# Maple syrup **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400 "2012-06-26T23:16:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/61 "2012-06-27T16:57:37Z")
Is boysenberry jam like huckleberry jam at all? 'cause I love me some huckleberry jam. \<3 ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/62 "2012-06-27T17:00:48Z")
Oooh, wait…looking up pictures, I grew up with boysenberries all over the place, so good!! Maybe huckleberries too, looking at pictures, but…yeah, not the same. Huckleberry jam is great, don’t get me wrong, but I’d eat boysenberries plain every single day if I could do that again. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/63 "2012-06-27T17:04:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Will Knott’s ship stuff to Canada? Is there a boysenberry problem with Canadian customs? 😕 Knott’s will [ship to Canada](http://marketplace.knotts.com/Ordering-Information-Return-Policy-W2.aspx) no problem Get the [6 pack](http://marketplace.knotts.com/Knotts-Choose-Your-Own-Berry-Six-Delight-P17.aspx) of Mix-and-Match and go wild. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/64 "2012-06-27T17:05:56Z")
Apparently the grading can be quite complex, with grade A being broken down further into Light Amber (sometimes known as Fancy), Medium Amber, and Dark Amber. Canada has a numbered grading system. 1, including Extra Light, Light, and Medium; No. 2 Amber; and finally No. 3 Dark or any other ungraded category. > **[Maple syrup | Grades](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup#Grades)** > > Following an effort from the International Maple Syrup Institute (IMSI) and many maple syrup producer associations, both Canada and the United States have altered their laws regarding the classification of maple syrup to be uniform. Whereas in the past each state or province had their own laws on the classification of maple syrup, now those laws define a unified grading system. This had been a work in progress for several years, and most of the finalization of the new grading system was made in 2... If you Google [grade B maple syrup](http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHKZ_enUS440US440&sugexp=chrome,mod=15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=grade+b+maple+syrup) it returns some online sources including Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/65 "2012-06-27T17:11:30Z")
I selected that I prefer it, but still use the cheap stuff because it’s cheap. There are some food items for which I’ll genuinely accept no substitute, but syrup isn’t one of them. That said, though, I could see myself paying extra for the real stuff on a special occasion, just not on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/66 "2012-06-27T17:15:12Z")
I like the real stuff better, but the fake stuff doesn’t revolt me at all, I will use it. But actually I don’t like syrup on my pancakes at all (on waffles, however, yes. Not sure why that is, though) ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/67 "2012-06-27T17:16:14Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I’m a smoker who can taste EVERYTHING, believe me. 😛 How do you know? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/68 "2012-06-27T17:24:40Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#): > > Real maple syrup, always, > Also, I prefer the Finnish thin, eggy, crepe-like pancakes over the American-style puffy, floury, doughy things. Real maple syrup, grade B dark. Bacon from a butchers shop that makes their own. Eggs straight from the chickens butt in our back yard. Thin eggy pancakes or our roomies from scratch oatmeal pancakes. I only get this once a month or so and I will not do cheap ingredients. We will go without pancakes if we do not have the real maple syrup. I always take the good stuff with me as a host gift. My Romanian buddy told me his mom takes the syrup and adds it to bubbly water and drinks it :dubious:😃 So I sent him the recipe for pancakes and the ingredients. Got him hooked on pancakes and maple syrup 😃 ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/69 "2012-06-27T17:27:02Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > How do you know? **Taomist** thinks everything tastes like tobacco smoke. 😛 Joking, joking. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/70 "2012-06-27T17:33:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > 🙂 > Trader Joe’s has 750 ml Grade B maple syrup for $14. (I’ve been buying it since it was $9.) I keep one ‘in-use’ bottle and one unopened bottle at all times. Jeebus. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever had the real stuff, but at those prices, I doubt it. My son has a friend who moved here from Canada, and he came home from a sleepover just raving about their maple syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/71 "2012-06-27T17:40:49Z")
