Choosing Maple Syrup: What Grade Should You Buy?

My family doesn't use a lot of maple syrup due to candida and eating more low carb (for sweeteners we mainly use stevia, xylitol, and some erythritol and coconut sugar), but we do use it occasionally and have some in our pantry right now. Over the years, I heard different things about What Grade of Maple Syrup is Best, or that you had to be careful about formaldehyde in maple syrup processing, so whenever I did buy maple syrup, things got pretty confusing. Today, Erin from Eat Real Stay Sane is here to address those concerns, and help us all know what type of maple syrup to buy, and she even has a great recommendation of a brand she trusts.  

We recently spent an entire week with my husband's family... and we almost ate ourselves to death.

They're terrific people, but OH BOY do they love sugar, canola oil, -- and eating out. We're definitely the foodie oddballs among them and let's just say we felt gross after that week of gorging.

A tenet of our blog's brand (not just for our blog, but for life) is that we try to fret as little as possible about eating junk food. We eat so healthy most of the time that a little self-indulging ain't gonna open the disease floodgates.

The LAST thing we want to worry about on a rad family vacation is if we're being hoity-toity or difficult by turning our noses up at meals and desserts made by family. However, if there is an easy solution to eating healthier, we'll still take that route.

For example, my mother-in-law brought REAL, organic maple syrup for us while we were there! We had pancakes several times that week, and she wanted to accommodate our real food hippy-ness.

Thanks Mom!

But why maple syrup? How does it compare healthwise to other sweeteners out there?

And should you buy Grade A or B?

And what about formaldehyde in the processing?  Yikes!

Let's dive in.

What is real maple syrup?

Before I became a real foodie, I had no idea there was such a thing as fake maple syrup. It's amazing how much I didn't know about food. Now that we have been using the real stuff for years, the fake stuff almost makes me gag. If the fake stuff is my only option, I go the "drown-in-butter" route.

This is the ingredient list of Mrs. Butterworth (fake) syrup:

High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Cellulose Gum, Molasses, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Polysorbate

So… basically there is no actual maple syrup is in their syrup.

Just high fructose corn syrup, GMOified corn syrup, preservatives, and artificial colors and flavors. What in the world is your body going to do with all that stuff that isn’t actually food?

I don't think we want to find out.

Compare that ingredient list to Coombs Family Farms Organic Maple Syrup:

Organic. Maple. Syrup

Now that is what I like to see!

Just one simple ingredient which is exactly what you should expect from maple syrup.

Why should you use real maple syrup?

We love to drizzle maple syrup on our pancakes and waffles (who doesn’t right?), in our homemade yogurt, over oatmeal, as a glaze, and sometimes in recipes that need a maple flavor. While we're big sucanat and raw honey users, maple syrup's flavor is distinctly perfect for certain foods and it's potentially healthier.

Pure maple syrup has more nutritional value than most sweeteners and has one of the lowest calorie levels (although we never count calories). It's got several minerals including potassium, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, iron, and selenium. In this study you can see that maple syrup has up to 24 different antioxidants, which is like unleashing an army inside your body to heal free radical damage and inflammation.

Here’s a more in-depth look of the nutrition information of pure maple syrup from the International Maple Syrup Institute.

If you’re going to add any sort of sugar to your diet, add something that actually provides some nutritional benefit. Eating healthy is all about balance.

For me that includes adding tasty natural sweeteners to my oatmeal cake or oatmeal cake. Can ya blame me?

I do want to throw out one caveat:

While maple syrup is miles better than its processed counterparts, it's still chock full of carbs. Use all sweeteners sparingly so as to avoid packing on the pounds or wreaking havoc on your blood sugar, or causing candida.

The ABCs of real maple syrup.

I always thought it was weird there were different grades of maple syrup. For years I was told (and read in many places) that Grade B syrup was the best.

I always remembered it as “B for best”. I often read that Grade B contained more nutrients in it while Grade A involved more processing.

Last month, I went to go buy some more maple syrup and I couldn’t find Grade B maple syrup anywhere! Even the health food stores didn’t have any.

I decided to jump on the ol’ Google machine to find out where in the world my Grade B goodness went. Google told me that the whole maple grading system recently changed and Grade B no longer existed.

