Maple Syrup

Maple syrup lovers can get a second helping this weekend at three Maryland state parks. Syrup-making demonstrations are planned today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cunningham Falls State Park near Thurmont. Pancake breakfasts are available today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cunningham Falls. Pancakes also will be served today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Herrington Manor State Park near Oakland, along with a syrup-making demonstration. - Associated Press

Adrian Ross-Boon, head bartender at Wit and Wisdom in Harbor East, won't make you a drink - he will build you one. The bar and restaurant, located on the ground floor of the new Four Seasons hotel, adheres to the sage-like philosophy of layering flavors to ensure a distinct, high-quality taste experience. At the bar, Ross-Boon and company take the technical aspect of serving drinks to a whole new level. "We make classic cocktails the way they should be done: fresh juices daily, we make our own syrups, bitters, and infusions ... we even use cold draft ice cubes so that your drink never waters down," said Ross-Boon.

At first, the clear liquid doesn't quite resemble the thick, gooey brown substance dribbled across pancakes and French toast, but naturalists assured the crowds gathered Saturday at Oregon Ridge Park that the sap tapped from maple trees, with a little elbow grease, would make maple syrup. Several hundred came for tours led by the Baltimore County park employees over the weekend for the annual Maple Sugar Weekend held each February, when weather conditions help the flow of sap with cold nights and warmer days.

Just because the holidays are over and we're into a new year, that doesn't mean the need for "roast beast" is over. Hearty winter dinners are still the order of the evening, but cold weather eating doesn't have to be all about stews and soups. You can serve up some easy (and relatively quick) meals with a bit of finesse, using pork tenderloin and coordinating it with whatever flavoring elements you decide to add. Pork tenderloin is a tempting entree item since it's generally lean and mild, is easy and quick to fix and with planovers in mind, it can star in later weekday dinners, like stir-fries, quick pasta or hot sandwiches.

THE WOODLAND TRAILS meandering through Downs Park are, for the most part, empty this time of year. The warm-weather crowds of day-tripping families, joggers, bike riders and concert-goers have given way in recent weeks to a few hardy volunteers traipsing through the underbrush. They're looking for sap - collecting it from plastic jugs attached to trees - for making maple syrup in an annual public demonstration. The production will get under way this weekend at the temporary maple sugar shack in the park's Brightwater Pavilion.

Last week gave us all hope that spring might make an early return.The weather was quite wonderful at the beginning of the week, making outside activities enjoyable.Let us hope that we have similar weather toward the end of this week for the 10th annual Maple Sugarin' Festival at Hashawha Environmental Center in Westminster.The festival, scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, will celebrate the tradition of collecting maple sap and boiling it into maple syrup.Families are invited to attend and enjoy taste testing, programs and films on maple-syrup making.

GORMAN -- In a scene that recalls images from a Li'l Abner cartoon, a cloud of steam -- rich with the fragrance of maple water -- drifts from the aged shack with the weathered board siding and sheet-metal roof perched on the side of a hill.It's maple syrup production time, and a new generation of the Steyer family is busy keeping up a tradition that dates back more than 100 years."My daddy used to say he could go up on the top of this hill and see the steam rising from 19 or 20 sugar maple camps and a like number of moonshine operations," Michael Steyer said as he stirred a boiling tank of "maple water," or sap, slowly being transformed into syrup.

In March, when days are warmer and nights still cool, sap begins to run in the maples. This is the time to tap the trees to collect their golden syrup. Many sites offer an opportunity to see this process, which was taught to settlers by Native Americans.One big celebration is in Highland County, Va., where the 37th annual Maple Festival takes place over two weekends. The celebration next weekend and March 18-19 includes tours of the area sugar camps, a huge arts and crafts show, a Maple Queen and a Maple Queen Ball, free entertainment and food.

THURMONT -- From the Catoctin Mountains in Frederick County comes this message: Forget Vermont.Maryland isn't renowned for producing syrup, but the folks who trekked here yesterday for a celebration of the state's sticky stuff were acting as if they were in a new maple heaven.Seminars on how sap is extracted from maple trees drew hordes of visitors, and the lines for pancakes poured out the door."I've been a big fan of maple products for a long, long time," offered one visitor, Crystal Testerman of Bel Air. "I never thought a lot about Maryland being a maple state."

To most people, the snow melting and flowers beginning to bloom signify the first signs of spring. But at the Eden Mill Nature Center in Pylesville, the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March signify the running of the sap from maple trees. Last weekend, more than 20 area residents gathered at the nature center's first family-night program of the year to learn the history, make spiles, or spigots, and get instructions for production of maple syrup in their own back yards.

