Pancake lovers: Know why your maple syrup is more expensive than pancake syrup

When you think of a Canadian or American breakfast, it always seems incomplete without pancakes and maple syrup, doesn’t it? What if we told you that most of the time, the golden-amber maple syrup you pour onto your pancakes isn’t even natural? Hard to believe, but it is true. Do note that Maple flavoured syrup and maple syrup are two different products. The former is also called pancake syrup and is artificially created. It is usually done to provide a larger audience with a cheaper sweetener, as maple syrup is more expensive than the artificial variant. Let’s find out other differences:

How they are made: Maple sap is the only ingredient of natural maple syrup. Through a process called tapping, maple sap is collected into containers. After the process, the sap is then boiled until most of its water content evaporates.  A thick syrup is what is left after, which is afterwards cleaned of impurities. Most of the maple syrup available on the market is a mixture of different producers. Read escuminac maple syrup review carefully or of other brands to find out whether their maple syrup comes from their own forest. Whereas pancake syrup or maple-flavoured syrup is produced through an industrial process that combines artificial maple flavouring with sweeteners like white sugar or, worse, high-fructose corn syrup. 

Cost: The province of Quebec in Eastern Canada produces around 85% of the natural maple syrup consumed worldwide. The finest natural maple syrup is made by tapping the sugar maple tree, a native of this area. Given its scarcity, low annual production, and high demand, it should come as no surprise that genuine maple syrup is far more expensive than pancake syrup made by businesses.

Associated health risks with pancake syrup: High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is one of the primary ingredients in pancake syrup. HFCS is recognised to carry a number of health hazards such as diabetes, obesity, fatty liver disease, renal failure, cardiovascular disease, and heart attacks. Because HFCS has a high glycemic index and is processed more quickly by the liver, it causes a sugar rush followed by a severe crash. Your blood sugar levels may be severely impacted by this, and over time, it may reduce insulin sensitivity and cause Type 2 diabetes. This isn’t the case with maple syrup which as mentioned above, has a lot of health benefits. 

Maple sap is the only ingredient used to make natural maple syrup: The majority of the water evaporates, leaving behind a complex syrup that is sweet but also rich and mellow. Pancake syrup, on the other hand, is a highly concentrated sugar that has been enhanced with a fake maple flavour because it is made from high fructose corn syrup. When compared with its natural equivalent, the overwhelming taste has no complexity of flavour.

Why Is Pure Maple Syrup So Much More Expensive?

The reason is quite simple; it requires a lot of labour. Sugar makers place spouts into maple trees to collect the sap in buckets that hang below the spout. After being transported to a sugarhouse, the sap is cooked down until it evaporates and becomes thick and syrupy. (Some sugar makers transport the sap from the tree to the sugarhouse via tubing.) Because pancake syrup doesn’t contain maple syrup, it is substantially less expensive to make. It is also more efficient to produce large batches in a factory as opposed to smaller batches in a sugarhouse. 

In the end, does it really matter?

It all boils down to what you want. There is nothing wrong with buying a bottle of pancake syrup to go with one of our best pancake recipes if cost is a major consideration. It doesn’t necessarily indicate that something tastes bad because it’s inexpensive. Choose pure maple syrup if you want a natural, artisanal product. It lacks artificial additives and preservatives and has a fuller, richer flavour. Just know how to store maple syrup properly to ensure it lasts long.