Lemon Thyme Infused Vermont Maple Syrup
How we created this delightful maple syrup infusion
We deliberated for a long time before deciding to offer a couple infused maple syrups. We hesitated because we wondered if we could find the time to keep up with it. We wondered if anyone would be interested in some of these flavors we dreamt of. We wondered if we should just offer popular infusions such as cinnamon or should we be creative and develop our own. Ultimately, we threw caution to the wind and infused some maple syrup. We made batch after batch in our home to get the ratios right and experiment with different flavors. We had a great time as a family working through this process of getting to try all sorts of concoctions we made. We always looked forward to the night we would get to try our infused syrups. We also set aside some long-term infusions to see how time in the bottle affected the flavor.
“We felt like we had cracked some ancient culinary code!”
After all our experimenting we decided on a Ceylon cinnamon stick infusion and a Lemon Thyme infusion. We knew the cinnamon and maple combination would be good as we had tried some before, many other people make this infusion. When we tried the Lemon Thyme mixed with the syrup, we all nodded with approval. It was a great combination of flavors! We felt like we had cracked some ancient culinary code! We tried it on ice cream and it was good. We tried it on cereal and it was good, and we also had plenty of spoonful’s just to make sure it was good from the bottle, and it was. We left some bottled for months before trying it and time did not seem to have an adverse effect.
a maple infusion is this…
What does “Infusion” even mean anyways? This was something I wondered about for a long thyme :) When I first heard of the word, I thought people were trying to make this process of adding flavor sound very over-complicated. It seemed like an attempt to sound overly fancy with their methods. The way I looked at it, it was just a flavored maple syrup, and really, at the end of the day that is what it is. This word Infusion refers to taking some sort of a solid and placing it in a warm liquid. The solid is usually something flavorful or aromatic. So, I guess technically, when you place a tea bag with some herbs in hot water, you are making an infusion! In the case of our infused syrups we create and sell the solids are the Ceylon cinnamon stick and the lemon thyme sprigs. To summarize, infusion is the process to move flavor from a solid to a liquid. What you end up with is a flavored maple syrup.
We are, as far as we know, the only company offering this particular infusion for Vermont Maple Syrup. It makes an outstanding gift if you are looking for something that is genuine and unique. The flavor is perfect for summer as it is bright and aromatic. This is a seasonal offering from us, we only make this Lemon Thyme infusion once a year when the plant sprigs are at their peak of flavor. This peak is usually around the end of June. When they are gone, they are gone until we make more the following summer.
The Lemon Thyme plant
We grow the Thyme in our garden here in Cambridge, VT. It seems to survive the winters even though we are pushing the plant hardiness scale a little bit with our northern location and climate. The plant is originally from the Mediterranean region and loves full sun. Full sun is not something we are known for here in VT! Even with this being a less than desirable location for the thyme plants, they seem to be doing fine and we think they taste great! We occasionally put their leaves on a salad and we appreciate their aroma when we are in our garden. They seem to be appreciated by all sorts of pollinators too so that is an added bonus of having the plants.
Making our seasonal batch of Lemon Thyme Infused Vermont Maple Syrup.
Lemon Thyme in our garden.
Both our infusions are offered in a 473 ml mason jar that has a handle on it. When the jar is emptied of its contents it can be used as a coffee or tea mug. This is by design as we want our bottles to be reused. We have a few of these in our cupboard and they work great for many uses.
Try some of our Lemon Thyme infused Vermont maple syrup! We think you’ll love it!
