"Maple flavored" does not mean maple syrup. It describes a table syrup, the same category as pancake syrup, and federal rules require real maple syrup to make up at least 10 percent of it by weight. The rest can be other sweeteners, and only a product that meets the maple syrup standard can be sold as maple syrup.
Syrup labels use a handful of terms that sound alike and mean different things. Here's what each one tells you.
Maple syrup
This is the protected one. Federal rules define maple syrup as the liquid made by concentrating and heating the sap of maple trees. It has to be at least 66 percent solids by weight, and those solids have to come only from the sap. The only optional extras are salt, chemical preservatives and defoaming agents, and salt or a preservative has to be listed.
If a product is sold under the name maple syrup, this is the standard it has to meet.
Pure maple syrup
The federal standard's name for the food is simply maple syrup. "Pure" is how producers tell you nothing else is in there. The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association puts it the same way: pure means a single-ingredient sweetener made only from maple sap. If the label has an ingredient list, it names only maple syrup, though a single-ingredient food doesn't have to carry a list at all.
Vermont adds a rule of its own. Syrup can be labeled as Vermont maple syrup only if it is 100 percent pure and made entirely in Vermont.
Table syrup, pancake syrup and waffle syrup
These names all point to one federal standard, for table syrup, and a table syrup can't be sold as maple syrup. The Vermont association describes pancake syrup as, generally, flavored corn syrup with no real maple in it. We list everything the standard allows in what pancake syrup is made of.
Maple flavored
This is where reading closely pays off. The table syrup standard has rules for any label that shows a flavor, whether in words or in a picture.
- The flavor on the label has to be the main flavor you taste in the syrup.
- If that flavor is maple, real maple syrup has to make up at least 10 percent of the finished product by weight. The same goes for honey.
- Any natural or artificial flavoring that's been added has to be declared on the label.
- When maple syrup or honey is named on the label outside the ingredient list, or suggested by a picture, its percentage has to appear as part of the product's name.
So a syrup labeled maple flavored can be as little as one tenth maple syrup. When maple is named on the front, the rules say the percentage has to be part of the name, so look for it.
Vermont has a rule for these products too. The front label of a maple flavored product has to clearly tell shoppers it isn't 100 percent pure maple.
Artificial flavor
Federal labeling rules cover this one. If a syrup presents maple as its flavor and artificial flavoring imitates or boosts that flavor, the front of the label has to say "artificial" or "artificially flavored" next to the flavor's name.
Vermont goes further. There, an artificially flavored product can't be called maple syrup, no matter how the name is modified. Its front label has to carry the words "artificial flavor" in type no smaller than the rest of the product description. Restaurant menus that list it have to say so too.
A cheat sheet for the syrup aisle
- Maple syrup or pure maple syrup: all of its sugar comes from maple sap.
- Table, pancake or waffle syrup: made from other sweeteners, generally corn syrup.
- Maple flavored: a table syrup that is at least 10 percent maple syrup.
- Artificially flavored: added flavoring imitates or boosts the maple taste.
For the rest of the label, from the ingredient list to the grade, our guide to reading a maple syrup label walks through it line by line.
Why the wording matters
None of this is about catching anyone out. The terms exist so you can tell what you're buying. A maple flavored table syrup and a pure maple syrup are both allowed on the shelf. They're just not the same food, and they won't taste the same on a stack of pancakes.
If you've only ever had one of them, it's worth trying the other side by side. That's the quickest way to find out which one you like. If you make the change, here's what to expect when you switch to real maple syrup.
What ours says
The front of our tin says "100% pure maple syrup." The tin also says single forest, wood fire and Grade A, and our product pages list one ingredient: "100% pure Vermont maple syrup." Amber is warm and smooth with caramel notes. Dark is deep and robust, built for cooking and baking.
