Aunt Jemima, say “Uncle.” Maple syrup isn’t purely for pancakes anymore, or just for waffles, or as a topping for vanilla ice cream (sorry, Dad). “If you use maple syrup to add an element of sweetness in a recipe,” says Laura Sorkin, who owns Runamok Maple in Fairfax, Vt., with her husband, Eric, “you get a much more nuanced complexity than with just plain sugar or corn syrup. “You’d miss it if it weren’t there.” Sorkin, who writes about cooking and farming and holds a degree from the French Culinary Institute, uses maple syrup much as other cooks might use a soupcon of cane sugar or a tablespoon of honey in the many savory dishes for which she has developed recipes. “Thai cooking in particular,” she says, “is a good example of often adding a splash of sweetness.” Many Asians add a sweet thing to their main dishes, as a crucial balancing element to other important factors at play in those same preparations, such as acidity or chili heat.