>> I spent a lot of my summer vacations in New Hampshire, and I learned a deep appreciation for the gift of the trees. <<

I want to try some of the other tree syrups. I like birch beer, so I'm thinking birch syrup is a good bet, but there are more.

>> And by "loose meat sandwich filling", I assume you mean "sloppy joe" or a similar preparation.<<

Yep. I make sloppy joes, tidy joes (with wheat kernels), wild ones when I can get game meat, etc.

>> I'm surprised that there's that much sweetener in commercial mixtures (which are largely flavored TVP) <<

I think they use HFCS to make it thicker and disguise the bad manufacturing tastes. To me it just tastes like sticky corn. 0_o

My recipes generally consist of ground meat, half a bag to a bag of assorted produce (mostly tomatoes, some onion and pepper, sometimes celery, etc.) plus tomato paste, spices, organic ketchup and/or barbecue sauce. If I need to adjust the flavors I can add vinegar, molasses, honey, etc. Half a day to a day's work gives a stack of cartons we can freeze and thaw out later.