Mape Syrup/Pancakes

[GulPlum]

At 17:12 07/12/03 , Steve wrote:

>Most maple-like syrup, which includes most commercial brands of
>pancake syrup are mostly carmel colored corn syrup with maple
>flavoring. The better brands might actually have 10% to 20% real maple
>syrup in them. So very few people ever have real pure maple syrup. I
>don't think I ever had any until I was full grow, earning a good
>living, and living on my own.

The point I was trying to make is that the expense is secondary to the fact 
that maple syrup is simply foreign to European culinary tradition (and, 
perhaps more importantly, our palates). Since I wrote my previous message, 
I've been out and about, and popped into three (large, cosmopolitan) 
supermarkets. Only one sold "maple syrup", and the two products thus named 
were as described above, with just a small percentage of the actual stuff. 
The price tag was over £1.50 (around $US2) for 300ml (i.e. standard soft 
drink can). Looking around online, a British supermarket (Tesco) is selling 
the pure stuff for £2.50 (around $US4) for 330g (same quantity). How does 
that compare to typical US prices?

As for the British attitude to eating pancakes for breakfast, here's a 
(really) tangential HP example. As most people know, before getting the 
starring role in the HP movies, Dan Radcliffe had a small part in The 
Tailor Of Panama (as the son of the titular main protagonist). His only 
comprehensible line in the movie is in the penultimate scene when his 
screen dad asks what his kids want for breakfast. "Can we have pancakes?", 
asks pre-Harry Dan, and gets a really quizzical look in return (and, 
eventually, a pancake). There's a screen grab of the "pancake factory" in 
full swing at http://tinyurl.com/y51k

(actually 
ttp://www.radnetcafe.com/new_drgalleries/albums/tailor_of_panama/ttop_0037.j 
pg but that's going to wrap).

(oh, and just for completeness, here's an MP3 of him saying the line, from 
my site: http://plum.cream.org/HP/misc/pancakes.mp3 ).