OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and this weekly newsletter. Every week, Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian, food writer and ecologist, highlights different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem. This week she shares a new episode — Maple — and offers a recipe for a maple-glazed breakfast burger.

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If you grew up in the Pacific Northwest, you might remember one of the first trees we learned to identify was bigleaf maple. The name of the tree is apt — the leaves are indeed big, palmate-shaped, with five deep lobes spelling M-A-P-L-E as a mnemonic device. Recently, Oregon land managers have begun to explore the possibilities of tapping bigleaf maple trees to make syrup, and the results have been promising. Just as the maple syrup made in the Northwest is vastly different from that of the Northeast, the difference between real maple syrup and maple-flavored syrup is night and day — but the ingredient used to make artificial maple flavoring still has a place in the spice cabinet. Do you know what that spice is? Read on to find out!

Oh, and a HUGE thank you to everyone who turned out for our meet and greet/tasting and screening! It was so lovely to connect with you all in person, and we’re looking forward to doing it again soon.

A new episode, “Superabundant” is a superwinner, new reuse, fair food and good things in markets, gardens and kitchens

Another flavor of the Northwest

The upper west coast has tons of native maples, so why don’t we have our own maple syrup? we look at how researchers and land managers are working together to bring syrup tapped from native bigleaf maples to market.

“Superabundant” Season 2 wins big!

We’re delighted to share that not only did Superabundant take home a bunch of Telly Awards (one in the Food & Beverage category, another for Crystal Ligori’s narration, one for Stephani Gordon’s videography and another for MacGregor Campbell’s animation) but the series nabbed THREE Northwest Regional Emmy Awards — one for the Dungeness crab episode, one for the Soil episode, and another to sound supervisor Steven Kray for audio. Congrats to all the nominees and winners!

Growlers for grenache

Refillable wine bottles could soon become a norm in the winery business, thanks to Turner, Oregon-based company Revino. With 720,000 bottles going into wineries this year, it won’t just reduce waste, but could also provide a buffer against supply chain issues for local vineyards.

Civic pride is better fried

It’s Rose Festival time, and you know what that means: getting nauseous on carnival rides, flirting with sailors and gorging on all the fried delights imaginable. There will always be room in our hearts for new ideas (looking at you, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos cheese fries), but at the end of the day, you can’t really beat classic fair foods like funnel cakes, elephant ears and hand-dipped corn dogs. The Rose Festival (and the CityFair) run through June 9.

Good things in markets

As far as we’re concerned, there’s only one true queen of the Rose Festival: local strawberries. We cram plenty of the rose-family members into jam jars, but while they’re at their peak there is no greater display of the fruit’s charms than in a strawberry shortcake. We like to serve ours on fat slabs of homemade buttermilk-vanilla pound cake, but if you prefer leaving it to the professionals you’re in luck: June 10-16 is James Beard Strawberry Shortcake Week, at participating locations.

One reader who stopped by the meet-and-greet last Sunday asked for advice on how to use some porcini she’d scored at the farmer’s market. This is the best kind of question! Our favorite way to learn how to cook new things is to bring something unfamiliar home and figure it out later. With fresh wild mushrooms, a risotto or pasta dish will always fill the bill, but one of our favorite ways to use a special treat like porcini is a creamy stroganoff-type ragu with lots of fresh parsley and dill, served on a bed of rye spaetzle.

In the “Superabundant” garden this week

We have just picked the season’s first golden raspberries! The loganberries and Chester blackberries are producing a lot of fruit as well, giving us high hopes for a bountiful crop over the coming months.

The bamboo shoots have been going gangbusters — we took a bag of them to surprise our favorite H Mart cashier, Li-Ping, whose face positively lit up when we handed them over (evidently, fresh bamboo shoots are hard to come by). She said when they’re fresh, she shaves them for a salad with mayonnaise (a classic style in Taiwan) or if they’re slightly woody she juliennes them to stir-fry with meat.

