Three Things You Should Do With This Crusted Maple Syrup Bottle (Before You Toss It)

Maple syrup is so good it’s hard to believe it comes from a tree. Or maybe it’s easy to believe. Trees also give us peaches, olives, and lemons, three things that, by their very existence, markedly improve worldly life. I feel like maple syrup knows how good it is, at least based on its price; and it’s a price that makes me hesitate to throw away even a nearly empty bottle.

It’s part of the Lifehacker Eating Trash With Claire series , where Claire Lower urges you to turn your kitchen scraps into something edible and delicious.

A nearly empty bottle is what I came across after making maple syrup poached eggs , which are arguably one of my top three eggs. I bought a new bottle of syrup to eat more maple eggs, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw away the old, crusty, sticky bottle while I still saw a few milliliters of syrup pooling at the bottom. There wasn’t even enough syrup for one pancake, but it was enough to sweeten a glass of iced coffee (or a couple of other things).

Rinse the maple syrup bottle with a cold drink

Maple syrup functions just like any syrup in a drink and dissolves into a solution with little effort on your part, even in cold drinks. Simply pour a few ounces of cold drink, regular drip coffee or espresso into a bottle, shake, shake, then pour into an ice-filled glass (or mug if you’re using hot coffee) and enjoy. If coffee isn’t your favorite caffeinated drink, you can use this little trick with any drink, including tea and lemonade.

Make maple vinaigrette

If I could give salad lovers the world over one piece of advice, it would be: Use more acid in vinaigrettes. If I could give them two pieces of advice, the second would be: “Add some sugar.”

Sugar makes dishes taste better, but it also counterbalances the sourness of the acid in the dressing, rounding it up, creating a tangy but not unpleasantly sour vinaigrette. To make a maple vinaigrette right in the bottle, add 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt directly to the maple syrup bottle. Shake it and let it taste; if too sweet, add some more oil and vinegar. Shake and taste again and pour the mixture over a pile of raw leaves or roasted vegetables. It goes especially well with fried carrots.

Mix old fashioned maple

An old-fashioned smoothie is a lightly sweetened smoothie, and I love to sweeten my smoothie with maple . Since you only need a teaspoon of syrup, there’s probably more than enough in the bottle. Pour 2 ounces of bourbon into a maple bottle along with a few drops of bitters. Stir until the syrup dissolves, then pour into a lowball with ice. Garnish with a cherry or orange slice.