Aunt Jemima Maple Syrup

        The year 1989 marked the 100th anniversary of the Aunt Jemima trademark. The name was concieved in 1889 by Chris Rutt while he was attending a vaudeville show and watching a New Orleans-style dance number performed to a jazzy tune called "Aunt Jemima." Rutt liked the music so much he stuck the name on his products. The maple syrup came along much later, in 1964, and is now the country's largest-selling syrup.
       Today some folks tell the story of how their friends or relatives once met Aunt Jemima many years ago and how she was a kind and cordial woman. Little do they realize that these people were fooled by a promotional campaign for the products back in the forties and fifties that used actresses traveling from town to town dressed up and acting like the "famous woman." There never really was an Aunt Jemima.

2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups dark corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon maple flavoring

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir occasionally, until the mixture comes to a full boil. Let it boil for 7 minutes.
3. Turn the heat off and let the syrup cool for 15 minutes.
4. Add the maple flavoring and stir.
5. When completely cool, transfer the syrup to a covered plastic or glass container.

Tidbits

For Syrup with a butter flavor, just add 3 tablespoons of butter to the mixture before heating.

For a lighter syrup, use a sugar substitute instead of the granulated sugar.

The absence of natural maple syrup in this recipe is not unusual. In fact, there is no real maple syrup in any Aunt Jemima syrups.