Syrup

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

Oh, the physical sacrifices I make for my job as a journalist. True, I have never been assaulted by a mob in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as CBS' Lara Logan was. And I've never been injured by a bomb, as happened to ABC's Bob Woodruff and CBS' Kimberly Dozier in Iraq. In fact, the last time I left Maryland for an assignment, it was to cover the Philadelphia Flower Show, and that's not exactly hazard duty. But I am recovering from injuries suffered while writing a food story for our Wednesday Taste section, and I'd like a little more attention to my suffering than I got in the emergency room.

Around 1,000 gallons of corn syrup escaped from a South Baltimore storage tank Friday night, and 300 gallons of the sticky substance wound up in the Inner Harbor before a leaking valve was plugged, fire officials say. The leak occurred at Westway Feed Products in Locust Point, said fire operation aide Kris Floyd. Fire officials originally reported the location as the nearby Domino Sugar factory. By 10:30 p.m. Friday, firefighters had set up blockades on Hull Street to keep the syrup from reaching storm drains, Cartwright said Friday night.

While the Sugar Association applauds efforts to combat childhood obesity, delivering 10 tons of sugar (or white sand as the case may be) to illustrate what people are putting in their bodies when they drink a soda unfortunately misses the mark, as does The Sun's headline: "Howard bans sales of sugary drinks on county property" (Dec. 12). Sugar is sucrose - the all-natural sweetener you keep on your kitchen counter, not the sweetener in most beverages. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 90 percent of all caloric sweetener used in beverages in the United States is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

* Item: Mrs. Butterworth's flavored syrups * What you get: At least 9 servings * Cost: About $3.10 * Preparation time: Pour from bottle * Review: Mrs. Butterworth is obviously aiming her newest syrups at the younger set. The kid-friendly flavors come in break-proof, drip-proof, easy-to-squeeze plastic bottles with sparkling labels. Truth be told, however, your inner child (and who doesn't have an inner child who still loves a big plate full of pancakes or waffles smothered in syrup?

Apple dumplings boiling in sweet syrup in the oven give off an unmatched aroma, as well as the promise of a taste treat to come.Most importantly, they answer a request from Trudy A. Gordon of Baltimore, who wrote that she wanted a recipe for apple dumplings, "in which the dumplings are boiled in water and stay together and don't fall apart."The recipe chosen calls for the dumplings to boil in sweet syrup in the oven. Virginia Holderman of Millersville, who sent in the recipe, says she's been making them for 25 years.

Naturalist Kirk Dreier learned long ago that it takes more than just maple sap to make homemade maple syrup. As a teen-ager, he identified maple trees, drilled holes and collected sap. That was the easy part. "I boiled it, and I didn't know what was going on, and I lost interest," said Dreier, director of the Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville. He forgot to add the main ingredient - patience. "People visit the nature center and ask what's in the maple syrup," said Jim Clyburn, an Oregon Ridge guide.

Item: Kellogg's Eggo Waf-fulls What you get: 6 filled waffles Cost: About $2.50 Nutritional content: Maple - 160 calories, 5 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 300 milligrams sodium Preparation time: Toast once or twice and serve Review: If you've ever watched a child eat a waffle, you know it can be a syrupy, sticky mess. We definitely agree there's merit to enclosing the syrup inside the waffle. As executed by Kellogg's, however, the idea needs a bit more fine-tuning. These frozen waffles come from the box with a big blob of frozen syrup inside.

Got tamarind? If your response is "Got what?" you're not alone - at least in this country, where tamarind is still relatively unknown. In large parts of the world, particularly India and Latin America, tamarind is a taste treasure, and tamarind tea or tamarind water is considered an indispensable beverage for getting through hot weather. I suspect it will increasingly be showing up on American menus as adventurous chefs seek out tantalizing new flavors. One such chef is Diane Bukatman, who five years ago transplanted her For the Love of Food catering business and cooking classes to Reisterstown from New York.

Hampden's Alchemy may have one of the tiniest upstairs bars in Baltimore. But there are some serious, high-end cocktails being crafted in this small space. Dubbed "Potions" (see what they did there?), the cocktail menu features an extensive selection of hand-crafted and tweaked blends of traditional drinks that demonstrate a lot of care, craftsmanship and, best of all, lots of flavor. "It's fun, I love doing it. We find what's trending and give it our own twist," said bartender Matthew Ballinger.

