

put > some in the freezer to take to the market next week to the
vendor we got > the buns from.
Nice all around; it's good to build a
relationship with a set of preferred vendors.

We have, over the years.

Building community is a good thing for
all concerned.

... 90% of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

One of the things I'm dumb at is money. After a
cupidity-driven period in childhood, I decided it
wasn't good for me nor good to me. My brother,
sadly, has not learned that equableness, though
he's demonstrably even worse at money matters.

And too late for a change in habits?

For me, probably, as it's mostly a lack of
aptitude; for him, probably as well, because
of the mental issue (not strictly incapacity,
rather a kind of blindness).

Slow Cooker Maple Baked Beans
categories: New England, main

Rather odd that this calls for more regular sugar than maple, and almost
as much molasses as maple. Good way to drown out the maple flavor.

It is a New England recipe, the implication
being frugal. I'm sure that for that person,
the balance of sweeteners created the best
ratio of maple flavor to cost.

Fruit and Nut Granola
categories: KfP, cereal
Yield: 8 1/2 c

1 1/2 c dried coconut flakes
1 1/2 c pecan halves, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 c cashews, chopped into 1/2" pieces
3/4 c walnut halves, chopped into 1/2" pieces
3/4 c whole almonds, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 ts ground cinnamon
1/2 ts salt
3/4 c maple syrup or honey
3 Tb vegetable oil
4 ts light brown sugar
3/4 c dried cranberries
1/2 c raisins
3/4 c chopped dates or dried apricots
- (no larger than 1/2" pieces)

Preheat the oven to 300F. Line a jelly roll pan
with parchment paper, making sure the paper goes
1/2" up the sides of the pan, or use a roasting
pan. Place the coconut, pecans, cashews, walnuts,
almonds, cinnamon and salt in the pan and toss.

In a liquid measuring cup or microwave-safe
bowl, combine the maple syrup, oil and brown
sugar; heat in the microwave oven for 45 sec or
until the sugar dissolves. Stir well. Pour the
syrup over the nut mixture and toss to coat.

Spread the nut mixture evenly on the prepared
baking pan and bake for 45 to 50 min, stirring
every 10 min, until the nuts are browned. Let
cool in the pan for 30 min. Mix in the dried
cranberries, raisins and dates.

Store in a freezer bag or airtight container.

Variations:

For vanilla flavor, add 1 ts vanilla or 2 ts
vanilla sugar to the mixture of maple, oil and
sugar.

Substitute pistachios or hazelnuts for any of
the nuts.

Substitute any dried fruit, such as plums,
mangoes or figs

Paula Shoyer, New Passover Menu
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)

Hi MIchael,

intense flavoring.

The C, to me, may have an odd balance of
flavors. By the way, I find that the idiotic

It's a good cooking one where the flavors combine with other ingredients.

Yes, but I've found coffee-like and other
flavors in it that are distracting to me; also
a woody bitterness, though the other ingredients
might smooth that out.

Depends on what the other ingredients are. Some might work; others,
might better use a somewhat lighter syrup.

the Canadian and US federal governments, and
all maple syrup sold to the public is Grade A
by fiat.

Somebody needs to straighten them out, not every beef is Grade A nor

is > all syrup.

That's the thing - they've redefined grade A as
something else than a quality designation but
are counting on the public not to know that.

Not a good practice, IMO

The only people to benefit from this change, it
strikes me, are the maple growers, and not even
them, just the syrup packers.

Sometimes, but not always, one and the same--maple growers and syrup producers/packers.

There are the small farms, sure, but even
such a traditionally made product has felt
the effects of massive agribusiness. Out west,
we get all our maple syrup from Trader Joe's,
which though a generally worthy operation, is
hugely corporate.

Somebody has to supply TJ's with the syrup. It's not as if a big
corporation can crank it out on an assembly line like a box of cereal.
TJ's must have contracts with a number of suppliers who, instead of
putting their own label on the product, put a TJ's label on instead.

recipe I found suggested as optional. It turned out quite

good; we > ML> put > some in the freezer to take to the market next
week to the > ML> vendor we got > the buns from.

Nice all around; it's good to build a
relationship with a set of preferred vendors.

We have, over the years.

Building community is a good thing for
all concerned.

Quite so.

... 90% of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

One of the things I'm dumb at is money. After a
cupidity-driven period in childhood, I decided it
wasn't good for me nor good to me. My brother,
sadly, has not learned that equableness, though
he's demonstrably even worse at money matters.

And too late for a change in habits?

For me, probably, as it's mostly a lack of
aptitude; for him, probably as well, because
of the mental issue (not strictly incapacity,
rather a kind of blindness).

Sigh!

Slow Cooker Maple Baked Beans
categories: New England, main

Rather odd that this calls for more regular sugar than maple, and

almost > as much molasses as maple. Good way to drown out the maple flavor.

It is a New England recipe, the implication
being frugal. I'm sure that for that person,
the balance of sweeteners created the best
ratio of maple flavor to cost.

Probably so. Could be also that the maple taste might have been a bit
too strong also, especially if someting like a C grade was used.

Fruit and Nut Granola
categories: KfP, cereal
Yield: 8 1/2 c

I used to make our granola type cereal all the time. Got away from it
when Steve joined the Army and some of the ingredients were harder to
find. I've done it off and on over the years but not on a regular basis
like I used to.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full.

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)