what you should know

Up north, the brief maple syrup season is underway. The sap is flowing and the louvered sugar shacks are at full boil.

Real maple syrup is made from the sap of sugar maples. The sap flows up the tree during the cold night, then flows back down the tree as the temperature rises during the day.

sapped The sap is clear and light, like a mild sugar water. It's poured into an evaporator where it's boiled for hours to thicken. About 40 gallons of sap will get you only one gallon of syrup.

lingua dolce Until the cheap production of cane sugar and, later, high fructose corn syrup, maple sap was mostly used to make sugar. Today, even though almost maple sap is used for syrup, the old language of "sugaring" survives.

maple state In the U.S., most real maple syrup comes from Vermont, where sugaring (like cheesemaking) is practically a birthright. Syrups are graded based on when in the season they're made. (There's evidence that terroir comes into play as well.)

coatlicker Imitation syrups are made mostly with high fructose corn syrup and an aroma compound called sotolon. Chip's friend Mark, an amateur sugarer, says that going back to commercial stuff after years of making his own "is like taking a shower with a raincoat on. And then licking the raincoat."

what you need

Though it doesn't have the classic beehive shape of your local diner's tabletop syrup pourer, this WMF Satin Steel contraption is sleek and relatively drip-free.

For pancakes, it's hard to beat Calphalon's stove-top nonstick griddle. The square shape and low ridges make it easy to flip the flapjacks.

Maple sap's not just for syrup and sugar. Vermont Spirits makes a clean, rustic maple sap vodka.

what you do

We like to use the darker, richer Grade B syrup for this maple plum crumble.

Syrup, butter and pecans are just the right dressing for these maple-glazed pears.

Try this salty-sweet soy-maple vinaigrette on simple green or single-vegetable salads. Or use it as a glaze for grilled fish and meats.

We love the lush tang of this maple and apricot-glazed meatloaf, from new Cookthinktanker, Karina's Kitchen.

If you'd rather save the maple syrup for the pancakes, try hogwash's Whole-Grain Flapjacks and VeganYumYum's Easy Weekend Pancakes.

Featured recipe: Tahini and apple cider vinegar are two of the ingredients that makes these maple-walnut cookies so distinctive. The recipe comes from Diet, Dessert, and Dogs and is the featured recipe for this week's Root Source Challenge.