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Maple syrup...

elyse

By elyse
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elyse

elyse

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I was just asking nightscotsman why he used grade A for his Pineapple-Maple Ice Cream on the Homemade Ice Creams and Sorbets thread. Do you use different grades for different things, or stick to the same?

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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I use Fancy grade for everything, because my relatives in Vermont own whatever you call the piece of agricultural property that makes maple syrup.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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Yes, there are trees involved too, but I think the place is called something like a sugar house or sugaring shack or some such.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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Here's an explanation of the grades:

http://www.vermontmaple.org/mgrade.htm

And the general site of the Vermont industry group:

http://www.vermontmaple.org/

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Kareen

Kareen

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You got it Fat Guy, it's called a sugar shack or a maple farm, but for us french-canadian from Quebec, it's "cabane a sucre"... :wink: I'm really glad that people are starting recognize the tastinest of the grade B as oppose to the fancinest of the grade A. I'm also from a big familly of maple farming, so I appreciate all the hard work behind every gallon of the great stuff...

Kareen

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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I like the B too, and I think most people don't realize that the lower grades pack more of a maple flavor punch. But I also think the Fancy grade is something very special: the purest expression of maple flavor. The subtlety and depth are really amazing -- it's a lot more than just a sweetener.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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elyse

elyse

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Yes, there are trees involved too, but I think the place is called something like a sugar house or sugaring shack or some such.

Sorry, I should have added an emoticon winking. I lived on a maple farm in NH once, but it was only durring the summer.

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Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

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But where the hell do you buy the Grade B stuff? Even in gourmet supermarkets, usually they only have the Grade A.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

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Timo

Timo

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sorry in advance, this is not a comment on the different grades of syrup. but, a question about syrup had been bugging me for awhile now, and maybe a syrup expert out there could answer it for me... I am wondering what "hickory syrup" is... awhile back i remember reading an article about it, but can't remember where or when. is it just a marketing ploy, or is this really a different syrup? made with hickory sap? i am just curious and intrigued here, sorry i don't have more specific info.

"Things go better with cake." -Marcel Desaulniers

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Pan

Pan

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But where the hell do you buy the Grade B stuff? Even in gourmet supermarkets, usually they only have the Grade A.

There's a guy who is at the Union Square (Manhattan) Farmers' Market every Saturday who has it. I bought $1 of maple candy from him last Saturday, and was it good!

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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Hickory syrup is the hickory-tree equivalent of maple syrup, yes.

In terms of finding non-A grades, they don't make it to a lot of retail stores. Your best bet is to order online from one of the producers, like http://www.deepmountainmaple.com/

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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azlee

azlee

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But where the hell do you buy the Grade B stuff? Even in gourmet supermarkets, usually they only have the Grade A.

Places like "Whole Foods" and "Gourmet Garage" carry the Grade B maple syrup.

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Bilmo

Bilmo

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I just want to note that, while I've never tried it, hickory syrup is not syrup made from the sap of hickory trees (although I suppose some sort of syrup can be made from any tree sap). The only hickory syrup I'm aware of, called Shagbark Hickory Syrup, is a syrup flavored with hickory bark. I don't know if the base is maple or some sort of sugar syrup.

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Lesley C

Lesley C

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I don't think it's a matter of better, it's really more about quantity. Quebec produces more maple syrup than anyone else. Though you can get maple syrup in places as far south as Virginia, Quebec has the ideal climate.

I like Grade B syrup, but agree with Steven about the pure flavour of A syrup.

Maple syrup is just one of those things I absolutely love to eat. I can drink the stuff.

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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I just want to note that, while I've never tried it, hickory syrup is not syrup made from the sap of hickory trees (although I suppose some sort of syrup can be made from any tree sap).  The only hickory syrup I'm aware of, called Shagbark Hickory Syrup, is a syrup flavored with hickory bark.  I don't know if the base is maple or some sort of sugar syrup.

Right you are. I was thinking of birch syrup.

http://www.alaskabirchsyrup.com/aboutbs.asp

Lesley, Fancy grade -- at least in US parlance -- is a notch higher even than the A grades. It's the super-refined product reduced to the purest maple essence. It's very light in color and if you don't pay attention it seems weak. But the flavor is in there.

By the way, I found this link, which contains the answers to every question I can think of about maple syrup and then some:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b856/

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Miss J

Miss J

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I like Grade B syrup, but agree with Steven about the pure flavour of A syrup.

Maple syrup is just one of those things I absolutely love to eat. I can drink the stuff.

I have a 1L jug of No. 1 MediumGrade A in my fridge at the moment (which is almost gone). It's my standby. And I've discovered that in the UK, it marks my nationality more than anything else. Almost all of my British friends had never had real maple syrup until I forced it upon them, thereby ruining their pleasure in anything served with "maple syrup" in restaurants here.

The only time I've ever had No. 1 Extra Light was in Lac Megantic, PQ. It's such delicate, almost floral stuff I think I'd want to save it for very particular applications.

Such as drinking it as shots, for example. :biggrin:

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