Real for sure! Our investment guy gives us homemade syrup- yum!
Real. Buy it at Costco so it is much more reasonable in price. Use it in my home made granola for sweetner.
Not everyone in the house likes the real though so we usually have some Hungry Jack - the one in the reheatable bottle - because my kids ALWAYS want it warmed up! Did buy some Mrs. Buttersworth at Costco for them a couple weeks ago - used to be the only syrup H would use when we were first married. Don’t know why, but it was sinfully cheap compared to the regular grocery store!
My grandparents made and sold maple syrup so not only did we grow up with the real deal, we had it fresh and hot. Yum. When I met my husband, he was using Aunt Jemima (and that awful peanut butter loaded with corn syrup too). I’d sooner eat my pancakes and toast dry than eat either of those. He, however, thought it was sacrilege that my tomato sauce didn’t start with several pounds of fresh tomatoes.
When I was a kid, my mother bought a brand called Vermont Maid…I don’t know if it is still around…I never liked maple syrup when I was a kid and certainly not pancakes. My mother wasn’t much of a cook ( sorry Mom )
Real. Real is the only stuff worth eating. I buy mine (7 quarts a year) from a farm in Maine. It’s the best ever.
A recipe for maple syrup lovers:
Put one pound of raw pecans in a heavy 3-4 quart sauce pan (high sides are important).
Pour about 1/2 quart of real maple syrup over the pecans and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often (but not continuously, unless you want to).
Boil until almost dry; crystals of maple sugar will be forming on the sides of the pan.
As the sugar crystallizes, dump pecans out onto a parchment-paper (or Silpat) covered cookie sheet. Spread them out in a single layer.
Sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon, cayenne, and salt.
Allow to cool before eating.
Vermont Maid USED to be at least 50 percent real maple syrup eons ago when I was a kid. It went down to around 2 per cent. No joke.
Had a friend right after college whose dad who owned a maple syrup (farm? factory?) OMG–you couldn’t have better stuff than that.
@lje I forgot all about Vermont Maid. As soon as you mentioned it, I could picture the green label with the girl on it.I remember the glass bottle in our refrigerator - that was before we started spending lots of time in Vermont and started using the real stuff.
Real.
Romani, instead of pouring the syrup on, try just dipping a piece of waffle into a small amount of it. A little of the real stuff goes a long way!
Here in the south you can also get Steen’s Cane Syrup. Delicious and smokey, better than molasses and not so thick either. All you Grade B lovers would probably love it.
For cold mornings, I make Irish oatmeal, pour a puddle of whiskey on top, sprinkle on some chopped pecans and drizzle with some Steen’s. Gets you warm inside and out!
Definitely dip–otherwise you’re in for sugar shock. The best stuff goes good on ice cream.
Someone asked - why grade B?
The syrup grades are Light (called Fancy in VT) which is the clearest and sweetest, down to Medium, Dark and then Grade B. Grade B is the smokiest and earthiest and some people prefer that. It doesn’t mean it’s of a lesser quality.
I am from the midwest and do not know anything about the grading of syrup. (A vs B) I just checked the label of my local spendy bottle and all it says on the ingredient dec is pure maple syrup. Is pure map syrup like olive oil with different levels of something ???
Pizza-how is it possible to grow up in the northeast and never taste maple syrup? That’s crazy to me, lol! People warm it because it gets thinner and I think brings out the flavor, plus who wants cold syrup hitting a nie, warm stack of pancakes?? CANE syrup-that’s what H grew up using. I can’t even. I’m going to go look at sites where you can have the maple syrup shipped-although I know we can get it here since I have some in the fridge (that’s probably where warming it comes from. You have to keep it refrigerated or it gets moldy).
Here’s another mail order source, that has both maple syrup and maple cream. A bargain at only $52 a gallon! They are in Lake Placid, NY.
@Kajon - just in time to confuse us all, there is a new grading system in the works:
@gouf78 - It’s a sugar house, or shack, or cabin, but usually house.
Any of you ever had Canadian Maple Syrup Pie? Yum.
Also a teeny bit of maple syrup to sweeten your homemade whipped cream is delicious.
Real maple syrup only. Grade B is fine - it’s darker. If we go out for breakfast and anticipate ordering pancakes or french toast we even bring our own, but we don’t share with other tables.
Pancake and waffles are so easy and quick to make that I don’t have them when I go out.
So I don’t know who has real syrup.
Except for when we would all go out to Hattie’s, for Swedish pancakes.
It was nice to be able to eat at the same time as everyone else.
Many many years ago I had maple syrup cotton candy in the Wisconsin product building at the Wisconsin State Fair. Soooooo good!
Real for sure.
I gotta try that. The french eats their crepe with lemon juice.