At Hersh's Pizza and Drinks down in South Baltimore, Josh Hershkovitz has started factoring in some new fall dishes, like a wood-fired hanger steak with porcini rub and oven-roasted rutabaga; prosciutto-wrapped treviso (think radicchio) with balsamic vinegar and Grana Padano. He'll be adding in more fall appetizers and entrees, too. Of course, a lot of the things on Hersh's pre-set pizza list sound like they're made for fall, like the kale and pistachio, with fontina, pecorino Romano and garlic, and the clam pie, a beauty with shredded mozzarella, garlic, lemon, parsley and pecorino Romano.

Is there a vegetable subtler than the cucumber? Well, maybe cauliflower, but when used in a way that maximizes its grassy flavor, the cucumber can prove to be a great buy at your local farmers' market. From May until November, the cuke is used mainly as a topper on salads and as a member of the always bland crudites platter. It dreams of one day becoming a fancy sandwich served with tea. What it might never have imagined is becoming a bright and thirst-quenching drink for hot summer days.

Hampden's Alchemy may have one of the tiniest upstairs bars in Baltimore. But there are some serious, high-end cocktails being crafted in this small space. Dubbed "Potions" (see what they did there?), the cocktail menu features an extensive selection of hand-crafted and tweaked blends of traditional drinks that demonstrate a lot of care, craftsmanship and, best of all, lots of flavor. "It's fun, I love doing it. We find what's trending and give it our own twist," said bartender Matthew Ballinger.

Don't be fooled. Silo.5%, the new wine bar in Locust Point, stands out for more than their extensive list of vino. The scene - a modern lounge with black leather furniture, intimately arranged; the bar - a clean slate-marble accented in green lighting; and the scenery - a panoramic glass exterior opens to a harbor view. It's a perfect venue for a cool, casual cocktail date. Its drink menu runs seamlessly together with its style - classic with a modern edge. My favorite, Catch U in the Rye, is a spicy, sexy take on an old-school American favorite: the Manhattan.

Around 1,000 gallons of corn syrup escaped from a South Baltimore storage tank Friday night, and 300 gallons of the sticky substance wound up in the Inner Harbor before a leaking valve was plugged, fire officials say. The leak occurred at Westway Feed Products in Locust Point, said fire operation aide Kris Floyd. Fire officials originally reported the location as the nearby Domino Sugar factory. By 10:30 p.m. Friday, firefighters had set up blockades on Hull Street to keep the syrup from reaching storm drains, Cartwright said Friday night.

The fall cocktail menu at B&O Brassiere proves that it takes more than just apple and pumpkin flavors to capture the season. "I wanted to create a drink that screamed fall - something that was rich and yet lively," head bartender and mixologist Brendan Dorr explains. His spirited concoction, the Orchard Express, a twist on the brandy-and-cognac-heavy Sidecar, speaks to both. The Express is a zippy infusion of more sophisticated autumnal tastes. The base spirit is still cognac - Remy Martin VS - but Dorr lightens the mood with two key ingredients: a Rothman & Winter apricot cordial and Cocchi Barolo Chinato.

At Hersh's Pizza and Drinks down in South Baltimore, Josh Hershkovitz has started factoring in some new fall dishes, like a wood-fired hanger steak with porcini rub and oven-roasted rutabaga; prosciutto-wrapped treviso (think radicchio) with balsamic vinegar and Grana Padano. He'll be adding in more fall appetizers and entrees, too. Of course, a lot of the things on Hersh's pre-set pizza list sound like they're made for fall, like the kale and pistachio, with fontina, pecorino Romano and garlic, and the clam pie, a beauty with shredded mozzarella, garlic, lemon, parsley and pecorino Romano.

For all its flowering beauty and seductive aroma, lavender has only recently been considered useful as a culinary herb, and has yet to make a splash in the beverage world. But if you take some time to understand this herb and learn how to coax out its best flavors, you might find it's worth the effort. Jo Asher grows a wide variety of culinary lavender at her Watercolor Lavender Farm in White Hall. This time of year, she is fond of gazing over her flowering fields while enjoying a sip of some drink infused with lavender, and she has some good advice on using the herb to quench a summer thirst.

I've got to admit, I was a little nervous watching Neil Dundee, manager/resident cocktail connoisseur at Tapas Adela, assertively select, then chop, a full jalapeno - seeds and all - to make the restaurant's signature Hot Bourbon. Then, he threw them in the glass and crushed them - "to get the jalapeno juices out" he reassured me. "You need those juices and the seeds to bring out the sweetness of the bourbon. " Maybe it was his confident smile, maybe it was the lush bar décor, maybe it was the sultry Spanish music wafting through this Fells Point tapas spot, but something made me believe him, even for a non-bourbon drinker like me. Adela's Hot Bourbon is one smooth customer.

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.