If your parents are serious cooks/eaters, it’s an idea for a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift—so much tastier than another scarf or tie.

And if no one cooks, there’s a delicious arrope pumpkin preserve, a recipe that derives from the ancient use of arrope to preserve or stew fruits. The pumpkin is cooked in the arrope until it is candied. It’s delicious as a sweet-and-earthy bread spread or a condiment with creamy goat’s or sheep’s milk cheeses (see photo below).

In fact, when you go to purchase arrope, you need to be specific. Otherwise, you can easily be sold the preserve instead of the syrup, or vice versa. Tip: If the word “pumpkin” appears, it’s the preserve.

WHAT IS ARROPE

A reduction of grape must, arrope is a condiment that dates to ancient Rome, where it was called defrutum or sapa. It survives as a gourmet Spanish condiment. The name comes from the Arabic word rubb, syrup.

So if you’re a balsamic vinegar fan, chances are good that you’ll be happy to discover arrope.

As civilization embraced massed-produced foods over artisan products in the latter half of the 20th century, the craft of making arrope—which involves carefully cooking down the must into a syrup over a period of weeks—has almost disappeared. It survives among a handful of artisan producers, carrying on family traditions. (Before modern times, arrope was made by the cook of the family.)

In Spain, the few remaining artisans produce arrope syrup (grape must reduction) and preserved pumpkin.

While it’s no leap to combine arrope in Spanish recipes, you can port it over to any cuisine—just as with Italy’s saba and France’s verjus.

It starts with a large quantity of grape must, freshly pressed grape juice that still contains all of the skins and seeds and stems. The must is very flavorful with high levels of sugar.

 
Ready to try it? Check at your local specialty food market or order it online:

The loaves freeze nicely, so make more than one. A homemade loaf of bread also makes a nice house gift when you’re invited for dinner.
This recipe is courtesy Pompeian, which uses its Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the recipe.
 
 
RECIPE: KALAMATA OLIVE BREAD

Ingredients For One 1-3/4 Pound Loaf

Preparation

1. COMBINE the warm water, yeast and sugar in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and let sit for 15 minutes or until the mixture starts to bubble.

2. FIT food processor with the dough blade. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl. With the machine running, add the liquid ingredients slowly through the feed tube and process until the dough forms a ball. Continue processing for another 30 seconds.

3. TRANSFER the dough to a floured wooden surface and flatten slightly into a disc. Top with the olives, roll up and form into a ball. Place the ball in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
Variations

4. TURN dough out onto lightly floured surface and round it into a smooth ball, pulling excess dough underneath and pinching to form a tight seal. Return dough to oiled bowl, cover loosely and let rise until doubled in size and the dough spring backs slowly to the touch, about 1 hour.

5. PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

This bread can be made well ahead of time and reheated in 300°F oven.

It can also be frozen successfully:

 
Enjoy the bread plain or dipped in olive oil!

Caffeine is a natural stimulant, a compound present in tea, coffee and other beverages. Coffee has more caffeine, 80 to 100 mg. per cup.

Among teas, black tea has the highest amount of caffeine, about 40 mg. per cup; with diminishing amounts found in oolong, green (approximately 20 mg. per cup) and white teas, depending on strength and steeping time.

But what if you need more of a caffeine jolt and don’t like coffee or energy drinks?

Republic Of Tea hopes to fill the gap with its new line of HiCaf™ Teas for natural energy.

The company has intensified the normal caffeine in tea by adding green tea extract, known to have more caffeine than coffee, so tea drinkers can quickly get a healthy jump on the day.

There are five initial varieties: four black and one green.

HiCAF TEA VARIETIES

Black Teas

 
Green Tea

 
We received three samples: Breakfast Black Tea, Black Caramel and Gingermint Green. The caffeine content is clearly indicated on the side of each tin.

Breakfast Black and Gingermint Green read their scripts well, and we’ve been enjoying them every morning. Caramel Black was too flavor-forward for us but will please people who enjoy highly flavored teas. We expect the same would be true with Pom-berry and Toasted Coconut black teas.

No, but we don’t get a jolt from coffee, either.

Each tin contains 50 round, unbleached tea bags free of strings, tags and staples: $13/tin.

The full collection is available for purchase at RepublicOfTea.com and at natural and specialty food stores nationwide.
 
POP QUIZ: NAME THE FOODS THAT CONTAIN CAFFEINE

There are seven foods that contain natural caffeine. Can you name them?

The first two are giveaways: coffee and tea. The other five are in the footnote* below, but try to guess before you look.
 
*Cacao (in cocoa and chocolate products), coffee, guarana (a component of energy drinks), guayusa (another Amazonian leaf), the kola nut (used to make Coke and other colas), conventional tea (Camellia sinensis) and yerba maté.
  

Barley, buckwheat, bulgur, rice, quinoa….

You’re doing your best to eat more whole grains and up your daily fiber content.

