Answering the question about the pancake’s eternal love affair with maple syrup.
Today’s post is all about the pancake’s love affair with maple syrup, a culinary coupling that has stood the test of time. Some foods go so well together that they become de-facto pairings. Strawberries and cream, macaroni and cheese and of course pancakes and maple syrup. Somehow the aforementioned just work. Today’s post is all about why pancakes have a love affair with maple syrup. To understand this love affair, we must first meet the two individuals that make the ‘delectable’ (pun intended) couple.
A brief history of Pancakes
The story of pancakes is as old as the story of man. People say that pancakes are as old as the hills. And that our ancestors have been whipping up pancakes as a means of satisfying hunger for generations.
When man discovered fire, and sustenance farming, they started stacking their platters high with pancakes. Obviously they weren’t always called pancakes. Some of the ingredients used to cook them too, you will find hard to believe. According to www.marthastewart.com the earliest pancakes were made from ground up grains and nuts and even plants like ferns.
With time and the advancement of technology and agriculture, the Greeks and Romans started using wheat flour and olive oil to create these delights. They would often accompany them with fruit toppings and honey. In Elizabethan England, they flavoured pancakes with sherry, rose water, apples, and spices. The maple connection however comes with the discovery of the new world.
A brave new world of taste
The settling of the American colonies was the first time pancakes and maple syrup were in the same zip-code. Vast stretches of forest in the new world were home to the sugar maple tree. These lands were home to Native Americans, who had through trial and error discovered farming techniques, unique to this continent.
One of these techniques was tapping the sugar maple trees for sap. The Native Americans then converted this sap into maple syrup, a process they later called sugaring. In the spirit of coexistence, the friendly natives taught this technique to the Pilgrims and other early settlers. In Canada, Native tribes tapped maple syrup for generations and used it to flavour bland native bread called ‘hoecakes’.
People speculate that Irroquois and Mohawk tribes, who traded with Dutch settlers, taught them these techniques, and soon, irrespective of where they came from, most pancakes and pancake hybrids found themselves in flavor heaven.
Why maple syrup ruled the roost
Sugar and sweeteners obtained from sugarcane were incredibly expensive during these times. The reason: Cuba and the Caribbean, where sugarcane was grown, was controlled by colonial powers like Spain. Spain’s relationship with the UK and her colonies, were tenuous at best. Importing sugar from these places wasn’t always an option. Since the colonists already had the knowledge of tapping maple trees for a sugar alternative therefore made maple syrup the de-facto sweetener.
So much for the history lesson, whatever the reason that maple syrup is the prime pancake topping, it is part of our shared culinary zeitgeist. And what a tasty addition it is. If you want to begin to experiment with maple syrup on your pancakes, or indeed as a tastier alternative to sugar, check out Maple Joe, Canada’s most popular brand of natural maple syrup in our shop today.
