GRADES OF SYRUP
Fancy: Very light and has a mild, more delicate maple flavor. It is usually made earlier in the season when the weather is colder.
Medium Amber: A bit darker and has a bit more maple flavor. It’s usually made after the sugaring season begins to warm, about mid-season.
Dark Amber: has a much more robust maple flavor and sweetness. It is usually made later in the season as the days get longer and warmer.
MAPLE FACTS
- Maple syrup is produced nowhere else on earth except northeastern North America.
- Pure maple products are made only from the sap of maple trees. They contain no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors.
- Maple syrup is boiled even further to product maple cream, sugar and candy.
- A maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12″ in diameter before it is tapped.
- Tapping (drilling small holes into the trunk) does no permanent damage to the tree and only about 10 percent of a tree’s sap is collected each year.
- 30-50 gallons of sap are needed to make one gallon of maple syrup.
- Even though the different colors of syrup vary in taste, they all have the same sugar content and density.