Best homemade maple syrup recipe
August 7, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Frugal Gourmet
The last time I bought maple syrup was in 2000, or so. It’s been a REALLY long time. Back when I got into being extra thrifty, over my already thrifty self, I looked up a bunch of homemade alternatives to store bought items. Most of the time homemade items do end up costing less than prepackaged store bought.
I found countless recipes for maple syrup – some complicated, some more expensive than they should be, some good, and some pretty darn wacky. I eventually settled on a favorite thrifty recipe. It’s from a book called Miserly Moms – a book most thrifty folks have likely heard of. The book has some points that bother me, but also some good money saving tips, and of course the syrup recipe.
This syrup recipe is easy, tastes good, and I swear I’ve been using this one bottle of maple extract for years to make it, so it’s super cost efficient.
All you do is bring 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water to a boil, stirring continually, until it seems kind of thick (it won’t be as thick as store bought). Allow it to cool and as it cools add 1 teaspoon maple extract and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. I use pure extracts – they go a long way and taste better so to me it’s worth the cost.
Store this in the fridge. I store mine in a small glass jar. You can warm it in the microwave, or if like me you have no microwave, place it in a pot of hot water for a bit.
If you want to read about saving money and see more cost efficient recipes, check out the book Miserly Moms.
yep..that is the one I use…except I have about a million variations on it..everythign from banana maple nut syrup to strawberry vanilla.
Maybe I’ll have to try it … we usually buy real maple syrup at Costco and try to make it stretch, but that last time we were there it had gone up from $16 to $22 and I could not stomach it! (My husband has a very refined palate, but he might have to give in on this one.)
I’m so not surprised we use the same recipe Marye
Cheap Like Me – this recipe, I think, tastes pretty good, especially if you use real maple extract. I think that’s the difference (imitation is icky). Also, the longer you boil it, the thicker it gets.