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A Christmas gift brought a bottle of real maple syrup to our house. Real maple syrup from Vermont, where “sugaring” is going on right now. After a taste, this syrup was quickly relegated to “parental use only” because it was so very good – but too expensive to allow the kids pour (and pour and pour) on a couple of pancakes.

“Store bought” syrup didn’t taste anything like the real stuff. Not even close. It was too sweet, if that makes sense, and didn’t taste like maple, even if it was said “maple.”

By chance, the next time we visited my folks they made some homemade syrup following a recipe my sister found. It was good. Very good. Less sweet but more flavor.

I assumed it would be terribly complicated to make. I couldn’t have been more wrong. (Just like I was about fudge.)

There are only five ingredients in this recipe. It only takes a single pot and just a few minutes. In fact, you can make it while the pancake griddle is heating up. Just be sure to wash and save a bottle (and lid!) from an old syrup bottle. It makes life easier with the leftovers.

OK – Here’s what you need (yes, that’s Blue in the background. He’s still kickin’!):

1 3/4 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Water
1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla (or less if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon of Maple Flavoring

You can find maple flavoring in all Hastings grocery stores, right there in the seasoning area. I used Crescent Mapleine because that’s what was there the day I remembered to pick it up. (There was a syrup recipe on the box, but my sister’s looked better.)

Combine the White Sugar, Brown Sugar and Water in a pot and heat it on the stove until boiling.

This isn’t boiling – almost, but not quite:

Here we go! Once it looks like this – a full boil – watch the clock, giving the mixture 1 minute, then remove it from the heat.

Then add the Maple Flavoring and Vanilla, stirring it in. I prefer a little less vanilla so I only add about half. Cover your syrup and allow it to cool a bit.

That’s it!

The syrup will be fairly runny when it is hot. You can see that here, as the syrup doesn’t cling to the ladle much and pours out quickly.

Here’s what it looks like after it has cooled a bit more – it thickens up nicely.

When it’s cold from the refrigerator, it’s quite thick, just like store bought. Except it tastes better.

Just remember to save that bottle and perhaps wash it every few batches. The picture to the right shows how much a the full recipe makes when poured into an empty bottle (after it was cool!). If you plan to eat a pancakes or waffles right after making syrup, consider making a double batch. Then you’ll have enough to fill your bottle after wards.

At Hastings Kiwanis Pancake Day a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to the Pancake Queen (aka Margaret Shaw) that I had started making homemade maple syrup.

She suggested I try other flavors – from strawberry to pineapple.

I love strawberry syrup, but that sounded a bit daunting until Margaret explained you can buy strawberry flavoring and make it just like the maple-flavored above (minus the maple flavoring, of course).

Or maybe I’ll try making strawberry syrup with fresh strawberries this summer if I can find a recipe that isn’t too daunting.

About the author: Mike Howie

Mike Howie has lived in Hastings about four years. He may not always know who is related to whom or who owns what business or who works where. He just knows that he likes it here. And that it doesn’t take a half hour to drive anywhere in town. Even if he gets turned around.