32 oz of Grade A Medium Amber is $14 at Costco. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/72 "2012-06-27T17:41:02Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I don’t think not having real maple syrup would fly, around these parts. You’d get laughed out of the restaurant business, I suspect. I’m pretty sure McDonalds Canada is doing just fine. Maybe they’re being laughed at, but they’re laughing all the way to the bank. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/73 "2012-06-27T17:41:41Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > My Romanian buddy told me his mom takes the syrup and adds it to bubbly water and drinks it :dubious:😃 Not as wild as you might think! Back in Soviet times, every city in Russia (and, I presume, the rest of the Eastern Bloc as well) had public soda-water dispensers. For two kopeks, I think it was, you could get a nice big tumbler of fizzy water, plain or with your choice of a couple of flavors; maple was one of them. I’m sure the syrupy soda your buddy’s mom makes brings back a lot of childhood memories for her. 🙂 The thing about those soda dispensers was that there was **one** tumbler (real glass, not disposable) that everyone was expected to use and then rinse out afterwards (there was a separate little compartment for that, with a jet of plain water). Because of the communal tumbler, I could never bring myself to use the things, but my Russian friends swore by them. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/74 "2012-06-27T17:41:55Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > How do you know? Because I didn’t start smoking until I was 31. 😉 Nothing changed for me taste-wise. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/75 "2012-06-27T17:52:21Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > This is why I don’t care for the real stuff. When I was a kid, real maple syrup was guarded as if it was the ambrosia of the gods and we’d get one small dollop in the center of our pancakes. Well, the real stuff always sank right into the center of the pancake and left me with 4 inches of dry-ass pancake surrounding a mushy uber-maple center. When I make pancakes/waffles/French toast (which is seldom, just because I can’t eat big breakfasts), I smother the things in the best dark maple syrup I can find, until it’s almost running off the edge of the plate. You’re absolutely right about that being the only way to eat the stuff, since the grain products absorb so much of it. This has annoyed my teenage daughter no end ever since she became uber–self conscious about her weight! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/76 "2012-06-27T17:58:50Z")
I like the real stuff (Dad’s from NH) but only if it’s dark, which is hard to find. Most of the stores in my area only carry Grade A “Light” (aka “Fancy”) maple syrup. Blech! This is the liquid sugar somebody mentioned above. I’d much rather have Grade “B” please, or at the very least a Dark Amber. [http://www.vermontmaple.org/grades.php](http://www.vermontmaple.org/grades.php) I am also happy with light molassas or Karo (corn) syrup. But these are different flavors not meant to substitute. As for restaurant syrup, if it’s real maple, then I knwo they are taking good care of it, because it’s expensive. That cheap crap that sits out ont he table for weeks on end with little kids sticking their figners in it? No thanks! Overall - though I really like good maple syrup - as long as there’s real butter available I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/77 "2012-06-27T18:00:23Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I am also happy with light molassas or Karo (corn) syrup. But these are different flavors not meant to substitute. Dad liked peanut butter and Karo syrup on his pancakes. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/78 "2012-06-27T18:21:03Z")
While Grade B is the preferred syrup of most with taste buds :), Grade A is actually closer to what comes out of the tap, but no big deal, Grade B is just boiled longer to concentrate the flavors more. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/79 "2012-06-27T18:41:40Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Grade A is more highly refined and therefore less maply than Grade B. It’s definitely worthwhile to find Grade B if you can. You’re half right…Grade A is less maple-y than grade B, but that’s because it’s less refined (well…refined probably isn’t the right word.) The sap is boiled to concentrate the sugar, and the more you boil it, the further “down” the scale it gets, from Grade A Fancy/Light Amber, Grade A Medium Amber, Grade A Dark Amber, and then Grade B. There’s also a Grade C, but you won’t find that in stores. Mostly just produced in smaller amounts to sell to commercial companies who want to add legitimate, real maple flavor to things. Fun fact: the IHOP here in Burlington, VT is the only one in the country (or at least it was when it was constructed a couple years ago) that has real maple syrup available. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400/80 "2012-06-27T18:58:00Z")
Right. Grade A is not refined, it’s just less boiled. It tastes like tree sap. Grade B has boiled longer and has that great caramelized flavor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maple-syrup/626400.md?page=5)