Check two things first: the name and the ingredients. Real maple syrup is called maple syrup, often pure maple syrup, and if there's an ingredient list, it names only maple syrup. If you see corn syrup, caramel color or added flavors, you're looking at a table syrup, often sold as pancake syrup.
Start with the name
Maple syrup is a defined food under federal law. It's made by concentrating the sap of maple trees, and all of its sugar has to come from that sap. Our guide to real maple syrup vs. pancake syrup covers the full rules.
Syrups that don't meet that standard go by other names. Federal rules call them table syrup and allow names like pancake syrup and waffle syrup, but they can't be named maple alone. The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association says pancake syrup is generally flavored corn syrup with no real maple in it. We go through the rest of its ingredients in what pancake syrup is made of.
Watch the softer wording, too. Under federal rules, a table syrup that presents maple as its main flavor only has to be 10 percent maple syrup by weight. We go through each term, and Vermont's own rules for them, in what "maple flavored" means on a syrup label.
The naming rules exist for a reason. The Vermont association says that in the 1900s, more maple syrup was made in Chicago than anywhere else in the US. It wasn't maple syrup. It was table syrup passed off as the real thing.
Read the ingredients
If pure maple syrup with nothing added has an ingredient list, it names only maple syrup. Some labels skip the list, and that's allowed. Maple syrup is a single-ingredient food, and federal law only requires a list when a food is made from two or more ingredients.
Federal rules do allow three extras in maple syrup: salt, chemical preservatives and defoaming agents. Salt or a preservative would have to appear in the list. A defoaming agent usually doesn't. Sugar makers add a small amount to keep boiling sap from foaming over. Labeling rules treat that as a processing aid, which doesn't need to be listed. Vermont's rules are stricter. Syrup can't be processed in a way that adds or removes naturally occurring soluble materials. Approved filter aids and defoaming agents are the only exceptions.
Table syrup can contain other sweeteners, flavorings, color additives, preservatives and more. If the list is long, it isn't maple syrup.
Find the grade and color class
Under the federal grade standards, maple syrup sold in retail containers is Grade A, in one of four color classes: Golden Color and Delicate Taste, Amber Color and Rich Taste, Dark Color and Robust Taste, or Very Dark Color and Strong Taste. The class tells you how strong the flavor is. It isn't a ranking, since all four are Grade A. Lighter syrup is usually made early in the season and darker syrup later, and the flavor gets stronger as the color deepens.
Most maple-producing states require grading and labeling for retail sale. You might also see older words like Vermont Fancy, which Vermont allows as a marketing term. If you remember Grade B, here's what happened to Grade B.
Processing Grade syrup isn't sold in consumer-size containers, so you shouldn't find it on a store shelf.
Check where it's from and who made it
Cornell's maple program lists what a maple label should include: the words pure maple syrup, the grade, the color class and taste, where it was made (a state or country), who produced or packed it, and a batch code. Vermont requires a batch code on Grade A retail containers.
If the company named on the label didn't make the syrup, look for a phrase like "distributed by" or "manufactured for." New York's food labeling rules call for that wording, for example.
The word Vermont has a specific meaning. Under Vermont's regulations, syrup can only be labeled as a Vermont product if it is 100 percent pure maple syrup produced entirely in Vermont. If a brand name includes Vermont but the syrup was made somewhere else, the front label has to show where it's really from. More in what Vermont means on a maple syrup label.
A quick checklist
- The name says maple syrup, not pancake, table or waffle syrup.
- If there's an ingredient list, it names only maple syrup. No list at all is fine, since a single-ingredient food doesn't have to carry one.
- No corn syrup, flavorings or caramel color.
- A grade and color class, like Grade A Amber Color and Rich Taste.
- An origin, a producer or packer, and a batch code.
- If it's labeled Vermont maple syrup, it should be 100 percent pure and made entirely in Vermont. If Vermont is only in the brand name, check the front for where it was made.
On our tin
Here's what's on our Dark tin. The front says "Pure maple syrup" and "Single forest." Under the drawing, a row reads Wood Fired, Dark, Grade A and Made in USA, and the band along the bottom has "100% pure maple syrup" and the size. On the back, the ingredients line reads "100% pure maple syrup," and that's the whole list. One side covers storage: refrigerate after opening, and use within 1 year of opening.
Our syrup comes from a single Vermont forest, with no additives. Each tin holds 8 fl oz or 16 fl oz.
New to the real thing? Our guide to switching from pancake syrup to real maple syrup covers what to expect. Shop Amber and Dark, or find more answers in our FAQ.
