
Why the cheapest maple syrup is the best - vwoolf
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/11/making-the-grade-why-the-cheapest-maple-syrup-tastes-best/239133/
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sudonim
I grew up on the good stuff. But in my childhood it was always grade a maple
syrup. When I'd taste fake pancake syrup it would always taste gross. About 6
months ago I learned that grade b was richer and more flavorful. It's
phenomenal. cheaper than grade a too.

I'm glad they are making the change to better labeling. As I've gotten older
I've gotten more particular about quality of food. Which partly means finding
food hacks. Like buying goji berries in Chinatown rather than whole foods or
grade b maple syrup. There are a ton of these hacks out there and if you care
enough to find them, you'll enjoy food more. I'd recommend "cooking for geeks"
by Jeff potter. I think that's where I learned about grade b syrup.

~~~
hosh
I've enjoyed Grade B since 2005, oddly enough from a Boxer's Fast recipe.

But just to sanity check so I don't get my supply cut off: the 2013
international standard is relabeling Grade B as "Dark" and "Very Dark", yes?

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pilif
If only all articles would go such great lengths in finding sources and then
linking directly to them. This is how articles should be written, no matter
the subject.

No artificial splitting over pages, links to offsite sources instead of only
linking in-site, real links, no "click here" in the link text.

Amazing work.

~~~
sixtofour
He'a an historian. It's what they do.

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antoncohen
The maple syrup I have from Trader Joe's says "100% Pure Vermont Maple Syrup
Grade A Dark Amber"

I'm not sure the article is correct. It's common for people to say Grade B has
more flavor. But is more flavor better flavor? I usually like very strong
flavors, like Double IPAs, but does that mean IPAs are better than more subtly
flavored Belgian Ales? I've been under the impression that Grade B has _more_
flavor, but not _better_ flavor. That Grade A has a less over-powering,
cleaner flavor.

I haven't done a taste test, but it would be fun to line up shot glasses of
different Grade A and B to test. Mmm, like beer tasting but with maple syrup.
Other than the flavor thing, the article was very interesting.

~~~
michael_dorfman
The grades are based purely on color, which aligns pretty directly with
flavor. If you like the maple flavor, Grade B is definitely the best; Grade C
is too dark, and is only for industrial use (it needs to be cut with sugar-
water to be palatable.)

Grade A is not more subtle; it is merely more neutrally sweet (i.e., has less
flavor.)

~~~
antoncohen
Thank you for the clarification.

The article gave me the impression that Grade A was from early in the season,
and it is boiled less. Later in the season the sap has less sugar naturally so
it is boiled more to concentrate the sugar, which also concentrates the other
flavors. That later season sap makes Grade B. Is that the case? In that way
grading makes sense, Grade A being more naturally pure, but knowing that it is
only based on color throws out the whole point to me. I definitely have had
maple syrup I felt had too harsh a flavor, maybe it was Grade B as I'm used to
Grade A.

~~~
michael_dorfman
Well, in Vermont, at least, the "season" lasts for a couple of weeks at most,
so it is only the larger producers who would separate the early sap from the
late sap; I had a small stand of trees, and just collected everything for the
season, and then boiled at the end. While I wasn't able, therefore, to notice
any differences between early sap and late sap, I did notice that the best
_quantity_ of sap came on days when it was freezing at night, and
significantly above freezing during the day.

Generally speaking, you boil until you reach the right viscosity (specific
gravity), which is tied to the sugar content. I used to count on boiling 40
gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup, but this can vary a bit.

~~~
kemiller
Question I've always had that you might be able to answer: how do you know how
much sap you can take? Is there some point at which you're doing damage to the
tree?

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jawngee
My great-great step-grandfather invented Log Cabin syrup. I grew up surrounded
by a ton of old Log Cabin memorabilia. It was actually the first mass produced
"maple" syrup.

I can't ever remember us eating it though (it was sold to GF a long time ago
and no longer bears the family name).

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markazevedo
A very thorough writeup. Who knew maple syrup had such a rich political and
socially-relevant history?

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Klinky
Labor concerns, market speculation & the markets failure to self-regulate.
Sounds rather familiar...

