Your Mouth Deserves Fried Maple Leaves

Good thing all the ingredients for this autumnal-themed snack are sitting in piles on my lawn.

The thought of eating something usually scraped up by a rake is off-putting, but the pictures have sold me on deep-friend maple leaves, known as momiji in Japan.

These little treats, popular in the Osaka area of Japan, are comprised of leaves deep fried in tempura batter with sugar and sesame. What better way to celebrate fall than to mow down on the leaves that make it so special?

For the record, the leaves used for this foreign delight aren't just found on the ground. Many actually preserve them in salt barrels for over a year to prepare them for the frying.

This recipe includes the addition maple syrup to put a little more "maple" to that maple leaf. Every New Englander knows that adding maple syrup makes everything better. Everything.