Taffy on the Snow is nature's best candy. Though I usually associate it with a sugar shack tradition, I was excited to see it offered at Ottawa's Winterlude. As part of our skate on the Rideau Canal Skateway, which is the world's largest skating rink, we stopped to indulge in this sweet treat.

While talking to the taffy maker, I learned that in one week he has gone through 300 kg (over 600 pounds) of maple syrup! For the "snow", he grinds up bags of ice cubes. And each taffy pop costs $3.

The pure maple syrup is boiled to the soft ball stage (about 235˚F).


boiling the maple syrup

Then, it's poured onto the snow and allowed to cool slightly. Using a popsicle stick, the taffy is rolled around the stick into a ball.


pouring the maple syrup

placing the popsicle sticks

letting them cool

rolling the taffy


The crunchy snow crystals on the taffy make an unstable but delicious marriage of ice and warmth. And it just might be a better business idea than a lemonade stand!

Click here for more ideas about baking and cooking with maple syrup.

Brunch is one of my favorite meals—a time to slow down, enjoy good food, and maybe even indulge in a sweet treat like pancakes. This Mother's Day, we plan to head out to the sugar bush for some maple syrup goodness, even though we’re missing the prime maple syrup season. Wheeler's Pancake House, located just outside of Perth, Ontario, is my go-to place for a delicious breakfast. While I love their pancakes, it's their maple sausages that keep me coming back for more. I only wish I had the recipe for their signature sausages!

But if you can't make it to Wheeler’s, these Spicy Pumpkin Pancakes will do the trick. They bring warmth, flavour, and the rich taste of pumpkin to your brunch table. They pair perfectly with a drizzle of maple syrup—my personal favorite.

Maple Carrot Muffin and Goat Cheese Maple Dip
As you may know, this week I'm focusing on maple syrup. I've made an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. I also made two more things using maple syrup: muffins and a cheese dip.

Last week, I asked the foodies on Twitter for some of their favorite recipes that use maple syrup. I received several links to recipes and have made some of them.

• The recipe for Maple Carrot Muffins is from @brucefraser who sent me a link to the Maple Producers' Association of Nova Scotia and a recipe for Maple Carrot Muffins. The muffins are best with maple butter, also known as maple cream or maple spread.

• The recipe for the Goat Cheese Maple Dip is from @Chavrie. I looked for Chavrie, a fresh goat cheese, but could only find Chèvretine at my local grocery store.

Sugar Bush: Temple's Sugar Camp Restaurant
Yesterday, I took a foodie field trip to the country and stopped at Temple's Sugar Camp Restaurant just 40 minutes outside of Ottawa. It's a stunning restaurant that is only two years old, but Charles Temple started sugaring more than 25 years ago and now has more than 10,000 taps. I was in this sugar bush, which is really a forest not a bush, on a quiet, cold weekday when the sap wasn't running because the daytime temperature was well below freezing (-20 degrees C or -4 degrees F). But I plan on returning on the weekend to enjoy another typical sugar camp meal of pancakes and maple syrup and hope to see the steam curling out of the chimney and get some taffy on snow.

Recipe: Maple Carrot Muffins

Makes: 12 medium-sized muffins

Ingredients:

Maple butter

Instructions:

As you may know, this week I'm focusing on maple syrup. I've made an appetizer and a main dish; now it's time for a dessert.

Last week, I asked the foodies on Twitter for some of their favorite recipes that use maple syrup. I received several links to recipes and have made some of them. I dug through my pile of recipes that I wanted to try and found three recipes that I'd cut out from a variety of sources. This is a combination of the three.

Some interesting facts about maple syrup:

• Usually a maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12 inches in diameter before it is tapped.
• Tapping does no permanent damage and only 10 percent of the sap is collected each year. Many maple trees have been tapped for 150 or more years.
• Maple syrup accounts for 85% of the world's total supply (according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).
• Depending on the size of the maple tree, it can have up to 4 taps.
• It isn't known why the sugar maple has sweeter sap with better flavor than other maples.
• Maple syrup contains a significant amount of the recommended daily allowance for potassium and calcium.
• Once the maple tree starts to bud, the sap becomes unsavory.

Recipe: Maple Crème Brûlée

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels and put the ramekins in the pan. Fill a kettle with water and bring water to a boil.

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat cream with syrup and scraped vanilla bean. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove immediately from the heat and let cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined. Continue whisking and slowly drizzle in a bit of the hot cream mixture to temper or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Keep whisking and slowly pour in the remaining cream mixture.

Skim any foam off the top of the mixture. Pour mixture into six 2/3-cup ramekins. Carefully place the baking pan into the oven. Then pour enough hot water from the kettle into the baking pan so that water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the centers are firm but jiggle slightly. Remove ramekins from the pan and let cool. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or longer.

