Corner of Vermont is a store that sells maple syrup, maple sugar and maple candies. Also, the state’s maple-flavored creemees, which look like soft-serve ice cream but have more butterfat and therefore taste better.
Nothing too surprising, except what’s a store named Corner of Vermont doing in the heart of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood?
“I got tired of losing money as a Vermont farmer,” says Mark Hastings. He noticed that many customers at his seasonal roadside stand were from Brooklyn. So he followed them, setting up shop in Park Slope to sell products from the 250-acre Guilford Farm.
Another question: Why’s his single-estate maple syrup better than the 100% Vermont maple syrup found in any supermarket? Seems that, as with wine or olive oil, terroir can make a difference. Maple syrup is a living thing whose flavor and color vary according to the soil, climate and advancing season. So maple syrup from a single farm is likely to have distinctive properties lacked by supermarket syrup, which might be made with sap from 5,000 farmers. The bottle I chose was a dark amber that Hastings promised would deliver “straight-ahead maple flavor.”
Just then a stream of middle-schoolers charged into the store, demanding creemees and other after-school treats. I stopped asking questions and left.
And started thinking about what to do with my maple syrup. The usual, of course–pancakes, French toast, the occasional marinade. But this blog is about “cooking Italian anywhere” and therein lies the challenge. Italians don’t typically consume maple syrup. Or even like it, which may disappoint the proud Americans who give it to Italian friends as a gourmet gift.
Still, there had to be some good use for maple syrup in the Italian cooking canon. And then it came to me: the sweet ricotta fritters known as bombolette or, in Tuscany, as cenci. If honey is drizzled over them (and it is), why not maple syrup? I whipped up some fritters, and–oh yes! Maple syrup, right at home in Italy.
Adapted from Marcella Hazan's More Classic Italian Cooking
- 2 eggs
- 8 ounces best-quality ricotta
- 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1/3 cup flour
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 pinch sea salt
- Vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
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Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until light and foamy. Add the ricotta and butter. Continue whisking until creamy. Add the flour a little at a time until incorporated. Beat in the zest and salt. Let stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour but no more than 3.
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Fill a small skillet or wide saucepan with enough oil to come 1/2 inch up the sides. Heat over medium high heat until the oil shimmers. Working in batches, add the batter 1 tablespoon at a time, pushing it off with another spoon. The batter will sink, then rise to the top and puff up a little. When golden brown, turn and cook on the other side. Drain on paper towels.
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Place the fritters on a platter or individual plates and drizzle with maple syrup. Serve hot.