What Do the Different Maple Syrup Grades Mean?
Maple syrup - it turns ordinary pancakes into truly something extraordinary.
But what a lot of people don’t realize is that not all syrup is created equal.
I’m not just talking about the difference between Aunt Jemima and real maple syrup (a distinction I’ve called out several times now in our latest Factual Fridays series with Davis Family Farm).
I’m talking about the difference between different grades and colors of syrup.
Unlike when you were assigned grades of A, B, C, or (no judgment) D in school, grading for maple syrup doesn’t necessarily indicate or imply some kind of academic shortcoming. Instead, it all has to do with how and when a syrup is produced.
From grade A dark maple syrup to grade C maple syrup, understanding the different grades for maple syrup can be completely dizzying.
Don’t panic. This is your guide to maple syrup grades - explained.
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What is Grade A Amber Maple Syrup?
Generally, it’s Grade A syrup that we put on our pancakes - the stuff that’s sold in stores. Other grades are considered commercial grades, which are sold at bulk rate rather than directly to consumers.
This will be syrup that has been produced after the trees have budded, later in the spring. It isn’t suitable as “table syrup” because it tends to have a harsher, bitter taste. Bad news for your morning waffles, but good news for flavoring companies, who use it to produce natural flavors that are meant to have that “eau de maple,” like maple-flavored sausages or, yes, Aunt Jemima.
What Are the Other Maple Syrup Grades?
There are a few other distinctions to make as well.
For the most part, the difference in the color and taste of the syrup has to do with how long it’s been “cooked.” Sap, as it comes right out of tree, generally consists of 1.5 to 2.5% sugar. Because maple syrup is 66.5% sugar, you need to remove a vast amount of water to bump up that sugar content - hence, boiling.
When you remove water through boiling alone, you cook the sugars as you evaporate out the water. The longer the sugars cook, the darker the syrup becomes, and the more robust of a maple flavor results as the color deepens.
The quality of the sap can impact the color of the syrup, too. Sap that is clear and does not contain foreign bodies or natural yeasts will produce a lighter-colored syrup than sap that has more natural yeasts (these tend to appear more often as the season progresses).
What About the Color and Sugar Content of Maple Syrup?
Sap color tends to exist on a bell curve, which rises and falls in relation to sugar content throughout the year. As the trees first begin to run, they’ll have lower overall sugar output. They reach a peak point in the middle of the season, then, as the season progresses, the sugar content in the sap naturally decreases until the trees stop producing and they bud, getting ready to start putting out fresh leafy growth.
The color, then, also gets darker throughout the season. It typically begins the year as a medium color, peaks at a golden hue, then dips back down to a darker color before getting extremely dark as the season winds down.
The sugar content as the sap comes out of the trees can also vary, and is susceptible to a variety of factors. This includes the growth rate of the tree that previous growing season (a good, healthy tree that had lots of leaves produces more sugar).
The species also matters; it’s a common misconception that only sugar maples can be tapped. Although sugar maples produce vastly more sugar than other maple species, like red and silver maples, those are often tapped as part of the sugaring process.
The other factor that can affect sugar content is genetics. Cornell and Proctor Maple have both done extensive testing on sugar maple genetics, and some trees just naturally are more “sugary” than others.
What is the Best Grade of Maple Syrup?
Technically, there's no single best grade of maple syrup - it all has to do with what the syrup is being used for. In general, though, it’s going to be grade A that lands on your breakfast table.
Going back to syrup grade, there’s one more factor that can impact grades, and that is the boiling process. Sap that has been run through a reverse osmosis system (a process we’ll clarify in more detail in our later posts) to reduce water prior to boiling will generally produce a lighter, less robust flavor due to the reduced amount of boiling time.
All other things being equal, wood fired evaporation generally produces a darker syrup than other forms of heat, like oil. This is due to the lack of uniformity of the heat source. Oil offers a more consistent BTU output, so it cooks at a more consistent rate. With wood, every time you open the door to stoke the fire or the wood starts to burn down, the temperature will fluctuate. Even miniscule fluctuations can impact the taste or color of the syrup.
Now, that’s not inherently a bad thing - in fact, many people believe that wood fired gives off a better flavor regardless of this variation. It’s just important to note that it does play a role!
So the next time you see a bottle of syrup marked Grade A, know that it doesn’t have anything to do with it passing a Physics test or acing a history class. It all has to do with time, genetics, seasonality, and a little bit of heat applied at exactly the right time.
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