I am in love with maple syrup.  Well, actually I love syrup because it goes with pancakes and pancakes are the love of my life.  There’s a lot of loving going on here.  Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of sugar maple or black maple trees. In cold climate areas, these trees store starch in their stems and roots before the winter, which - when converted to sugar – rises in the sap in the spring. Maple trees can be tapped and the exuded sap collected and concentrated. But Maple syrup is so sweet and yummy that it’s hard to resist using it in everything.

There are many ways to celebrate this National Maple Syrup Day and here are just a few:

1. Start the day off right with a breakfast that goes well with maple syrup. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, and crepes would all be an excellent start to your celebration. (See related links) If you don’t feel like cooking, take some real maple syrup with you to your locally owned pancake house.
2. Lunch will be a hit with this new sandwich that I found.  It’s a PBMS!  That’s peanut butter and maple syrup; no jelly!
3. Dinner ideas include a glaze for ham, a side dipping sauce for sushi, and a topping for vegetables. Try it for the sweetener in your favorite recipe for muffins, baked beans or barbecue sauce, too.
4. And finally, add maple syrup to any dessert. Use it to top your ice cream and cakes.  If you want to make your cake really special, add a layer of maple syrup in between each cake.