Green Inspiration #2

Upon an invitation to brunch, a Canadian friend told me she would bring me a surprise from her farm in Canada. She arrived with a green bottle in hand, an amber liquid slowly defrosting inside, which unbeknowst to me at the time, was both entirely glamourous and, obviously green.

The bottle contained home-made maple syrup - organic, natural, preservative free. The flavour was clean, light, and pure and reminded me of school trips to maple farms, trudging through the springtime melt, eating maple sugar atop a cone of snow. 

Production details were vague, but altogether very glam:

"What?!?!? You MAKE maple syrup?"

"Oh no! We have people that do that for us!"

A glam response if ever I've heard one ... and the finished product is a green girl's godsend. Maple can be used as a more natural sugar substitute (although it still contains sugar), and the process of making maple syrup is easy and doesn't require any special machinery (just a few basic tools and some time). Depending on the how it's made, it can be sustainable and environmentally friendly. For more information on how to tap your own maple trees and make your own maple syrup, check out these videos (of course, both a maple tree and a cold winter are required):

When given my bottle of Canadian maple syrup, I was told that I would need to use it quickly as there were no preservatives. A short week later, as my husband drained the last of it, directly from the bottle to his mouth, we realised that this warning was unesscessary for Canadians who love maple syrup so much that they have been known to drink it .... yes, drink it ... like, in a shot glass ... I've said too much ...