But if you’re staring down a bowl of leftover grains in the fridge, here’s how to repurpose it. Although it isn’t a whole grain, include white rice on this list (since many of us have lots of leftover white rice from Chinese takeout). We haven’t included oatmeal because its cooked consistency has limitations; but you can find ways below to use it.

UNSEASONED GRAINS

 
Other ideas? Let us know!

The net of it is, you can celebrate a waffle holiday twice a year! Prepared sweet or savory, they can be served at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

In different parts of the world, waffles are topped with confectioners’ sugar, honey, jam, even peanut butter. But in the U.S., what are waffles without maple syrup?

And what’s with the different types of maple syrup?
 
 
GRADES (VARIETIES) OF MAPLE SYRUP

Because maple syrup is tapped in the winter, it has traditionally been seen as a winter flavor. But just like honey and sugar, it can be enjoyed year-round in recipes from cocktails to salad dressings and marinades to desserts.

If you’re confused by the four grades of maple syrup (A Light Amber, A Medium Amber, A Dark Amber and B) here’s an explanation of the different types.

Chicken and waffles. Photo courtesy Daniel Krieger | Sweet Chick | Brooklyn.

We recently received a bottle of Crown Maple syrup, certified organic. It is produced by Madava Farms, a family business in the historic Hudson River Valley of New York (Dutchess County).

There, 800 acres of century-old, sustainably managed groves of sugar and red maples enjoy perfect soil and ideal seasonal weather conditions to produce a superior sap for maple sugaring.

But production is a key determinant of quality. Far from the old primitive sugar house, Crown premium maple syrup is made at the most advanced maple syrup production facility in the country. The pristine sap collected from the maples is cooked using the latest in green, organic production techniques to produce syrups of exceptional quality.
 
CROWN SYRUP VARIETIES

As you can see from these tasting notes, different grades pair better with specific recipes.

Light Amber Syrup

 
Medium Amber Syrup

Dark Amber Syrup

 
Crown Maple Extra Dark for Cooking

 
Where To Purchase

A 12-ounce bottle, gift boxed, is $16.95; a samplers of all three is $59.95; and a “petite trio” of three small bottles (1.7 ounces each) is $15.95. An 12-ounce bottle of Extra Dark Syrup for Cooking is $27.95.

A 10-ounce bag of maple sugar (see below) is 10.95.

Buy them online at CrownMaple.com.

The Ur-Waffle. Before there were modern waffles, there were the rustic hotcakes of the Neolithic Age (ca. 6000 B.C.E. to ca. 2000 B.C.E.). Made of cereal pulps, they were cooked on heated stones. Honey is as old as written history, dating back to 2100 B.C.E., where it was mentioned in Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform writings, the Hittite code and the sacred writings of India and Egypt. We don’t know when man first decided to unite honey and hotcakes, but here’s the honey history.

The Waffle Iron. The waffle iron—enabling pancake-type foods to be turned into textured waffles—was created in the 1200s, when a [presumably] pancake-loving craftsman combined cooking plates that reproduced a pattern of honeycombs.

The Electric Waffle Iron. The electric waffle iron was introduced in 1911 by General Electric.

Types Of Waffles. There are at least 11 varieties of waffles: American, Belgian/Brussels, Liège, Hong Kong Waffle, Krumcake, Malt, Pizzelle, Potato, Soft, Stroopwafel and, yes, Toaster. Take a look at the types of waffles.

Here’s the complete history of waffles.

The Center Of Syrup. Canada produces more than 80% of the world’s maple syrup, the vast majority in Quebec. Vermont is the biggest U.S. producer, followed by New York and Maine. But no matter how much is produced in the U.S., we need to import the majority of our syrup from Canada. (We have the trees to produce more syrup, but not the people who want to tap them.)
 
 
RECIPE: HOMEMADE WAFFLES WITH A TWIST

Here’s a recipe from Crown that uses maple sugar instead of table sugar for even more maple flavor.

Ingredients For 6 Large Waffles

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT waffle iron to desired temperature.

2. COMBINE all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and set aside.

3. BEAT eggs in a separate bowl; stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture; beat until blended.

4. LADLE batter into heated waffle iron and cook until golden brown; serve immediately with maple syrup.
 
 
WHAT IS MAPLE SUGAR

Maple sugar is made from the sap from the maple tree, as opposed to the juice of sugar cane, from which table sugar is made. It has the same strong maple flavor and aroma as maple syrup.

The sap is boiled until almost all of the water has been evaporated; the remaining product has crystallized. The sugar can be sold in large blocks, molded into small shapes or simply ground into a granulated version that can be used like regular sugar.

Maple sugar can be used in the same way as cane sugar: in coffee, tea, baked goods and cocktails. It adds more complexity and richness than cane sugar.

However, is almost twice as sweet as regular sugar, so when replacing cane sugar, you need to reduce the amount. Try using one-third less, and adjust to taste.