syrup birds new flock

published on pottery, brunch, breakfast

three blue syrup birds

TL;DR: New blue and red syrup birds in the online store.

We love real maple syrup. And since we tend to do some kind of pancakes or waffles every weekend, we have reason to pour a lot of it. A decade or so ago I decided it was time to solve the problem of "how can I drizzle syrup on my breakfast without slopping it everywhere and ending up with a pool in the middle of the plate?" Regular pitchers, even small creamers, tend to pour out way too fast and make a mess -- not to mention wasting expensive syrup.

So, I made some 4-5oz pitchers with very narrow, conical spouts to drizzle a controlled stream of warm maple syrup. These worked really well. My sweetie observed that they looked like birds, so I added eyes and toes to them and the syrup bird was born. I settled on two "plumage" color schemes; varigated blue with yellow beaks and toes, and bright red with black beaks and toes. I've been selling them ever since.

two red syrup birds

Here's how you use a syrup bird. First, fill it 2/3 of the way full of 100% genuine grade A maple syrup. Then, warm it up, either in the microwave (usually 15-20 seconds) or in a hot water bath.

syrup bird in hot water bath

Then, pour the syrup over your waffles, pancakes, Dutch baby, or whatever.

pouring a stream of syrup from a syrup bird onto a dutch baby pancake

Use the side spout to pour leftover syrup back into the bottle.

pouring back into the bottle

I recommend hand-washing these; while technically they are dishwasher-safe, the spouts and handles are quite fragile and are likely to get broken in the dishwasher.

Anyway, I've made a new batch of the syrup birds; currently there are two blue and two red ones available for sale. Ready in time for Hanukkah for the syrup-lover in your life!

The birds also work well for soy sauce.