Maple Bourbon Green Beans

The History of Maple Syrup:

Facts from Maple Valley Cooperative:

The origins of maple sugaring (the practice of making maple syrup from sap) are steeped in legend. Native Americans began the practice long before Europeans arrived in North America. However, no one knows what tribe first discovered it. There are multiple legends regarding its discovery.

Early Native American methods of sap collection involved cutting a V shape into the bark of the maple tree and placing a wedge at the bottom of the cut. Sap would flow out of the wedge and into baskets that were placed at the base of the tree. The sap was collected and slowly boiled until it became syrup. At this point, they would allow it to cool and it would be kept in baskets. Generally, the gathering and boiling of sap was done by women in the tribe.

When European colonists settled in the area, they learned how to tap maple trees from the indigenous people. However, instead of using a wedge to extract sap, they would drill holes in the trees using augers. They would then insert wooden spouts into the holes and hang buckets from them to collect sap.

In modern times, there are many options for making maple syrup that are available to producers. Depending on which method they use, they are able to greatly increase production and efficiency in their production, thus lowering cost for customers. However, at its most basic level, the process has not changed much from the original method used by early Native Americans.

🛒 Ingredients needed:

• fresh green beans
• onion
• bacon
• dried cranberries
• maple syrup
• bourbon
• salt and pepper

✏️ How to make Maple Bourbon Green Beans:

*The complete, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post.

1. Place the beans in a steamer basket over boiling water, and steam for 4 to 5 minutes (or until crisp-tender). Drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the onion and bacon over medium-heat until the bacon is crisp; drain. Add the beans, cranberries, syrup, bourbon and salt/pepper. Heat through.
3. Add the cooked green beans to the skillet, and toss. Serve immediately.

➡️ Recipe Tips:

• Use fresh, trimmed green beans for this recipe (or haricot verts). Canned or frozen green beans will not work well in this recipe.
• Sweetened dried cranberries will be better in this recipe than fresh, tart cranberries.
• You can absolutely leave out the bourbon if you don’t like to cook with alcohol.
• And you can leave out the bacon if you would like this recipe to be vegetarian.

Fun Facts About Maple Syrup:

• Of the 132 species of maple trees, only 3 species are used to make maple syrup. Black maple, red maple, and sugar maple are popular choices for syrup producers due to the high sugar content of the sap.
• One tree can produce up to 15 gallons of sap per year. 40 gallons of sap can make 1 gallon of syrup!
• Most of the world’s maple syrup comes from Quebec.
• Maple farming is very weather-dependent. Producers typically start tapping trees in early spring, when the trees and their sap begin to thaw. In a good year, the sugaring season will last between four and six weeks.
• Due to rationing during the Second World War, Canadians were encouraged to sweeten their food with maple syrup instead of sugar.
• Celebrities attribute maple syrup to their weight loss and detox regime, which consist of consuming only maple syrup, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and water for 10 days straight.
• Maple syrups are categorized as either A or B and graded from light to dark (and a B syrup is darker in color than an A syrup). Darker syrup tends to have stronger flavor.