My love for maple syrup

We are approaching March, the month where I get totally excited because I know that by the end of the month, the newest batch of pure maple syrup will be ready.  Shazam!
Maple syrup has got to be my most favourite flavour.  Right now, as I wait for my French toast to cook in the pan, I’ve got the bottle of maple syrup ready and I could easily open the bottle and drink!  The sweetness and pure flavour is unlike anything else.  It tastes so good.  My absolute favourite flavour.

Maple syrup is great for you.  Most people don’t realize that it is actually low calorie and full of manganese and zinc, both of which are nutrients very beneficial in our diet.  Now I’m not saying go out and chug a litre of this wonderful syrup but understand it has some important minerals to better our health.  Manganese helps build up our anti-oxidants and zinc is important for our immune system.  Zinc is also a key mineral for men in the preventiong of prostate cancer (source: whfoods.org).  It’s not only delicious, it’s good for me too!  Perfect, bring it on.  Use maple syrup for a sweet treat over ice cream, desserts, in your tea, in baking as  replacement for sugar, use it in cooking and of course on pancakes, waffles and French toast. By the way, my French toast is ready.  Delicious.
Lately though, I’m getting scared by news reports that tell us that our precious maple trees are at risk from the Asian long-horned beetle http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/01/10/ontario-environment-watchdog-warning-species-protection.html
just like the story indicates.  This is bad news.  Really bad news.  My heart sunk when I heard the news.  I can’t imagine my country without maple trees.  They are such a symbol of Canada.  Heck, have you looked at our flag lately?!
Now, I’m not one of those radical environmentalists but I do care about the environment and I do my part to lower my impact on it.  This is huge news for us in Ontario, in Quebec and all across the country.  News in the article deals with the loss of black spruce trees, ash trees, lakes, fisheries and now maple trees.  This is just heart-breaking.  We have to do something.  So, call your local MP and MPP and tell them you want the government to do more for the environment, for the maples, they’re depending on us.
Cheers.