25 things vanishing in America, part 2: Maple syrup
Filed under: Food
My family eats a huge amount of maple syrup, and lately, I've had to carefully budget our purchases. I have a whopping $50 per month set aside for sweeteners, and between the disappearance of bees and the rising prices of maple syrup, it doesn't go as far as you'd think.Lately, maple syrup prices have skyrocketed. Last year was a terrible year for maple syrup, but what happened in 2007 was the real killer: Canadian reserves were exhausted (did you know there were maple syrup reserves? There are!) and prices went up 30%. So last year, when the season turned out terrible, prices went up steeply, 70% for some grades. Now maple syrup watchers (like me) are nervously wondering whether the 2009 season will make up for past seasons; and whether prices will, finally, go down.
Due to the overwhelming tightening of supply and the increase in prices, Cracker Barrel went to 55% maple syrup and 45% cane syrup in its "100% Pure Natural Syrup" at its Old Country Store restaurants; a move the company insisted was not at all motivated by cost, but by supply (hmmm, really? nothing to do with cost?).
As restaurants wavered in the face of prices nearing $100 per gallon, many quietly took the stuff off the menu.
Will maple syrup vanish from America? Perhaps the prices have driven the delicious natural syrup off many families' shelves, and diluted the offerings at Cracker Barrel restaurants, but the state of the maple market is actually a great thing for American supplies, which have been steadily rising in the past decade or so and will likely multiply in the coming few years as Vermont sugarbushes step up to fill in the holes left by Canadian supplies. On March 9, New York Senator Charles E. Schumer, and New York Representative John McHugh, introduced a bill to help small producers nationwide get access to trees on private land and to create centralized storage and bottling plants. If the bill works as they hope, sales will quadruple from $65 million to $260 million.
I, for one, will be buying. Will you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
4-06-2009 @ 11:27AM
David Lawrence said...
Maple syrup prices rose so steeply over the past few years in large part due to the cost of the fuel to produce it and for almost no other reason. This was particularly true for diesel which many makers used but some used propane or natural gas as well. The makers who used wood fueled evaporators had the lowest increase in costs but they still doubled. Very few people realize just how much fuel it takes to boil down over 40 gallons of sap into one gallon of syrup. Maple syrup is often associated with green environmental Vermont, but the process to make it is anything but green - unless you consider the fact the it provides an incentive to not log the trees.
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4-06-2009 @ 6:36PM
linda said...
I will always buy pure Maple Syrup! I don't care how much it costs. I am 61 and my fond memories of the tapping, the buckets, the team of horses picking up the sap, the boiling, theMAPLE SUGAR suppers at the Grange Halls and Churches. What a time to be a child! Beans, Ham, Salads, Sugar on Snow, Homemade Donuts....and PICKLES!
4-11-2009 @ 12:00AM
deCadmus said...
Many of the sugar makers who live down the road aways from me here in Vermont use wood-fired evaporators as only the *finishing* stage of syrup production, electing to remove 80% of the water from the raw sap through reverse osmosis filters. It's far more efficient, cost effective, and a time-saver, too. Bonus: there's no loss in syrup quality... in fact, there's really no difference in the final product at all.
4-29-2009 @ 2:21AM
Jesse said...
Farm to Table:
Maple syrup is expensive to make, one way or the other.
Commercially, if a business has to use fuel of any kind other than "free" wood, then that is a tremendous percentage of the price.
If you have to pay for labor, that is another factor.
And, last but not least, nature contributes to the price. The trees only run (produce tree water) when the temperature is below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. So, if there is a fast spring and temperatures rise to 60 or 70 or even 50 during the day, then the trees shut off quickly which reduces supply.
The cheapest way to produce might be the farm to table method. If enough locals in maple syrup country banded together in a coop then prices just might decrease. The cooking magazings say fancy restaurants are buying direct from "local" small producers. Grade A is out; Grade B dark is in.
Up North - in Upper Peninsula, Michigan - families tap the trees themselves, use wood obtained from their land or a wood permit to reduce it down (wood which they have cut themselves which cuts fuel expense but factors into labor expense, if labor is paid), and, of course, harness all the free help they can get who don't expect to be thanked in - guess what - maple syrup.
It is probably going to be a short season up here this year so I don't look to get more than enough for me. Sorry guys!
4-06-2009 @ 2:08PM
BumbleBee said...
I will always find a way to buy maple syrup. Gotta have it!
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4-30-2009 @ 10:57PM
Glenda said...
I love Maple Syrup and never eat corn syrup. Some people, that never read a label, don't know the difference. If you once eat Maple Syrup you will never want anything else. Here, in OK it is between $6.00 and $12.00 for 8 oz. What is sugar on snow?
4-06-2009 @ 2:50PM
Mike said...
Hogwash. 80% of the worlds Maple Syrup is from Quebec. The claims that there are shortages is total fabrication. There are reserves and last year they dumped 1000's of gallons of syrup on the guise that they were from the year before. Actually what they were doing was trying to control the prices. The media reports are total BS as usual....
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4-26-2009 @ 7:31PM
John said...
Mike, Please provide us with the source of your story claiming 1000 gallons have been dumped. I've checked and I'm unable to find anything. Thanks
4-06-2009 @ 3:01PM
ANDRE said...
