Shagbark Hickory Syrup for Supper

I am a lucky girl.  Arriving home late and hungry tonight, a quick fix simple supper was in order.  Looking in the frig, I happened on ham steak.  This could do the trick.  A quick saute, and a simple glaze was all it would take.  With a little further digging, now in the dark corners of a pantry cupboard, a paper bag contained the makings for a great side dish.  Tiny organic sweet potatoes were there languishing, waiting for me to finally remember having purchased them at one of the last farmer's markets of the season.  Now this would be the perfect supper.  But, to make things even better, I recalled recently receiving a great birthday gift from Indiana:  a big bottle of Shagbark Hickory Syrup.  A fantastic meal plan quickly materialized:  make a ham glaze with the shagbark syrup, and roast up those baby sweets with some rosemary in the oven.  What a lucky, lucky girl.

The Shagbark Syrup deserves a little explanation.  As a school project this year, my students and I collected maple sap and turned it into maple syrup.  The syrup we made was fantastic, and the whole project was a lot of fun.  We all learned a great deal about trees and syrup, and are avid real maple syrup fans!  So, when I read about a couple in Indiana who are making syrup from the bark of a hickory tree, I was very interested.  Turns out, they do not use tree sap, but instead extract flavor from the bark, and then make a syrup from that extract.  According to their website, famous chefs have found great ways to use the stuff, and swear by it's versatility.   Lucky for me, my thoughtful friend found it at an Indianapolis farmer's market, and sent it my way.  Tonight was it's debut.

As for the baby sweets, they came from an organic farmer in Ohio.  These were the last of the season, and of a number of different varieties. He talked me into these odds and ends, describing their versatility and awesome flavor.  So, weeks later,  I scrubbed them up, but kept the skins on, and chunked them into equal sized pieces.  These I coated in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary.  They went into a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes, and came out sweet, toasty and delicious, just as he promised.  A great pairing with the locally smoked, pan fried, shagbark hickory-glazed ham.  A quick, simple supper indeed.

Shagbark Hickory-Glazed Ham Slices


1 Ham Steak - pan fried til golden brown


1 T dijon mustard
2 T apple cider vinegar
3 T shagbark hickory syrup (real maple syrup can be substituted)

Combine glaze ingredients.  Pour over cooked ham slice and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, turning the ham occasionally to glaze evenly.