How to Choose Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is made from the watery sap of maple trees. Syrup is made when the sap is boiled long enough for the water to evaporate and the impurities are skimmed off the surface. The color varies by the time of harvest and the weather conditions that year. Here's how you can choose just the right syrup for your pantry.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Choose a light Grade A typically called "Light Amber" or "Fancy" if you don't want too much maple flavor. This syrup is a favorite at breakfast time and a hit with the kids.
2. Go darker with a Grade A medium amber. This has more of a maple tang to it than the light amber and is also yummy on that Sunday-morning stack of pancakes.
3. Be adventurous and try a Grade A dark amber. This type has a robust maple flavor and works well on ham and pork or in various baking recipes.
4. Try a Grade B extremely dark syrup if you're feeling bold. This syrup packs a potent maple flavor and is mostly used for baking. Some people use this syrup as part of cleansing diet.
5. Make sure the label reads "Real Maple Syrup" or "Pure Maple Syrup." Commercial syrups that come in plastic bottles shaped like little old ladies are made of other sugars and contain little to no actual maple syrup.
6. Look for organic maple syrups and syrups that offer the producer a fair cut of the profits if you're concerned about those things. Check out Maplevalleysyrup.com for information about their co-op approach to making syrup.
7. Purchase syrup in the right container for you. If you know it will take you a year to go through the gallon of syrup, make sure you buy that gallon in a glass bottle. Maple syrup lasts up to a year in glass. Plastic bottles keep syrup well for 3 to 4 months if refrigerated.

Tips & Warnings

• It takes about 40 gallons of the liquid to make just 1 gallon of syrup. Remember that the next time you have sticker shock at that roadside maple syrup stand in Vermont.

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