The Maple Way to Exciting Meals

Cooking food in maple sap is a good way to enjoy the daily favorites like baked beans and rice with exciting new flavors and extra added nutrition.

Maple based recipes offer a perfect opportunity to sneak in nutritious elements of wild greens into your family meals. One can enjoy maple- baked beans or sweet rice cooked in maple sap. These are not only highly nutritious but they are also sweet flavored.

Maple- baked beans

These beans take time to cook, so they are slow cooked in a crock pot for about 24 hours. As the sap slowly cooks down it turns into sweet, maple flavored gravy.

Ingredients

The main ingredients are 10 cups fresh maple sap and 4 cups dried navy beans (or any bean.)Other ingredients are:
2 medium onions, minced
1 Tbsp salt

Preparations

1.) The beans are soaked in water overnight.
2.) In the morning the beans are drained and placed in a Crockpot. 10 cups of fresh maple sap is then subsequently added.
3.) Turn Crockpot on high and cook all day until beans are soft and tender.
4.) Diced onions and a little more maple are then added, if they seem dry or low on liquid at this point.
5.) Continue to cook with the lid off the Crockpot overnight.
Three batches of maple baked beans can be made per year as they freeze nicely. These beans can be served at barbeques and potlucks in the summer.

Sweet rice salad

Ingredients

The main ingredient here is 3 cups of cooked rice or quinoa or any other grain of choice. Other ingredients are:
8 dates, chopped
1 apple, diced
1 cup plain yogurt
½ cup nuts (black walnuts nuts or hickory)

Preparations

1.) The 1 ½ cups of rice or other grain is cooked in 4 cups of fresh maple sap until done.
2.) Let cool thoroughly with a lid to prevent drying out.
3.) Apples, dates, nuts and yogurt are then mixed thoroughly.
4.) Chill, may be served slightly warmed or cold.
If you prefer these rice a little sweeter top with maple syrup.
Maple sap is also another great wild ingredient that promises to deliver eloquent tastes and needed nutrition in whatever meal they are used to make.