Grade B Maple Syrup
Eating the Tree
I had friends over for a pancake brunch yesterday. My friend Sara had mentioned that she hadn't eaten waffles in years, which led me into my now-common rave about how good Grade B maple syrup is. So, of course, I had to have Jake and her over to try it. I don't have a waffle iron so I fixed pancakes instead.
I didn't want to do anything fancy with the cakes — after all, this meal was about the syrup. So I made a basic batter except that I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of ground coriander to the mix. Not enough to show up strongly, but enough to provide an underlying hint that complimented the syrup nicely. A generous dollop of Amish butter rounded out the pancakes and some top-flight country sausage from a local country ham maker added a spicy/salty element to the simple meal. But this is about syrup.
I finally located some in a catalog and tried it. Wow! We're talking maple flavor times 10. Since then it's become a staple in my pantry. It's good in bran muffins, on oatmeal, on biscuits, in sweet potatoes (try mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and rum), pretty much anywhere you'd use ordinary maple syrup. But my favorite remains pancakes. After all, syrup is why God invented pancakes.
Despite searching, I've never found Grade B in a store. I did once find it at a roadside stand in Vermont — but only once (Yankees look down their noses at it). I'm sure it's available from a number of mail-order sources, but I get it from King Arthur Flour.
The first time I served it to my brother Kerry his comment was, "Wow! It's like eating the tree." That's the best description of it I've heard.
Try Grade B Maple Syrup with...
Pancakes with Cormeal
Maple Wholewheat Bread
Squash with Maple Syrup and Horseradish
I had friends over for a pancake brunch yesterday. My friend Sara had mentioned that she hadn't eaten waffles in years, which led me into my now-common rave about how good Grade B maple syrup is. So, of course, I had to have Jake and her over to try it. I don't have a waffle iron so I fixed pancakes instead.
I didn't want to do anything fancy with the cakes — after all, this meal was about the syrup. So I made a basic batter except that I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of ground coriander to the mix. Not enough to show up strongly, but enough to provide an underlying hint that complimented the syrup nicely. A generous dollop of Amish butter rounded out the pancakes and some top-flight country sausage from a local country ham maker added a spicy/salty element to the simple meal. But this is about syrup.
Wow! It's like eating the tree.
Several years ago I started reading and hearing about Grade B maple syrup. Like, perhaps, most people I assumed Grade B was inferior to Grade A — not that I'd ever seen any Grade B on a grocery shelf, much less tasted it. What I didn't know was that the grading system was based on color and not flavor or quality. The lighter the syrup's color the higher the grade. Grade B and below is typically sold to manufacturers for use as a flavoring. This is partially because of the perception of inferiority and partly because it has a stronger flavor that is useful in manufactured products.I finally located some in a catalog and tried it. Wow! We're talking maple flavor times 10. Since then it's become a staple in my pantry. It's good in bran muffins, on oatmeal, on biscuits, in sweet potatoes (try mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and rum), pretty much anywhere you'd use ordinary maple syrup. But my favorite remains pancakes. After all, syrup is why God invented pancakes.
Despite searching, I've never found Grade B in a store. I did once find it at a roadside stand in Vermont — but only once (Yankees look down their noses at it). I'm sure it's available from a number of mail-order sources, but I get it from King Arthur Flour.
The first time I served it to my brother Kerry his comment was, "Wow! It's like eating the tree." That's the best description of it I've heard.
Try Grade B Maple Syrup with...
Pancakes with Cormeal
Maple Wholewheat Bread
Squash with Maple Syrup and Horseradish
Technorati: Food | review | kevin d weeks | seriously good | maple syrup
Labels: ingredients, review
14 Comments:
We use Grade B maple syrup exclusively at our bed and breakfast - I have been able to find it easily at Trader Joe's. Reasonably priced there, also.
Jeanne,
Unfortuately for me, the nearest Trader Joe's is almost 200 miles away.
We were huge fans of Grade B as well (before we got off the carbs), precisely for the more intense flavor. It was routinely available at Whole Foodslast I checked, also on-line and we customarily brought some home from summer vacation in Maine. Great stuff and no doubt overlooked by many cooks thinking it must be inferior somehow to the Grade A, which we never purchased again after our first encouter with the darker stuff.
Ed,
Yeah, it's pretty addictive stuff.
Trader Joe's is my usual source, too, though some of the sugaring houses around here make Grade B during the season. The flavor is incomparable.
In Colonial days sugar was a luxury item, and the thrifty New Englanders seldom used it. Instead they sweetened things with maple syrup, which they could produce themselves. Grade A, the most refined, was the lightest colored, was also the lightest flavored, so it could be used in baking, or for general sweetening, without imparting a heavy maple flavor. You are mostly correct that it is not a descriptor of quality, except to the extent that a strong maple taste was regarded as an undesirable quality.
New Englanders today do not disdain it, nor do New Yorkers. (New York is the largest producer of maple syrup in the US. Quebec may be the largest overall.) Around here the Grade B, and also Dark syrup, command a bit of a price premium.
Real Vermonters do not look down our noses at Grade B syrup. We just keep it a secret! We always use it for baking, and most of us prefer it for pancakes. I know this to be true - I make it every spring.
Very interesting. Never heard of this before (and no Trader Joe's here either!)
A very interesting & informative post! I've often noticed that in my grocery store there are several brands of maple syrup that were all Grade A but ranged greatly in price and I wondered what the grades really meant. Now I'm determined to get my hands on some B stuff and give it a try.
I aggree with you about Grade B Maple Syrup. And it is less costly than Grade A.
I live in Portland, Oregon. I buy my Grade B in the bulk food section at
New Seasons grocery stores, which lowers the cost from the Grade B sold in brand bottles.
I was shocked to see the price of Maple Syrup at Trader Joe's yesterday. What I use to buy for $6 is easily $16 nowadays. I'll look at the grading.
My wonderful neighbors make (and sell) Grade B maple syrup (as well as the other grades) and they ship anywhere! (and probably for less than Trader Joe's. Go to www.braggfarm.com or call them 802-223-5757.
Anon,
Thanks. If I'm reading their Web site correctly the syrup from King Arthur is similarly priced (when chipping is added in) and is actually Grade B instead of the Grade A, Dark Amber Bragg Farm offers.
If you don't live in maple country the best deals for grade b maple syrup are online.
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