Syrup and Community- Maple Masala Paal
The trees towered above them. The canopy stood high above and dwarfed Poet and Flower. Flower was carefully carrying a a very full bucket of sap when plop, she tripped over her feet and fell into a sweet, sticky mountain of maple sap. She was drenched, covered head to toe in tree sap.
Each year the kids get to make maple syrup. It is one of the highlights of their elementary school and they are very fortunate. They learn about sugar maple trees, where maple syrup comes from and how it is made. The school tradition goes back decades and the kids learn how to tap the trees. Then they carry buckets of sap back to their "sugar shack" and watch as the sap slowly boils down into sweet, delicious maple syrup.
Learning where our food comes from is a luxury I did not have. I grew up with Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. Saturday mornings would not be a true weekend without a big round bottle of Mrs. Butterworths on the table. It's my childhood memory of maple syrup. I would pour it on freezer-ready eggo waffles or homemade pancakes. I never knew what the real thing was about.
The kids are fortunate to have this experience. They learn about the outdoors, nature and ever so gently, the math that maple syrup making entails. It takes quite a bit of sap to make just a little jug of syrup. Important school lessons learned through nature.
At the end of the season, the school comes together for their annual pancake breakfast. Older students make pancakes on a giant outdoor open fire, and everyone shares the syrup the kids have made. There's sassafras tea, too. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Poet and Flower gleefully play in the mud and amongst the trees with their friends. A school full of children running and playing outside, enjoying the fruits of their labor.
This year G and I started talking about the unusually warm winter season and its effects on syrup-making. Their science teacher explained how there were fewer buckets of sap this year. It was simply too warm, and the trees knew it. She half joked and half-seriously said that soon there might not be enough kids to make syrup for the annual event. Maybe we would be getting Mrs. Butterworth's syrup after all.
The kids continued to play and their teacher went on to talk to other parents about syrup making. G and I looked at each other and thought of our future and our children's futures. And then we returned to the lightness of the day. Perhaps the maple syrup is not the most important thing, but a way for a community to come together.
Maple Masala Paal
This is a lightly spiced milk served in South India. I used maple syrup to gently sweeten it instead of sugar. Ground almonds and cinnamon, cardamom and clove give it a heady delicious nutty taste. Perfect as a light dessert.
Serves 4-6
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
3 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ cup almonds
2 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1 cinnamon Stick, about 1 inch
1 tablespoon pistachios, finely chopped
pinch saffron threads
Soak the the almonds in boiling water for about 30 minutes. Drain and then gently slip off the skins. Grind to a paste in the blender with a few tablespoons of water. Set aside
In a medium saucepan, add the milk, cinnamon, cardamon and cloves. Bring to a boil then gently simmer until it is reduced down to about 2 cups.
Add the ground almond paste and saffron to the milk mixture, bring to a boil again and simmer about 15 minutes.
Pour into cups and garnish with pistachios and a saffron thread or two.