Where to buy great maple syrup online?

October 11, 2008 7:24 AM

Where to buy great maple syrup online?

I'm tired of supermarket maple syrup. Where can I buy great, real maple syrup online? And what color do you recommend... dark? light?

This would be for pancakes and waffles.

Thanks!

posted by kdern to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Grade B is what the folks around here like on their pancakes. Tastes more maple-y and is darkr. Here is more information on syrup grading, note the difference between the US and Canada. Here's even more to read if you're nutty on the topic, here too.

That said, most maple syrup is the same once it's met the grade standards so you can sort of think about who you'd like to support with your syrup purchases. It's a balance between truly small scale and larger opetrations that may have more competitive pricing and more regularized stores etc. Here are a few places near me you may want to look into.

Morse Farm - big tourist-y place here, I like to take visitors here
Mansion House is VT certified organic and they've got a neat little site.
Two Old Saps site URL makes me laugh, plus extra points for using Joomla!

You can click around here and find more stores. Big things to think about

- what grade you want
- whether you want a fancy container or not
- if you get candy be aware that "blended" is maple + cane sugars not all maple

That's it. I have a quart of grade B in my fridge right now. Happy pancakes!
posted by jessamyn at 7:53 AM on October 11, 2008 [2 favorites]

Grade B is the Bestest.
posted by The Whelk at 8:20 AM on October 11, 2008

For the past 19 years, we've summer vacationed in Greensboro, Vermont, and for the past eighteen we've bought our syrup for the year from Sandy Gebbie before we leave. She and her husband Peter have a dairy farm with a side business in maple syrup. This being the 21st century, they have a Web site, with payment through PayPal.

1+ing Jessamyn, I recall Sandy remarking that tourists bought Grade A Fancy, but Vermonters used Grade B Dark Amber, counsel we've happily followed.
posted by mojohand at 8:20 AM on October 11, 2008

Franklin Farm, Guilford Vermont, been in the family for over 200 years. Very small scale. Good organic syrup.
posted by Xurando at 9:03 AM on October 11, 2008

Maple syrup may be closer than you think, but it sounds like supplies are limited.

Also, in the US, syrup grade classifications vary by state. In New York, Grade B means that the syrup is only for reprocessing, and can't be bought in stores. What you want to buy is the stuff labelled Extra Dark For Cooking.
posted by zamboni at 9:21 AM on October 11, 2008

Long-time New Englander here. Grade A is lighter, grade B is heavier, both are tastier. That is all.
posted by zippy at 10:15 AM on October 11, 2008

I'm a sugarmaker but don't sell online. My neighbor does, though, and you won't find better syrup anywhere. http://www.southfacefarm.com/.
posted by Framer at 4:41 PM on October 11, 2008

I had heard all the hype about Grade B, but we thought it was just too much for pancakes. Grade A Dark is the perfect compromise, IMHO. My native New Englander husband says Maine syrup is the best, but New Hampshire, Vermont, and Canada have never let us down. It's not for purists, but I also really like the apple butter syrup from Stonewall Kitchens (they also have maple).
posted by libraryhead at 6:12 AM on October 12, 2008