Butternut Squash Maple Herb Soup

Vermont is crazy about maple. I am crazy about both maple and Vermont. I love cooking with maple. At the roasters we are lucky to be the only purveyors of Brannagan's Maple Syrup. This wood-fired goodness is super rich and bottled in glass the same day it is made. Just looking at the bottle makes me itch to cook with it. After I roasted three whole butternut squash I decided to can some soup for winter. I made an Apple Squash Curry soup and then I decided to make another variety.

This one is also vegan but relies more on traditional squash flavorings like sage and thyme. I can't wait to pop one of these open in January when my house looks like this:

It may be hard to see but the bottom glow is our door, the top one is our skylight. And yes those snowbanks are halfway up the trees in front of our house.

You will need:

2 lbs roasted butternut squash (about 2 cups)

6 cups vegetarian stock (I use a Vegetarian "Chicken" Broth powder, 1 tsp per cup of water)

a few sage leaves crumbled up (or 1/2 TBS ground sage)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 TBS dried thyme

3 TBS maple syrup

This soup could not be easier to make. I promise. 

Puree the squash so that it's smooth. 

Put the squash into a stockpot. Add the maple syrup.

Crumble up some sage leaves and add them along with the thyme, salt, and pepper.

Add the 6 cups of broth. Stir the squash and broth together until mixed. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

Serve or can for later. 

If you're canning it make sure to use clean, hot sterilized jars. Fill the jars leaving about 3/4" of headspace. Wipe the rim and threads and top with clean sterilized NEW lids and a clean ring tightened (but don't be the Hulk). The soup will need to be pressure canned at 11 lbs of pressure (I do 15 since I have a weighted canner) for 55 minutes. Be sure that after they are done you leave them undisturbed for 24 hours on the counter so that you can double check that they sealed. After this point you can remove the rings and store them for up to a year.