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wyclif
Someone in the comments of the parent article mentions _sortilège_ , it's a
liqueur made from very light maple syrup and Canadian whisky. It's readily
available in places like Quebec and worthwhile as an apertif.

~~~
colomon
Thank you for reminding me to continue my quest to find a source for this. My
uncle brought a bottle home from a fishing trip to Labrador once, and it was
fantastic.

~~~
wyclif
If you're not in the Provinces, you should be able to order it readily, for
example: <http://www.iselectwines.com/?iVar=86371>

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kenjackson
Grade B is definitely superior. You can get some pretty good stuff at your
local Trader Joe's. About the only place I consistently find Grade B maple
syrup, w/o going specialty.

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WeWin
The syrup comes from the motion of the fluid in the tree - when it gets cold
at night the sap goes into the roots, when its warm during the day the sap
rises. so to get a good flow you need cold nights and warm days.

during the flow the sap picks up the maple taste from other bits of stuff in
the tree - grade b is actually the first sap produced in the season and has
the most of this 'stuff'. As the season goes on theres less and less of this
stuff so then you start making grade a and fancy.

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powertower
If anyone is interested, from someone that uses maple syrup instead of sugar,
Shady Maple Farms organic maple syrup grade B is the best. The other brands,
even when organic and pure, just don't have the same type of clear taste for
grade B.

You can find it at any organic/health shop.

If you can't wait, here is a non-affiliated Amazon link:
[http://www.amazon.com/Shady-Maple-Farms-
Organic-32-Ounce/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Shady-Maple-Farms-
Organic-32-Ounce/dp/B000LKXNG2)

~~~
gerggerg
In contrast to the article, the grade B at that amazon link is more expensive
than the grade A of the same brand. Where is grade B actually cheaper?

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gojomo
That was all interesting... but did I miss the part where the author explains
how it came to be that "the nominally inferior grade offer[s] decidedly
superior flavor" and yet "sells at a significant discount"?

The story seems to suggest that the milder (diluted or perhaps similar to
diluted alternatives?) product would have been disfavored by the regime set up
by the Pure Food and Drug Act, and thus assigned a lower 'grade'. But somehow
the clearer/milder syrup got the higher 'grade'. Why? And what 'evolution' of
"our sense of American identity" has outraced the labeling? (Was the
Grade-A/Grade-B labeling _ever_ aligned with preferences? Do people only now
like the darker syrup more, and if so, when did that preference change?)

I don't mind the story, but the opening paragraph poses questions and promises
answers that aren't delivered.

~~~
michael_dorfman
It's really not that complicated.

Maple syrup was originally a locally grown (American) sugar substitute. As
such, what was valued was a neutral flavor, i.e., something that tasted as
little like maple as possible, and as much like sweet liquid. Thus, Grade A
(and Grade A Fancy, etc.) went to the lightest, mildest syrup, and Grade B
(and Grade C, which is for industrial use) went to the darker syrup with a
stronger maple flavor.

(As an aside: the grading is done by color. There is a small kit producers buy
which has small samples of colored liquid for each grade, and the grade is
assigned based on which liquid your syrup's color matches most closely.)

The change in preferences came when cane sugar became a cheaper commodity;
there was no longer any reason to use maple syrup (or maple sugar) if you
weren't looking for the maple flavor.

I used to make my own maple syrup, back when I lived in the US-- it was a lot
of work, but a lot of fun.

~~~
gojomo
Thanks, that's much clearer than the article.

(The article talked about how people always craved the maple flavor, and were
concerned about milder plain-sugar substitutes, as its lead-in to the 'truth
in labeling'/authenticity-crusade era. That seemed to suggest tht even in
1906, an opposite grading emphasizing 'mapleness' could have taken root.
Perhaps the regulators simply made the mistake of using the word 'grade' –
implying a quality rank – when really their assessment was only of categories
without any inherent preference ordering.)

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jablan
Maple syrup seems to be endemic for North America. Not sure about the rest of
the Europe, but I don't think it can be found in shops over here in Balkans
(and maple tree itself is not uncommon).

