Maple-Syrup Cocktails, Beyonce Diet Push Vermont Price to $70

[cali]

Maple-Syrup Cocktails, Beyonce Diet Push Vermont Price to $70
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By Tom Moroney

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- It’s come to this: Maple syrup is being rationed in Vermont.

“For the first time in 19 years, I have to do portion control,” said Karen Griffin, who owns Libby’s Diner in Colchester. After rising demand and shrinking supply pushed up the price of maple syrup 49 percent in the past year, she no longer allows customers to pour with abandon.

The syrup her guests get with pancakes and waffles is the real stuff, not any maple-flavored imitation. Griffin, 58, serves syrup made from tapping maple trees for their sweet sap. Vermont is the top U.S. source, producing 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) last year.

As the state’s annual harvest gets under way this week, restaurants and shops are paying as much as $70 a gallon for syrup, said Rick Marsh, president of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association. That’s up from about $40 last year, he said.

Blame Canada. When syrup dispensers in Vermont and elsewhere run low, they’re likely to be refilled with syrup imported from the country that has a maple leaf on its flag. Quebec produces 75 percent of the world supply, said Gary Gaudette, president of the International Maple Syrup Institute in Spencerville, Ontario.

Quebec’s 2008 harvest, hampered by unusual cold and snow, fell 40 percent, he said. Canada had emptied the 65 million pounds (29 million kilograms) of syrup in its so-called strategic reserve a year earlier, so there was no backup supply.

“People in Vermont and other places, when they run out, have nowhere to turn for extra syrup,” Gaudette said.

more at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=ah5DD99EXVkw&refer=home

[villager]

1. I've had to go to other syrups, alas, for the waffles and pancakes...

the price of maple is unconscionably high...

[sharp_stick]

3. Other syrups

at least according to my Quebecois wife are called "phone pole" syrup because that's what the taste indicates it was harvested from.

I love Aunt Jemima "phone pole" syrup but when my Mother in-law comes for a visit, it goes mysteriously missing.

You're right about the price of maple, I'm hopeful that this year will be much better. The winter was cold but not too cold and the spring is looking good in Quebec.

[Belial]

7. Sigh.. Aunt Jemima.. I am feeling hungry...

[cali]

6. here's what I've been doing:

I make up a syrup of two parts brown sugar and onr part water by cooking until it comes to a boil. Then, after cooling it, I mix it with dark amber maple syrup or Grade B, in equal parts. It really works, and it's much superior to those nasty fake maple flavors.

[villager]

13. thanks, Cali!

I've been looking for a good "stretch the maple" recipe!

[sharp_stick]

2. This years supply should change that

The harvest is getting underway and production so far has been much, much better than last year. At least my sources in Southern Quebec say they're off to a much better start.

Gotta love that Quebec has a "strategic reserve" of maple syrup. What more do you need to know about a group of people than that?

[cali]

8. Probably not. The shortage is due more to increased popularity than anything else

From the same article:

The shortage is occurring as maple syrup’s popularity spreads, particularly in Europe and Asia. Sales worldwide totaled 130 million pounds in 2007, up from 40 million pounds 30 years ago, Gaudette said.

The sweet stuff is also moving beyond the breakfast menu, for use in foods such as fish entrees and salad dressings. At New York’s PDT restaurant, the $13 bacon-infused, bourbon-and-maple- syrup old-fashioned is a popular cocktail, said Don Lee, beverage director.

Syrup Diet

A maple syrup diet has adherents including singer Beyonce Knowles. She was quoted on BBC television in 2006 saying she lost 14 pounds for her role in the movie “Dreamgirls” by consuming only lemon-and-maple-flavored water for about two weeks.

“It cleans out their bodies, and they seem happy about it,” said Arthur Krueger, 65, of Shrewsbury, whose dark variety is favored among maple-syrup dieters.

U.S. maple-syrup output increased 30 percent last year, including an 11 percent gain for Vermont, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin also tap trees for syrup.


As for a bacon infused old fashioned with maple syrup, :puke:

[B3Nut]

12. If I ever see that cocktail around here

I'm gonna try that. :D I'd have to do it at least once...it sounds interesting.

Most of the time up here in Cheesecurdistan, though, the typical old fashioned is the Brandy Old Fashioned, Sweet. I make 'em with brandy or bourbon, depending on the mood. Yummy!

[AlCzervik]

4. I bought an 8 oz. bottle of Vermont Maple syrup on Saturday and it was $13

the Canadian stuff was cheaper.

[mod mom]

5. We buy pure maple syrup and the price recently jumped from $13 to $17/b0ttle.

I just bought a bottle of blue agave/maple syrup (less expensive) from Trader Joe's to see if the family will use it.