HOW ABOUT LESS STRESS NEWS! TGHE BEST THING THAT SHOULD BE 'DISSAPEARING' IS THIS COSTANT STRESS OF WHATS GOING TO DISAPPER OR WHATS GOUING TO DO US IN ETC! HEY, THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE WORLD IS.... BEING ALIUVE PUT A CORK IN IT!
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4-06-2009 @ 3:25PM
Creekside Maple Syrup said...
We have a small operation and use propane in our evaproator. It is an expensive, time consuming, operation. One of our Ebay auctions just went off for $2.25 for a 16 oz jug of dark amber A. So much for the law of supply and demand.
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4-07-2009 @ 9:08AM
Ray said...
where/how can i buy from You ?/
Ray
4-06-2009 @ 3:42PM
Taoate said...
SO LET THE PRICE OF MAPLE SYRUP SOAR IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO SAVE THE TREES AND THE INDUSTRY. HELL, WE ALL KNOW THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE ALL BELONG TO THE TOP 5% OF THE WEALTHY IN AMERICA AND THAT INCLUDES OUR CONGRESS, BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE. THE MAJORITY OF THE WORKING CLASS COULDN'T AFFORD REAL MAPLE SYRUP FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. TOO BAD ONE OF THE THINGS THAT ISN'T GOING AWAY IS THE GREEDY POLITICIANS.
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4-26-2009 @ 6:02PM
Wade said...
Where do you buy your syrup at? Russia? As far as saving the trees, you Liberal jackass, the trees aren't being hurt by syrup removal. Syrup is actually good for, as with anything, in MODERATION!
4-06-2009 @ 6:06PM
Demetrios said...
I have noticed that most Americans have no idea that what they're putting on their pancakes and waffles is corn syrup, and not maple syrup.
There is nothing more delicious than maple syrup! I was at an up-scale restaurant a few years ago, and noticed that they had a dish with maple syrup listed on their menu. I asked the server if it was, in fact, actually maple syrup. The server was surprised and thought it was a silly question. I politely insisted that the server actually double-check for me. When that happend, the server was shocked to see that there was absolutely 0% maple in the syrup. It was mainly corn syrup.
Since then, I've been to several other places, and politely inquired in a slightly different way-in order to really make the point. I've been politely asking my server if the syrup was corn or maple. They give you the oddest looks! They think it's a silly, ridiculous question, and often try to reassure you, with a smile, and perhaps a giggle, that it is, indeed, maple syrup, of course! When I point out to them that corn syrup comes from corn, and that maple syrup comes from maple trees, and the two are totally different, they give me an even odder look, explaining, that, well, yes, they know that, of course. They also insist that they serve maple syrup. Universally, when I politely request that they double-check with the kitchen, they come out quite surprised that they've never served anyone a drop of maple syrup in the entire time that they've worked there-it IS syrup form corn, after all!!
So I doubt that many of those same people, and many of their guests, realize that what they've been buying at the grocery store, and serving their families, is corn, and not maple syrup.
Maple syrup is expensive, but while prices are dictated by supply and demand on one hand, wouldn't more of a demand for it lead to more production of it? As with so many other things, the public has to be educated, first. I realize that there are certainly many causes that are much more crucial in the world today, but people ought to know-and they're being fooled by the manufacturers of "breakfast" or "table" or "pancake" syrup, into thinking that they're eating and serving their families maple syrup.
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4-08-2009 @ 2:28PM
Brian said...
A few of us "lucky" ones who frequently visit rural communities where, with some luck, one can still find 100% pure maple syrup direct from producers for $20-30 a gallon. Once the commodities brokers have a finger on it, you can forget about affordabiltiy.
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4-06-2009 @ 4:02PM
execk2 said...
Taoate said...- WTF are you babbling about?
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4-06-2009 @ 4:35PM
SHIRLIE T. said...
I AM DIABETIC AND HAVE FOUND MAPLE SYRUP DOES NOT RAISE MY BLOOD SUGARS WHEN I USE A LITTLE ON MY BREAKFAST HOTCAKE. MAPLE SYRUP IS MUCH LOWER ON THE GLYCEMIC INDEX THAN CORN SYRUP AND TASTES A LOT BETTER, TOO. I WISH EVERYBODY KNEW THAT. I DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT HAS CORN SYRUP OR CORN SYRUP SOLIDS IN IT. SOMETIMES THAT'S HARD TO FOLLOW, BUT MY HEALTH IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME.
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4-06-2009 @ 5:04PM
bluedun said...
I am a traditionalist, and wouldn't think of using anything but pure maple syrup on my pancakes, waffles, french toast, ice cream, etc. The FFA (Future Farmers of America) chapter at our local school produces an ample supply of pure maple syrup which it sells to the local residents. I am happy to support them, because these young students work very hard on this project.
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4-06-2009 @ 5:07PM
Chef Alfred Schrader said...
I'll bet the Northern Chinese are planting Sugar Maple trees right now. Expect to see it cheaper than water, but the joke is on them both because I just invented a new Chef Alfred Schrader Black Cherry pancake topping that will blow your mind. I suggest serve it with a rosette of whipped cream. Trust me, your eyes will roll back ....alfredschrader@aol.com
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4-06-2009 @ 5:11PM
Lore said...
I don't know where people are buying their syrup from, but the syrup produced in Western New York is going from $35-$40 a gallon. It will not disappear from this area. We are having are 47th annual Maple Festival. Syrup brings money into our community, so, please eat REAL syrup.
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