Brit. Food: Pancakes and Waffles

[ovc88guelph]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "bluesqueak" <pipdowns at e...> 
wrote:

 So you could well have strawberries and cream on top of a waffle - 
> maple syrup is all imported in the UK, remember. It's *expensive*.
> 
> Pip

     It's expensive here too! But having made it several times, I 
think it's worth every penny to buy. It takes 5 gallons of maple sap 
to make one pint of syrup (or 40 litres to 500 ml, if you prefer.)I 
used to tap 6 trees some years ago, and that was enough to provide 
syrup for family and friends. But the work! I would snowshoe out to 
the trees, which are conveniently located 5 fields back. I would 
empty sap buckets into a 5 gallon pail in my back pack, hike back to 
the house, and spend the entire day boiling the sap down on the wood 
stove in my kitchen. On one occasion, the strap of one of my 
snowshoes broke mid stride. The free foot sank 3 feet in the snow, 
the other foot remained on top. With the weight of the full pail, I 
went over backwards and floundered like the proverbial turtle on its 
back. Of course, I was frantic that my day's supply of sap was 
spilling, and that put energy behind my efforts. The next day, I was 
making the sap run with some city friends who were keen on the 
rustic experience of syruping. When we reached the spot of my 
previous day's accident, the lady friend piped up "Oh look, some 
poor wild animal got trapped in the deep snow." Her husband dryly 
pointed out the "wild animal"'s snow shoe tracks leading away from 
the hole, and we all had a good laugh. I quit making syrup that 
year, and now happily pay $13 Cdn per litre! Of course, my little 
syruping project was not the way pros do it. Our neighbours tap 400 
trees, have a pipeline, pick up sap in a Gator, and boil it in 
stainless steel evaporators. But the atmosphere in the sugar shack, 
where friends gather and bottles of wine are uncorked is probably 
not much different from pioneer days. 

   The English pancakes you describe sound like crepes, which we 
have rolled up with syrup inside as breakfast food (on special 
occasions with blueberries and whipped cream) or with a filling as 
dessert or even supper. Pancakes are also common, standard fare for 
brekkie. Makes me long for cereal sometimes!

   MMcK, whose better half has made banana muffins for 
breakfast...what a relief!