[tridim]

9. Gawd do I miss maple syrup

Like others have mentioned, it has become completely unaffordable during the last few years.

Even the flour to make the pancakes and waffles is becoming unaffordable.

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. Unfortunately, if it comes from trees, it's a finite resource

Renewable, yes. But you can only bleed a tree for so much at any one time.

Maple syrup is catching on because it's a low GI sweetener (glycemic index) and a great alternative to refined sugars or chemical artificial sweeteners. This "lemonade diet" thing has been around for a while. There's even a variant of it which adds cayenne pepper to the mix. Sounds weird, but it works.

[cali]

11. Yep. I love the cayenne version. And it does work

but honestly, the biggest threat to maple syrup production isn't overtapping, but climate change.

[EOTE]

15. I don't understand that diet at all.

So you're supposed to eat nothing but water, syrup and lemon juice and lose weight that way? Ummm, OK. But wouldn't you lose even more weight if you ditched the syrup? I'm really confused. If I ate nothing but water an entire 2 weeks, I'd expect to lose a good amount of weight. I'd be frigging starved, but I'd lose weight.

[Sebastian Doyle]

20. I wouldn't recommend any sort of juice fast as a long term diet strategy.

What it does do though is allow a great short term way to cleanse the body. Especially with the cayenne pepper added, as I mentioned above. You can raise your metabolism and maybe sweat a little out through the pores at the same time, eliminating even more of the poisons in your system. Some of which will no doubt come from all the crap in the typical American diet.

[EOTE]

21. But how can you tell if it's working?

As I mentioned, if I had nothing but water for two whole weeks, I'd lose tons of weight. So I'd expect to lose about the same having nothing but lime juice, cayenne, syrup and water. Is there any data to suggest that this diet is any better than just fasting on nothing but water?

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. A juice fast would give you some nutritional value

You would get some vitamins and a little bit of carbs from the juice which would keep you going, and your body would go to the fat reserves for the rest. If you used just water alone, you would have to depend on your stored reserves for everything, and that's a bit more dangerous.

[EOTE]

23. So my new water, cracker and pepper diet is just as effective and probably safer?

In it, you can have two saltines per day and all the water and black pepper you want. The two crackers would probably provide a lot more carbs than the lime juice (which has almost nil) and you're still getting close to no calories in any given day. I guess I just don't understand how this diet is any different than saying "Eat less than 50 calories per day and you're gonna lose a lot of weight."

[Sebastian Doyle]

25. depends on what's in the crackers.

If they contain bleached white flour or high fructose corn poison, the carbs will get an express ticket to your fat cells and it would defeat the whole purpose.

The lemon or lime juice bit (with or without the cayenne pepper) is probably only good for a few days. Any extended juice fast you would probably want to add other fruit and veggie juices into the mix. Pure juices though - nothing sweetened, because that's more than likely going to be the toxic Monsanto poison that's unfortunately in far too many things now.

[SidDithers]

14. LMAO...

I love that fact that we Canadians have a "Strategic Syrup Reserve" :rofl:

Sid

[cali]

16. gotta admit, that's pretty funny and

quite delightful.

[proud patriot]

24. LOL

:yourock:

[Ikonoklast]

27. "But, Mr. President, you just can't trust them Canucks!"

"What we have here is a Maple Syrup Gap!"

[anonymous171]

17. What a stupid diet. No wonder people think that "Diets don't work"

[cali]

18. actually, I've used it for years when i wanted to drop a few quick pounds

Obviously it's not a diet that you can stay on for more than a few days.

[anonymous171]

19. Of course it works for that, but for long term weight management

it is completely ineffective. But I do see your point. It would totally work for quick weight loss.

[Number23]

26. Oh my God.

"She was quoted on BBC television in 2006 saying she lost 14 pounds for her role in the movie “Dreamgirls” by consuming only lemon-and-maple-flavored water for about two weeks."

That is the stupidest, craziest sounding foolishness I've ever heard.

That girl has one of the best bodies IN THE WORLD. Shoot, I have to pry my husband away from the tv every single time that damn "Single Ladies" video comes on. The sight of those three spectacularly perfect bodies in one place is just too much for him.

Why on earth would anyone, let alone someone already so beautiful, subject themselves to something so stupid and reckless? I hope for her sake that this is a MASSIVE exaggeration and that she was secretly scarfing some grits and collards down with her "lemon and maple flavored water." :eyes:

[Canuckistanian]

28. Good news for my neck of the woods

We're a major maple syrup producing region in Ontario.

Sometimes, we even outproduce Québec.