By Porter Lang
Start at the label, not the shelf. The colour class on a Canadian jug tells you more than any adjective on the front, and it is the one thing the law makes the packer say.
Four classes, one test
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency sorts maple syrup into Canada Grade A and Canada Processing Grade. Inside Grade A there are four colour classes, and each carries a taste description. Golden has a delicate taste. Amber has a rich taste. Dark has a robust taste. Very dark has a strong taste. Quebec’s producers’ federation uses the same four names and says each colour category goes with a distinct flavour. It also adds that the best syrup is the one you like best, which is fair.
Colour is measured, not guessed. The agency’s procedure gives light transmittance bands: golden at 75.0 per cent or more, amber from 75.0 down to 50.0, dark from 50.0 down to 25.0, and very dark below 25.0. More light passes through a golden syrup, less through a dark one.
The sixty-six rule
To be graded at all, syrup has to reach 66 degrees Brix, measured with a refractometer at 20 degrees Celsius, according to the agency. Wikipedia describes it as 66 per cent sugar. Sap, by contrast, is only 2 to 5 per cent sugar, depending on the species, the same article says. It takes 20 to 50 volumes of sap to make one of syrup. At the evaporator, the boiling syrup sits 4.1 degrees Celsius above the boiling point of water.
The inspection procedure also lists what inspectors look for: sugar crystals and sugar sand, air or carbon dioxide bubbles, mould, and cloudiness.
What gets a batch downgraded
Flavour is the second hurdle. The agency requires a distinct and persistent maple flavour free from any objectionable taste. Trace flavours, such as caramel or sappy notes, push a syrup into Processing Grade. Objectionable flavours, including fermented, burnt or foreign tastes, lead to rejection. Wikipedia lists Processing grade and Substandard as the classes below Grade A. For bulk syrup, the procedure’s sampling tolerance is zero.
What to ask
Which of the four classes is it? Is it Canada Grade A or Processing Grade? Which province, and which producer? When was it packed? How should it be stored once opened? Our sources do not say. We are not naming a producer or a brand, and we are not quoting prices.
Roam first. Shop later.
If you make maple syrup, the process for getting listed is at /sell-with-sephari/