By The kitchen is in full fall mode. The oven at 375 (always 375), the crockpot on the counter, the pantry stocked with jars from last August's canning — the evidence of a woman who preserves summer against winter and loss against forgetting and food against everything.
The recipe this week: chicken and dumplings. Standing at the stove, Marlene's wooden spoon in my hand (the cracked one, the one that will outlast us all), the recipe either from the card box or from my own expanding collection, both equally real, both equally mine. The kitchen holds all of it — the old recipes and the new ones, the teacher's food and the student's food, the grief and the joy and the cinnamon. All of it. Always.
The trees along the highway are turning — maples red, oaks gold, the Bradford pears doing their useless purple thing. Iowa falls are short and violent and beautiful. The kitchen shifts to slow mode: crockpots, Dutch ovens, the oven at 375 from September through April. The fall cooking is the cooking of a woman settling in for the long season.
The pantry shelf with its rows of canned summer felt like it needed one more jar — something for the slow mornings that Iowa fall demands, something I could stir into a cup of coffee and feel the whole season in one sip. This gingerbread syrup is that jar. It doesn’t require Marlene’s wooden spoon or a recipe card worn soft at the edges, but somehow it still fits right alongside everything else on that shelf — a little warmth you make yourself, against the cold and the dark and the long stretch of months ahead.
Gingerbread Syrup
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 16 (about 1 cup)
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of fine sea salt
Instructions
- Combine. Add the water, sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine.
- Dissolve. Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture just begins to simmer, about 5–7 minutes. Do not boil hard.
- Simmer. Reduce heat to low and let the syrup simmer gently for another 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon.
- Finish. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Store. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a clean glass jar or bottle. Seal and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Stir or shake before each use.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 52 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 12mg