A love affair with maple syrup or how I discovered Spring Hills Farm

Sunday, January 27, 2008

When I was growing up, about once a month, my sister and I would be able to cajole my dad into making pancakes for Saturday morning breakfast.  He had worked at IHOP as a short-order cook during his youth and in reaction to their mediocre pancake mix, had spent years creating his own special recipe for pancake mix.  The actual proportions for his mix were a well-guarded secret, but every Christmas he’d make huge batches of it, bag it up and give it away to friends and family as gifts.  I’ve been told that people greatly looked forward to receiving their ziptop bag of pancake mix and that many would turn it into their holiday breakfast. 

One of the things that made my dad’s pancakes extra good was the fact that he always served them with real maple syrup.  There was none of that fake, cloying, maple-FLAVORED stuff in our house (although on occasion my sister and I would beg for it--we were so stupid).  Instead, there was always a large jug of authentic, grade B (it has a stronger, richer flavor) maple syrup.  Some years it came straight from Vermont, gift from friends who ran a sap operation out there.  Other times it would have been purchased in bulk from the local food co-op.  Wherever it came from, there was always real maple syrup in our fridge. 

These days, I don’t feel like my kitchen is adequately stocked if there isn’t a bottle of maple syrup behind the water filter.  I went on a ‘baking with maple syrup’ bender a couple of weeks ago, making several loaves of Banana Maple Pecan Bread in rapid succession.  During that process, I managed to use up my entire stock of maple syrup.  I kept intending to get over to Trader Joe’s to replenish, but never managed to make it happen. 

Then, while I was wandering the Fair Food Farmstand last Thursday during a Reading Terminal Market outing, I spotted a display of jars of maple syrup.  Produced by Spring Hills Farms in Dalton, PA, this is some amazing syrup.  It is fairly local (they are a bit north of Scranton), the trees are tapped in a sustainable manner and the farm is totally organic.  At $16 for a quart (they also sell it in pints), it’s a bit more expensive than what I would pay at Trader Joe’s, but totally comparable to organic syrups available at Whole Foods.  If you are in the market for some dark, gorgeous, tasty maple syrup, look no further.