Cream of the crop. Gourmet. Chef’s kiss. Can’t go wrong.

Here they're a high-end flavored syrup. Good for gifts and not much of anything else.

If it's genuine maple syrup, then there is actually very little information to be gained from the packaging.

Darker syrup will have a stronger flavor and lighter syrup will have a lighter but much cleaner taste. I'm a lighter syrup snob, but the darker is better for cooking in my opinion. Try some of a couple different syrups for yourself.

I like Runamok for the flavor variety but when it comes to plain old maple I prefer the small local, very rustic dark stuff.

Could you recommend me some? Is there a difference between Vermont maple syrup and the Quebec kind? Like, in the sense that wine can differ depending on where it's produced?

Vermont syrup has a reputation for a reason. It's the best. There are signs everywhere for people selling maple syrup from their small sugar houses. Go buy it from them, not from a grocery store.

Edit: just realized you're in Europe. Morse farm or Bragg's maple will do online orders. Don't go for the flavored stuff.

I second this! OP I know you’re in Europe, but if you visit Vermont, seek out the local sugar shacks. The maple syrup will taste awesome and you’ll be supporting locals!

Their regular stuff is good!

My family always gets syrup from Cloverdale Sugarhouse in Underhill. All grades are really smooth.

I'm a big fan of https://www.burkemountainmaplecompany.com/

If it's 100% maple syrup there isn't much variation between sugar houses (ones producing syrup at scale anyway). People have their brands they like but the vast majority of the difference is in what people are familiar with.

The actual differences in syrup come from how dark or light the syrup is. This is just due to changes throughout the season and all sugarhouses will make the whole spectrum of color syrup throughout the season.

Darker syrup tends to sit on top of a pancake and not really soak into it while lighter syrup will soak into the pancake like a sponge. It's all personal preference. Personally I like the darker syrup for pancakes and lighter syrup for cooking.

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Agree. It's for gifts and tourists. You're paying for the marketing, packaging, and boutique flavor.

Just FYI the darkness doesn’t really have anything to do with who made it or how they made it and more to do with the sap it came from. Early season tends to be light and delicate late season gets darker and more robust.

If you’re familiar with craft beer at all, runamok is like magic hat. Seems like a craft micro brew to outsiders but is actually a huge commercial operation that’s more about scale and product diversity than quality IMO.

If you want small maker syrup but from a big company look up Butternut Mountain. They are a wholesaler and buy syrup from hundreds of small operations and then act as distributor. They buy the syrup from the guy who taps my trees.

Also /r/maplesyrup

And shipping/stocking to Europe apparently!

I think the fact that it is actually sold here does make it a bit more authentic.

Now Vermont Currry on the other hand...

I can't speak to Runamok, but I've had success ordering international shipping of some very excellent dark and robust syrup from this place in VT: https://deepmountainmaple.com/

Good for cocktails

If it has a brand, its flatlander syrup.

Buy from the dude down the street.

Thank you for that info!!

Quebec controls over 70% of the syrup market worldwide and sets their prices based on a cartel model. Their syrup is also all combined together so you don't get per farm variety.

I find lighter is also a better sugar substitute since the flavor is more delicate. But every house should have both!

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Lithuanian… icky!

Also darker syrup has a more complex flavor beyond just sweetness. I use dark (we used to call it “B” grade) for everything from pancakes to cooking

I love a local sugar house for regular, everyday, deep flavored syrup. However, Runamok’s ginger infused syrup on some vanilla ice cream is hard to beat and the cinnamon is killer on blueberry pancakes. There’s room for all kinds of syrup imho!

Not so easy when OP is in EUROPE….

That is not true. When you control 70% of the market some is blended. Some from local VTsugar houses is blended as well. What do you think Morse Farm is pulling from that 50 gallon barrel and putting in the creeme machine.

Quebec produces all the same grades as VT and it tastes the same.

I know everyone here is into VT exceptionalism but it’s just not the case. The syrup produced in Quebec 50 miles north of the Brannons farms in Fairfield is the same as the stuff produced on this side of the imaginary line.

Stop spreading lies like it’s all blended. At least just be honest and say you have either never had it, prefer VT products for non flavor response of at the very least compare graded syrup to graded syrup and not blended.

I’m gonna argue with you on tastes the same. Orange County syrup is much better than say Washington or windham county. Soil quality/type makes a HUGE difference in taste of syrup. Grade is a function of weather, and mostly of cleanliness/bacteria levels.

As far as blending, unless you’re going directly to a producer you’re buying blended syrup, absolutely, and even than there’s a good chance it’s atleast blended with their own syrup to make different grades.

That is fine, you can argue that. I obviously disagree.

Your blending comment is very misleading. If you are buying graded syrup it is graded. Nobody is selling one boil without mixing in others of the same grade if that is what you mean.

Blended is actually a “grade” that is sold, often to food manufacturers.

I’ll taste test with ya anytime! Orange County has way better soil than Washington county, you can taste it in the water, forage quality is superior when we do forage analysis, it makes sense to me that the mineral composition in the syrup from Orange County would also lead to a better flavor. I’m a farmer, originally from Orange County but live in Washington county now. My forage and soil quality on my Washington county fields vs my Orange County fields are shockingly different, and to get my Washington county fields to the level of my Orange County fields requires a lot of constant amendments, where as I haven’t put anything on some of my Orange County fields in close to a decade (I mostly pasture those fields now as trucking hay home from there doesn’t make sense, if I was haying them I would obviously be adding amendments)

I will also say you’ll notice flavor differences with different rigs. Personally I don’t like the flavor or steam syrup. I think when you push sap through an RO you change the flavor some, going to around 10% doesn’t change much, but pushing it to 18% I think you’re losing flavor. Wood vs oil I think you have a different flavor, but not anywhere near the difference from that to steam.

I get what you’re saying with blending/grading and my terms are probably incorrect/misleading. I help out some friends who tap 60k and sell a lot of syrup, but grew up tapping 2k. Growing up we would draw off into a tank, check grade, run it through the press directly into retail packaging. Many small producers do this. At my friend, and most modern large producers it all goes into 40’s or 55’s and when we can we are blending the syrup with other boils to make grade. That is probably where I’m misusing the phrase blended.

Ok. Maple taste off.

I grew up in Franklin County. Worked with some of the big namea up there as a grunt. They all use RO now. I think most places do.

I have never heard of steam to boil though. But yes, wood vs gas vs oil matters. I think it is unfair to try to sweep "Quebec" into any single method though. Just as presumptuous as assuming any of VT is better then all of Quebec.