Vermont Fancy Grade:  This syrup is the lightest in color with a mild delicate flavor. It is usually produced first in the spring when the temperatures are the coldest.

Vermont Grade A Medium Amber: This is a great all purpose syrup and is generally the most popular. The flavor is slightly stronger than Fancy and the color a warm golden hue.

Vermont Grade A Dark Amber: This syrup is darker than medium amber and has a full-bodied maple flavor. This can be used for cooking and to sweeten foods naturally.  Many enjoy this grade for a stronger maple flavor on pancakes, waffles, and ice cream. 

Vermont Grade B: This is a darker grade for cooking and natural food flavoring.

Uses for Maple Syrup

Pure Vermont Maple Syrup is a natural on pancakes, waffles, French toast, or vanilla ice cream. We suggest warming your syrup in the microwave before pouring to bring out the maple flavor. Use it as a natural sweetener in coffee and tea or milk shakes.  It is delicious on oatmeal, granola and grapefruit. Maple syrup adds a  wonderful flavor in baked beans, muffins, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and baked apples. Make a fruit syrup for ice cream by lining a small baking dish with slices of apples, pears, peaches, or pineapple, covering the slices with maple syrup, and baking at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

The use of maple syrup is limited only by your imagination. For a healthier and flavorful alternative, try it in place of white sugar in recipes. Use 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup for each cup of granulated sugar. Also, when you use it as a replacement for sugar, decrease the liquid (such as milk or water) called for in the recipe by 2 or 3 tablespoons. Because maple syrup tends to caramelize and burn on the top sooner than a batter using granulated sugar, make sure to decrease your oven temperature by 25 degrees. 

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Maple Syrup Facts

 Maple Syrup is a completely natural product, without preservatives or additives.  It is nutritionally important, containing:

Maple Syrup has the same calcium content as Whole Milk. 

Maple Syrup has only 40 calories per Tablespoon. (Corn Syrup has 60 calories per Tbsp.)

How is Maple Syrup Produced?

Maple syrup is produced from the sap collected from the Sugar Maple tree. Maple sap is clear, watery and contains only 2-4% sugar. The season begins in late February with the tapping of the sugar maple trees. A hole is drilled into the tree.  A spout is then driven into the hole. A bucket is hung or pipeline (plastic tubing) is attached to collect the  sap. The sap begins to flow when  temperatures begin to rise above freezing during the day but fall below freezing at night.  The sap is collected into gathering tanks and brought to the sugarhouse to be boiled in the evaporator. The sap will run intermittently over the next 4-6 weeks until the weather warms and the buds begin to form on the trees, usually early to mid- April.  

 Maple trees that produce sap are at least 40 years old. It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of Maple Syrup. It will take the annual sap output of four mature maple trees to produce one gallon of maple syrup. 

Vermont remains the largest single producer of Maple Syrup in the United States.

Care and Storage of Maple Syrup

Unopened, maple syrup will keep indefinitely. Keep the unopened container in a cool, dark place.

Once opened, store maple syrup in the refrigerator or freezer. Maple syrup will not freeze.