Why maple syrup is so damn expensive (and so delicious)

By Julie R. Thomson


Come winter, when the temperatures drop below freezing and the amount of ice on the ground makes walking from your house to car a dangerous feat, our appetites quickly go from craving fresh, light produce to needing heavy, warm, stick-to-your-bone, add-a-layer-of-fat-for-warmth meals. We're talking stews, roasts and big, big breakfasts. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, French toast - all at once - and real maple syrup is a must.

Maple syrup doesn't come into sugaring season until the end of winter, when the temperatures finally start warming up again, but it's right now in the dead of winter that we need its sweetness more than ever. It helps us get through these long, cold days by making our oatmeal worth eating and our Saturday morning pancakes even richer.

But the sweet nectar of the sugar maples doesn't come easily - or cheaply -- and there's a reason for that. We're about to explain why, along with some other maple syrup info everyone should know, because it's cold out and what else are you going to do?

If you think you're getting a deal on maple syrup, it's probably corn syrup. Many breakfast establishments are not serving real maple syrup, but usually corn syrup with caramel colouring added to it that is packaged as "breakfast syrup."

Around 300 different natural flavour compounds have been found in pure maple syrup. And that's why imitations will never do. Not all 300 compounds are found in every batch of syrup -- it varies in amount between producer and time of year - but nonetheless, maple syrup is one complex flavour.
In Vermont, it's illegal to label anything as maple if it isn't made with actual pure maple syrup. They once got in a legal fight about this very thing with McDonald's. Vermonters don't play around with their syrup. They've been known to bring their own jar to breakfast restaurants too.

Quebec alone generates two-thirds of the globe’s syrup. And all of Canada produces 80 percent. This is impressive. Also, the US is the main importer of their product. (In 2007, they imported their entire supply - all 67.6 million pounds of it.)

The person who makes the maple syrup is called a sugarmaker. Not a bad title if you ask us. Native Americans were the first sugarmakers and they taught Europeans the process.

Maple syrup is graded. Each country - and some states - has its own grading system. Basically, it is a ranking of the lightest colour of maple syrup to the darkest. The lighter the colour, the milder and finer the flavour. (Light syrup is usually what gets drizzled on top of pancakes.) Darker syrups are used for cooking and baking.

You can drink the sap that comes straight from the trees. It's even being marketed and sold as maple water.

We're not the only creatures that tap maple trees. Squirrels love the sap too. They're known to dig their teeth into sugar maples to tap their own sweet sap.

You can pour maple syrup on snow and EAT IT. It's called maple taffy and it's one of the best things that happens in the winter in the North East.

Maple taffy is made by boiling maple sap past the point of syrup, but not so long that it becomes maple butter. Then, it's poured onto snow where it hardens to be eaten.