~~~
andyking
I've only ever found it in Booths, which is a fancy Whole Foods-style
supermarket local to me in northern England. It's labelled with the Canadian
flag and "100% pure Canadian maple syrup," but no grade. I love it on my
pancakes, but now I'm worried that what I've been eating all these years isn't
actually real!

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Sniffnoy
I'm not sure this really explains how the price came to be that way?

~~~
michael_dorfman
I've explained this at more length elsewhere in this thread, but the short
version is that maple syrup (and maple sugar) were originally a substitute for
sugar (which was more expensive, and could not be grown locally in North
America), so the "better" grade was that which was most neutral, and had the
least "maple" flavor. Once sugar became cheap enough, maple syrup began to be
used only when one _wanted_ the maple flavor, but by then the grading was
well-established.

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eslachance
I was almost taken aback by the comments about maple syrup being a "symbol of
American authenticity", being Canadian. But considering the value of this
article, it's a feeling that quickly dissipated. It's a shame that I have only
seen Grade A around here. I don`t recall ever seeing Grade B syrup anywhere.
Plus we only have light and medium, I've never see Dark Amber either!

Jealous of American Maple Syrup? Blasphemy! :|

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christkv
Eating Maple syrup at a Main Maple syrup cookery is one of my most happy
memories from when I was living in the states. Homemade vanilla ice cream with
hot newly made syrup (yum). The B grade stuff is the best. Super powerful :)
To bad you can only find it once in a while here in Spain and then usually the
mass produced mixed stuff.

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pbreit
This is a weird article. For starters, it's hard to read overall. The payoff
seems pretty minimal. It barely supports the headline. Non grade B syrup
actually appears to be quite a bit cheaper. And no mention of Canada, whose
production far exceeds the US?

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phil
In contrast, the cheapest honey is mutagenic toxic corn syrup:

[http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-08-18-honey-
laundering...](http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-08-18-honey-laundering-
tainted-counterfeit-from-china-in-US)

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lukev
It's pretty obvious, though, just by looking at it side by side (let alone
tasting it). Grade B just looks darker and more maple-y.

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simonsarris
Grade B is also what you use when you want to flavor beer.

Trader Joes sells B in wine bottles that do the job well.

~~~
burgerbrain
What sort of beers do you recommend doing this with?

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jrockway
I always wondered why Trader Joe's and Whole Foods sold a "Grade B" product.
Now I know why.

~~~
djcapelis
The B stands for "better" :)

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Egusta
"Note: Looks like we are trending in Hacker News. We would like to offer a TP2
for the best comment in HN. We learned a lot from the HN community over the
years - It is the least we can do."

~~~
Dove
I think you accidentally posted that in the wrong thread. The notice refers to
this item:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3201351>

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giardini
Is there a tl;dr on this? Can't they just cut to the chase?We eat whatever
tastes the best. That'w what we buy.

Oh, got it here: buy grade B syrup - forget grade A:

"So if you happen to relish the taste of maple syrup, you may want to find a
bottle of Grade B while you still can. Once the inferior grade is removed from
the label, the rarest, most flavorful syrup will likely command at least as
dear a price as its blander and more abundant cousins."

~~~
Dylan16807
That's a great alternative to the headline you fixated on. But the article is
actually about the history of maple syrup, so I think you missed the point.

~~~
giardini
I can't eat history: it is of no use to me, especially in an article about
maple syrup.

The title "Why the cheapest maple syrup is the best" asks a question and the
article refuses to answer it quickly. I ddn't miss the point - I merely took
the title at face value.

I still don't know any more than I did before about the history of maple syrup
and that's good - less of my mind wasted on irrelevant information. But I _do_
know that grade B tastes better - something infinitely more useful. And I
don't need the history as a referent, since the syrups themselves are the
referents (though I shall be loathe to buy any grade A as a referent - perhaps
you can do that and we shall taste).

The article was a poor example of bait-and-switch journalism.

I don't know why fools bother to downvote someone because he finds a
meandering plotless plodding article to be uninteresting!

~~~
epo
Maybe they downvoted you because you are parading your lack of attention span
(or perhaps your lack of comprehension). To use terms like "fools" or "bait
and switch" when you really meant "tl;dr" or "why aren't there more pictures"
is more a comment on you than on the article.