To serve: Sprinkle sugar evenly over top of cooked and cooled custards. Using a torch, move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins until the sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly. As it cools, it hardens.

Tasting Notes
The maple flavor is very subtle in this dessert. I might add a touch more just to make it more prominent. I tried using maple sugar to make the brûlée, but it burnt too quickly. Regular sugar worked better. I love cracking through the brûlée and tasting the crunchy sugar and smooth custard together.

Other Maple Syrup Desserts
• Under the High Chair: Pudding Chomeur
• Nigella's Gleaming Maple Cheesecake

Other Crème Brûlée Desserts
• Dorie's Crème Brûlée
• Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

This week I'm focusing on maple syrup. Now that I've made an appetizer, it's time for a main dish.

Last week, I asked the foodies on Twitter for some of their favorite recipes that use maple syrup. I received several links to recipes and have made some of them. This recipe for maple and black pepper chicken was sent to me by @AndreasRecipes. And just for fun, here are some pretty maple syrup dispensers I found online:

Clockwise from top:
honeycomb-shaped glass dispenser (affiliate link)

microwaveable and colorful dispenser
diner-style dispenser (which is like mine)
microwaveable dispenser

Recipe: Maple and Black Pepper Chicken

from Andrea of Andrea's Recipes who found the recipe in Cooking With Shelburne Farms (affiliate link)

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1½ teaspoons whole black peppercorns, slightly crushed

Instructions:

This week I'm focusing on maple syrup. Its sweet, earthy taste cannot be replaced with Aunt Jemima or corn syrup or Lyle's. It's unique. The sap that comes out of the maple tree is clear, tasteless, but after hours and hours of boiling, it gets that distinct golden color and maple flavor. According to this article, the sap that's gathered must be boiled the same day since it deteriorates quickly. This is yet another reason why it's so special.

Back in October, I wrote about my Pumpkin Chai Tart and mentioned the Maple Sugar I used in the recipe. Alain from Brien Fine Maple Products contacted me to find out where I had purchased their maple sugar (Farm Boy in Ottawa). In February, he sent along some maple sugar products for me to try. These products are made about 1½ hours outside of Montreal (only 3½ hours from Ottawa) in Sainte-anne-de-la-rochelle, Quebec in a modernized cabane à sucre (sugar shack). Since the package arrived, I've emptied the maple syrup, devoured the maple candies, and played around with the other ingredients (more posts to come).

Last week, I asked the foodies on Twitter for some of their favorite recipes that use maple syrup. I received several links to recipes and have made some of them. The first recipe was this sweet potato soup sent to me by @AuthenticCoast.

This soup recipe comes from Executive Chef Shaun Zwarun of DesBarres Manor Inn, an 1837 luxury historic inn in the seacoast village of Guysborough, Nova Scotia. DesBarres Manor Inn was the Winner of the 2008 Nova Scotia Cuisine of the Year Award where Chef Zwarun uses local and fresh ingredients in his kitchen. 

Recipe: Sweet Potato Soup with Maple Syrup and Maple Sage Cream

Recipe for soup from DesBarres Manor in Nova Scotia

Recipe for maple sage cream from Inn on the Twenty Cookbook (affiliate link)

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon fresh sage, finely chopped

Yesterday, we made our annual trek to the sugar bush. Wheelers Pancake House and Sugar Camp serve a wonderful breakfast year-round, and we love going there in the Spring. This was the first weekend of the season they were boiling their sap. The steam was billowing from their chimneys, and we could see the sap traveling through a transparent pipe just outside the window by our table.


After eating maple-flavored sausages and drenching our pancakes and French toast with maple syrup, we tramped around outside for a while before heading back to Ottawa.

According to Wheelers' website, maple syrup is only made in Eastern Canada and North-Eastern USA from the sap of sugar maple and black maple trees. Sap is collected in the Spring when the days are just above freezing and the nights are below freezing. According to one of the members of the Wheeler family who served us our breakfast, they have been able to start maple syrup production as early as February 21 and run as late as April 4; it all depends on the weather.

Like making a simple syrup of sugar and water, the sap is boiled until the water is removed and all that is left is the concentrated sap that is dark, sweet maple syrup. The longer you boil, the darker and more flavorful the grade of syrup. As well, sap from early in the season yields lighter syrup and darker syrup is made later in the season. It takes a lot of sap (about 160 cups) to make a bit of syrup (about 4 cups).

This coming week I'll share some recipes that use maple syrup. In the meantime, here is a link to some recipes from the gang at Wheelers: Maple Recipes.