It’s time to polish up your pancake tossing skills as Pancake Day falls early in 2008, on the 5th February. Make sure your pancakes are finished off with tasty traditional favourite Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which this year celebrates 125 years of sweet success; ensuring not only ‘flip-tastic’ family fun but also mouth-watering deliciousness this Shrove Tuesday.

Frying pan – check; perfect pancake tossing action – check; pancake batter ingredients – check, and most importantly… a healthy supply of the deliciously irresistable family favourite, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, to smother your pancakes in - check! Available in easy pouring bottles, in both Original and Maple Syrup flavours, Lyle’s Golden Syrup is really the only topping that should grace pancakes this year.

A sweet history

Brits have been pouring scrumptiously sticky Lyle’s Golden Syrup over pancakes for the past 125 years, but how much do you know about the history behind Pancake Day?

Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter - was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday Christians went to confession and were "shriven" (absolved from their sins). It was the last opportunity to use eggs and fats before the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients…and let’s face it, a temptingly yummy way at that!

The pancake has a very long history and has featured in cookbooks as far back as 1439. The tradition of tossing or flipping them is almost as old. Here’s one of Lyle’s Golden Syrups’ favourite pancake recipes, try it this Pancake Day and bring some fruitiness into this year’s Shrove Tuesday traditions:

Pineapple and coconut pancakes

Makes 16 small pancakes Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients

250g/10 oz pancake mix (for example Greens, or you can make your own with 150g plain flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, pinch salt, 55g caster sugar, 1 beaten egg, 200ml milk and a squeeze of lemon juice).

110g/4 oz sweetened desiccated coconut 1 egg, whisked 2 tbsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup 350ml milk 200g/8 oz can of crushed pineapple vegetable oil, for frying crème fraiche or plain yoghurt for serving

Instructions

• In a large bowl combine the pancake mix, coconut, egg, milk and crushed pineapple together to make the batter. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, under a medium heat. Pour a rounded tablespoon of batter onto the hot pan and flatten slightly.
• Fry the batter for 1-2 minutes and when it starts to bubble, turn over to reveal a crisp and golden side. Cook for a further 1-2 mins and set aside in a warm place. Finish making the rest of the batter in the same way.
• To serve, stack up 3-4 pancakes per person, drizzle with Lyle’s Golden Syrup and top with a dollop of crème fraiche. Delicious served with fruit salad.

• In the US, Pancake Day is commonly known as Mardi Gras; which means ‘Fat Tuesday’ in French!
• For years people have been taking part in pancake races, in fact one crazy pancake fan ran a marathon while continually tossing a pancake for three hours, two minutes and 27 seconds – exhausting!
• The world record for pancake tossing is 416 times, in two minutes
• The world’s biggest pancake was cooked in Rochdale (Greater Manchester) in 1994, and was 15 metres in diameter, weighed three tonnes and contained an estimated two million calories – wonder if they managed to flip that by hand?!
• Celebrity chef and TV personality Aldo Zilli holds the world record for the highest pancake toss at 329cm