Anne Stein from Baltimore wrote in looking for a good recipe for oatmeal scones. Susan Bacon from Knoxville, Tenn., sent in her favorite recipe for making oatmeal scones. It comes from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" by Ina Garten. She said these scones are easy to make and always well liked by young and old. Unlike some scones that can tend to be on the dry side, these turned out light and soft on the inside with a slight crunch on the outside. You can control the degree of sweetness with the amount of glaze you use. While the recipe says it makes 14 scones I found it made quite a few more than that.

At first, the clear liquid doesn't quite resemble the thick, gooey brown substance dribbled across pancakes and French toast, but naturalists assured the crowds gathered Saturday at Oregon Ridge Park that the sap tapped from maple trees, with a little elbow grease, would make maple syrup. Several hundred came for tours led by the Baltimore County park employees over the weekend for the annual Maple Sugar Weekend held each February, when weather conditions help the flow of sap with cold nights and warmer days.

A sk Lucie L. Snodgrass what she would recommend for Easter dinner and she does not simply say lamb. Instead, she says, "some of Edwin's lamb." She is referring to what would be an extremely local main dish, a lamb raised by her Harford County neighbor and cookbook collaborator, Edwin Remsberg. Remsberg is a photographer who worked with Snodgrass to produce a striking new cookbook, "Dishing Up Maryland." The book contains 150 recipes featuring local fare from Maryland farmers, watermen and restaurateurs.

Maple syrup lovers can get a second helping this weekend at three Maryland state parks. Syrup-making demonstrations are planned today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cunningham Falls State Park near Thurmont. Pancake breakfasts are available today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cunningham Falls. Pancakes also will be served today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Herrington Manor State Park near Oakland, along with a syrup-making demonstration. - Associated Press

If you haven't been to the airport since last year's Thanksgiving trip, some things have changed - but much has stayed the same, including the ban on liquids. Although you might not want to pay those extra fees to check your luggage, you may have to if you're bringing a jar of your special turkey gravy recipe. Here's a sampling of things you cannot pack in your carry-on: 1. Meat cleaver: 2. Mace/pepper spray: 3. Cooking fuel: 4. Gel candles: 5. Perfume: 6. Snowglobes: 7. Cranberry sauce: 8. Maple syrup: 9. Oils and vinegar: 10. Wine, liquor and beer: Also, passengers are still limited to 3-ounce or smaller containers of liquids and gels, placed in a quart-size zip-top bag. Items such as baby food, breast milk and medicines are allowed to exceed three ounces.

If you haven't been to the airport since last year's Thanksgiving trip, some things have changed - but much has stayed the same, including the ban on liquids. Although you might not want to pay those extra fees to check your luggage, you may have to if you're bringing a jar of your special turkey gravy recipe. Here's a sampling of things you cannot pack in your carry-on: 1. Meat cleaver 2. Mace/pepper spray 3. Cooking fuel 4. Gel candles 5. Perfume 6. Snowglobes 7. Cranberry sauce 8. Maple syrup 9. Oils and vinegar 10. Wine, liquor and beer Also, passengers are still limited to 3-ounce or smaller containers of liquids and gels, placed in a quart-size zip-top bag. Items such as baby food, breast milk and medicines are allowed to exceed three ounces.

On a brisk sunny afternoon, several mothers and their children carried galvanized buckets, drills and hammers into the woods surrounding Bear Branch Nature Center in Westminster. They identified the tallest, hardiest maple trees, mostly by their silvery white bark, and set to work on the first phase of a process that could end with maple syrup. "Mom, drill please," said Victoria Dinisa, 9, of Littlestown, Pa. "I need to make a big hole." Actually, Victoria only needed to twist and turn the hand drill, called a brace and bit, long enough to place a 2-inch hole in the thick bark.

Move over, Vermont and New Hampshire. Maple syrup is being made in Gardenville, even if on a small scale.On cool March mornings, the Brewster family harvests gallon jugs of clear sap from maple trees in their Northeast Baltimore neighborhood. Their trees are no farther from the kitchen door than the patio.The Brewsters have successfully tapped sap-producing maples in the back yard of their bungalow in the 5700 block of Newholme Ave. and the back yards of their neighbors and have enough maple syrup for their pancakes and waffles.

Fall is New England's signature season, in both foliage and food. It brings the flavors of tradition - apples and cranberries, maple syrup, squash and pumpkins in vivid colors and interesting shapes. Hearty chowders and stews. Indian pudding. Pancakes, with the fruit of the orchard. And the abundant bounty of the sea, so much a part of life from Connecticut to Maine.

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Those six simple words from "The Christmas Song," written in 1944, create a vision of holiday cheer that has stood the test of time - a crackling fire to ward off the cold and dark of a winter evening, friends and family gathered nearby and the simple, delicious pleasure of eating sweet, meaty chestnuts. One hundred years ago, those chestnuts undoubtedly would have come from American chestnut trees, once a dominant species in East Coast forests. But by the time Nat King Cole crooned those famous words, the trees were nearly gone, felled by a blight.