What are the different grades of maple syrup?
What are the different grades of maple syrup?
The United States Department of Agriculture regulates pure maple syrup with four grades. They are:
Grade A Light Amber: A very light syrup with a mild, delicate maple flavor, this is usually made early in the season when the weather is cold. This is the best grade for making maple candy and maple cream.
Grade A Medium Amber: A darker, mid-season syrup, this is often used as a table syrup. This syrup has a deeper maple flavor.
Grade A Dark Amber: A strong flavored syrup that's made from sap harvested late in the season when there's more sunlight and longer stretches of warm temperatures.
Grade B: Very dark with a forceful maple, caramel-y flavor, this is a common cooking syrup. Die-hards also use it as a pancake syrup.
Recipe: Soy-Maple Vinaigrette (Cookthink)
Recipe: Maple And Apricot-Glazed Meatloaf (Karina's Kitchen)
Reference: What is a sugarhouse? (Cookthink)
Reference: Root Source: Maple Syrup (Cookthink)
A crumble is a fruit-based dessert with a crumbly topping called a streusel that's a mixture of flour, butter and sugar -- plus optional flavorings like cinnamon, vanilla extract, lemon zest or nuts -- that is baked until crisp. The flour, butter and sugar are combined until they form crumbs; some people like to add oats or nuts to the mixture.
Apple crumble is traditional, but you can make a crumble out of rhubarb, blackberries, plums or just about any fruit. A crumble is delicious warm or cold, plain or accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream, heavy cream or custard.
The crumble is said to have been invented in Britain during World War II, when food rationing made pie crusts an impossibility. Americans sometimes call the crumble a crisp.
Fresh plums are notoriously tough to gauge for ripeness. Because plums come in all shades, color won't help you much. Avoid shriveled plums, but don't shy away from rings around the stem end, as this can be a sign of high sugar in a plum.
Unless you really trust the produce department, don't buy soft plums from the store. Look for firm -- but not hard -- plums with just a little give. Bring them home and put them in a paper bag on the counter for a day or two to ripen. Then, store them in the icebox.
That chalky white powder on plums is completely natural. It's called the bloom, and its presence is a good sign that a plum hasn't been handled too much from orchard to store.