Nooooooo!

Great, now what am I supposed to buy? I hate when you find your one thing you love and it all changes and you have to figure out where your good healthy product went. I wonder how much time I wasted staring at all the containers of maple syrup trying to find Grade B that didn't exist anymore?

What is the best real maple syrup grade?

I was disheartened that my Grade B maple syrup had suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. But I was determined to find the equivalent to the superior Grade B somewhere, even if it meant growing maple trees in my apartment and getting the sap myself. (okay, not really).

It ended up being pretty easy to find.

I went straight to the source and contacted Coombs Family Farms directly. They're the brand that I usually buy (and no they didn't endorse this post, they just put out a quality product). If you want to know anything about maple, these are the guys to talk to. I mean they should know since they’ve been tapping trees for 7 generations!

I first asked about what the nutritional differences are between the grades of maple syrup. Here's what they said:

The different grades of maple syrup have no more or less nutritional value across the board. The grade systems are put into place to classify solely the light transmittance (color) of the maple syrup, not its nutritional value.

Grade B is classified as that because of its darker color and stronger flavor which comes from being harvested later in the season when the trees start producing sap that boils down to a darker color. There was the false misconception that one grade was "better" than the other which was very misleading information. The University of Vermont did a study a while back to explore the nutritional differences, or lack thereof, between the different grades of maple which came up showing they are all the same across the board.

Okay good to know! And by the way, I love it when companies respond to my inquiries thoroughly and don’t try to sugar-coat answers… pun intended.

Fired up by the awesome response, I went back for more.

Is there Formaldehyde in Maple Syrup?

I'd heard food companies process Grade A maple syrup with formaldehyde - sounds terrible, but honestly, would any ingredient surprise you in our foods today? Here's how they responded:

To address the concerns about processing and the use of formaldehyde/chemicals, that is a practice that has been banned in the US since the 1980's (banned in Vermont in the 1970's) and Canada recently about 10 years ago. The use of formaldehyde is illegal and can result in some serious consequences for farmers. Even though chemical (pesticides and fertilizers) are not commonly used on maple trees, by purchasing a certified organic product it is guaranteed there will be no chemicals found in the finished product or used in the process of harvesting the sap.

Maple syrup is not a "processed" product because the only steps involved in making the finished product involve boiling the tree sap to remove naturally occurring water, and the resulting product is what is bottled.

Typically a de-foamer is used during the boiling process to prevent excessive foaming of the sap while boiling. We use an organic sunflower oil at a rate of 1 drop per 30 gallons of sap. This oil gets cooked off during the boiling process and is not found in the finished product.

So, Grade A maple syrup and formaldehyde concern?

Turns out that no one uses the stuff for preserving frogs when making Grade A Maple Syrup.  Boy do we have low standards with food nowadays -- can't believe that I even needed to ask that!

Grade B is Now Grade A

And as it turns out, "Grade B" is still around. There is simply a new name for it now - and Grade A is just as healthy anyway.

Here’s a quick guide for the new maple grading system (the right column lists the new terminology):

Old Name                                                                            New Name

Fancy or Grade A Light Amber                               Grade A Golden and Delicate Taste
Grade A: Medium or Dark Amber                        Grade A Amber Color and Rich Flavor
Grade A: Dark Amber or Grade B                         Grade A Dark Color and Robust Flavor
Grade C                                                                       Grade A: Very Dark and Strong Flavor

So basically  -- just buy whatever type of maple syrup you want since the only difference is how much "flava" you want.

Just make sure you stick with a brand that's responsible and organic.

I like Coombs Family Farms because they are:

• committed to sustainable forest management
• certified non-GMO, and
• their organic maple syrup is certified by QAI (Quality Assurance International), which is a step above being simply organic.

Moral of the story: go straight to the source if you really want to know the truth behind the products you’re buying. Companies are usually more than happy to answer your questions because they want you to buy their product!

How about you?
What grade and what brand of maple syrup is on your table?

Erin and Cameron Smith, of Eat Real Stay Sane, teach people how to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes eating real food, eliminating toxins, and overcoming chronic illness. The secret for them has been to cook homemade substitutes of foods they like - but with healthy ingredients.