The hens have been laying a lot of eggs, and unfortunately the little ding-dongs have been tucking them into some weird posts in the garden (the pullets have developed the bad habit of sleeping in the nest box, so the older girls are finding creative solutions). We don’t mind the egg hunt, though — if you’re not sure how fresh an egg is, you can give it the float test: set the egg in a glass of water, and if it sinks, it’s fresh; if it sort of stands up, you should eat it as soon as you can; if it floats, toss it. As eggs age, the air pocket between the shell and membrane grows, which is why the egg floats; if you raise your own hens, avoid washing the eggs until you’re ready to use them to keep them fresh longer (washing removes the waxy cuticle that protects the egg shell’s pores).

Lately, in the “Superabundant” kitchen

✨ After spending the weekend in Seattle for the Emmys (and eating all the dumplings and noodles we could find), it was good to eat some vegetables — in this case, a taco salad with heavily spiced Ota tofu and roasted peppers.

✨ We seared a couple tuna steaks to eat with stir-fried bamboo shoots (seriously, we’re buried in them!) and asparagus, steamed rice and a little miso sauce. “Fast and inexpensive” rules the weeknight meal planning!

✨ With the change in weather, there’s nothing better than having a big old tub of cold pasta salad on hand — and it’s a great way to use up jars of whatever odds and ends you have in the fridge. In this case, cooked rotini got tossed with chopped salami, cucumbers, red bell peppers and some herbs from the garden, a little Italian salad dressing and whatever nubs of cheese were kicking around the fridge deli drawer.

Recipe: Maple-glazed breakfast burger

Bigleaf maple trees have something to give nearly all year round — in the early spring, their flower clusters make a delicious green vegetable and in the fall you can mine nutritious seeds from their double-samaras (better known as the “helicopters”). In the winter, their sweet xylem flows freely, and when you boil this sap to evaporate the water, you end up with maple syrup.

Similarly to how buckwheat honey is vastly different from clover honey, bigleaf maple syrup dark, intense and complex, completely distinct from syrups made from sugar maples on the east coast (and nothing like maple-flavored syrup, which uses fenugreek instead of the real deal). Bigleaf maple syrup has its own terroir, evocative of the Northwest’s acidic, volcanic soils and unique mycological communities.

Sure, you could use maple syrup for pancakes if you’re feeling flush with cash, but over here at “Superabundant” we’re huge fans of sweet with savory. Whether or not you think pineapple on pizza is a sin or that ketchup has no place on scrambled eggs, you can’t argue with the science: sugar and acid enhance the flavor of salty and savory foods. It’s all about balance and that’s why we will always be Team Sausage with Syrup.

That said, bigleaf maple syrup is elusive — a rare and special product that should be savored, drizzled sparingly like truffle oil. If you can’t find it, that’s OK! This will still be a satisfying and indulgent meal. We recommend serving these with roasted potato wedges (hey, there’s no law against having jojos for breakfast). Makes 4 large burgers

Note: If you don’t eat meat, use your favorite meatless breakfast sausage or pucks of roasted butternut squash — see the squash instructions at the end.

Ingredients

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage meat (or links, casings removed)

neutral cooking oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

4 eggs

Salt and pepper

4 ounces sliced cheddar cheese (smoked Gouda also works well here)

4 toasted brioche hamburger buns, English muffins, or halved biscuits

Pepper jelly or hot sauce (optional)

Instructions

1. Divide the sausage meat into four portions and form into patties about 4 inches in diameter. Set aside.
2. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the sausage patties. Stir the maple syrup with the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, and once the patties have begun to brown (after about 3 minutes of cooking), flip them and brush the cooked side with the syrup glaze. Cook until browned on the other side, then flip again and brush more of the syrup glaze. Repeat flipping and brushing with glaze until the glaze has reduced and gotten sticky and no pink remains in the center of the patties.
3. While the sausage patties are cooking, heat a couple teaspoons of oil in another pan over medium heat. Fry the eggs to your preferred doneness and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Plate the toasted buns, then top with the cooked sausage patties, the sliced cheese and the eggs, adding pepper jelly or hot sauce as desired.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH VERSION

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 450 F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Slice the neck of a butternut squash into four rounds about ¾-inch thick, poke holes in each side with a fork. Drizzle the squash generously on both sides with oil.
3. Stir the maple syrup, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar together in a small bowl and brush the mixture on both sides of the sliced squash. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper, and then roast the squash until tender and browned on the edges, about 10 minutes on each side (flip halfway through roasting).
4. Prepare and assemble the remaining burger ingredients as instructed above.

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