“Breakfast Syrup” Huh?
This morning I had occasion to have breakfast in a local diner (There’s plenty of them in Jersey). The French toast (lousy name, I know) was accompanied by individual servings of Smucker’s “Breakfast Syrup.†With a name like Smucker’s, it may be good, but it sure as hell ain’t maple syrup. .Here are the ingredients listed on the “Breakfast Syrup†label:
Ingredients: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water, natural and artificial flavors, salt, caramel color
Notice anything missing in those ingredients? You betcha! There is no farookin’ MAPLE to be found anywhere on the label. Although it might have been one of the “natural flavors†indicated on the label, I doubt it, because I assume if there were real maple syrup in that stuff, it damned well would appear in the ingredients.
I do not mean to disparage the Smucker’s product, as it was fine, but the difference between it and real maple syrup is as obvious as the difference between a fine wine and “T-Bird.â€
Compare the ingredients listed above with the ingredients of genuine maple syrup:
Ingredients: sap
That’s it. Maple syrup consists of the sap obtained from sugar maple trees in the springtime that is boiled until just about all the water is gone, leaving only genuine maple syrup. It takes approximately ten gallons of sap to make one quart of maple syrup.
Maple syrup doesn’t just taste better than “Breakfast Syrup,†but it’s actually good for you. Consider the following:
Unlike some things that purport to be “organic†and “natural,†maple syrup is both.
Maple syrup contains as much calcium as whole milk.
Maple syrup contains approximately 40 calories per tablespoon, compared to corn syrup, which contains approximately 60 calories.
Maple Syrup is rich in minerals e.g. calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron) and vitamins (e.g. B2, B5, B6, niacin, biotin, and folic acid).
While one often associates maple syrup being made in Vermont, it is also made in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, and Canada. (If I left out certain states, I suspect that someone will correct me.)
As a result of eating today’s “Breakfast Syrup,†and writing this entry, I am particularly glad that I have an unopened bottle of Grade “A” Dark Amber New York Maple Syrup in the kitchen, which will be opened and savored tomorrow.
So, if you find yourself in a New Jersey diner ordering pancakes or French toast, and you want genuine maple syrup, I suggest that you bring your own.
If you want a real treat, find someone who is going to VT and have him/her pick you up a gallon of Grade B. Nothing “wrong” with Grade B, in this case……..so rich you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven is all.
Comment by MommaBear — December 30, 2004 @ 5:29 pm
I’ve been putting Jim Beam on pancakes for a while now.
Comment by Jack Bog — December 30, 2004 @ 8:18 pm
do trees cry when they bleed?
Here’s a really sappy post. We do something similar in Georgia with pine trees. We end up with turpentine, which…
Trackback by Gut Rumbles — December 30, 2004 @ 10:04 pm
Fake syrup is a crime, and all who perpetrate it should have their uglies pulled off with baling wire.
Comment by Steve H. — December 30, 2004 @ 10:44 pm
I lived for a bit over a year in Vermont, and got spoiled with real Maple Syrup *real* quick. You’re right, the chemistry set stuff is an abomination.
Comment by DMerriman — December 30, 2004 @ 11:25 pm
I use Georgia Cane Syrup. Good and cheap. I also love the maple kind, if it is 100% A or B grade.
Comment by Catfish — December 30, 2004 @ 11:38 pm
I was thinking of this post while I was at the supermarket earlier tonight. I passed all the syrups in the syrup aisle, and do you know there are very few genuine maple syrups available? Funnier still, they were the same price, or just a bit higher than the corn syrup crap. Just a bit higher for 100% pure maple syrup. What’s up with that?
Comment by Shamrock — December 31, 2004 @ 12:11 am
Mmmm, breakfast syrup. Goes dandy with my breakfast strips and egg beaters.
Comment by Mike Hill — December 31, 2004 @ 12:43 am
It’s the same with honey (which I put on my pancakes sometimes). I have a friend who’s mom keeps bees. The honey she gives me blows anything you can buy at the store out of the water, even the “100% natural honey” stuff.
Comment by Graumagus — December 31, 2004 @ 1:04 am
Mmmm….real maple syrup…I just made a turkey breast basted with garlic, maple syrup and butter. Can’t beat it.
Comment by Ames — December 31, 2004 @ 10:12 am
I grew up on cane syrup. I hate to say it but it sucks next to maple syrup. I was an abused child.
Comment by Velociman — December 31, 2004 @ 11:00 am
Surrip
Jim at PRS has a post about maple syrup, and the faux varieties thereof. Catfish commented that he preferred cane syrup. I hate to break ranks with Cat on this, but I grew up on cane syrup, and found it…
Trackback by Velociworld — December 31, 2004 @ 11:15 am
You got that right V-man. My folks bought Karo for us and big bags of puffed rice and called that cereal and when we ran out they crunched up crackers and poured milk over it and called it “cracker cereal”.
When we ran out of saltines they tore up some Roman Meal and tried to sell that to us. They were some cheap fucks, my parents, so I don’t even heat up their Friskies.
Comment by spongeworthy — December 31, 2004 @ 12:25 pm
You make my heart ache, Spongeworthy. At least my parents crumbled up graham crackers. But karo was not just a condiment, it was a sauce.
Comment by Mike Hill — December 31, 2004 @ 12:36 pm
Hmm, not sure what it was made of, but Br’er Rabbit Syrup was the tastiest stuff anyone ever wiped a piece of white bread through a’fore stickin’ it one’s mouth. I used to join my greatgrandpappy in such adventures.
Comment by Tig — December 31, 2004 @ 12:45 pm
I am spoiled by my father living in northern Vermont for many years. We just recently got a fresh half-gallon of yummy maple syrup from his preferred source, a local farm. $15
And this time of year it’s the dregs, so we didn’t get a full gallon. We can do that in the spring.
Comment by Jay — December 31, 2004 @ 12:48 pm
Brer Rabbit is molasses isn’t it?
My favorite is “table” syrup. Is it made from tables? Or made to put on tables? I’d guess it’s the same slop as “breakfast syrup”…
Comment by moos — December 31, 2004 @ 1:35 pm
How can I have Mo-lasses when I ain’t had No-lasses yet?
I grew up on cane syrup, too. But maple is my favorite, I must say. One thing Yankees got right.
Comment by Dash — January 1, 2005 @ 12:07 pm