Enjoy Maple Syrup with Your Pancakes

The darker Grade A syrups have stronger maple flavors, and then there are Grade B rated syrups

People who like a more robust maple flavor often choose a darker Grade A, or Grade B maple syrup. Then you are having a serious maple flavor treat!

Ultimately it comes down to personal preference. The list below progresses from lightest to darkest in color, and and lightest to strongest in flavor.

US Maple Syrup Grades

Grade A Light Amber
Grade A Medium Amber
Grade A Dark Amber
Grade B

Grade B is generally sold at a lower price than the Grade A varieties.

No matter which grade you choose, the real thing always beats the imitations!

Once you open your bottle of maple syrup, refrigerate it. Unopened maple syrup will keep indefinitely. The natural sugar acts as a preservative.

When you're driving down a country road in maple syrup country in March, look for the buckets hanging on the sides of the maple trees. That's where golden goodness comes from (and it does not harm the trees).

Maple syrup producers tap their trees in early spring to collect the sap. The season lasts for about a month, depending on the weather. If the weather is cold, it makes the season longer and a warm up will speed the sap rising.

It takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup, ready for your pancakes, waffles, french toast or other home use. A maple tree has to be about 40 years old and at least 10 inches in diameter before it can be tapped for sap to produce maple syrup.

Amazon has a Subscribe & Save program available for many of the maple syrup offerings on the site. This is similar to the farm subscriptions or memberships available in many parts of the country, where consumers can receive baskets of fresh produce during the year.

For selected products on Amazon, buyers can choose intervals and quantities, and set up an automatic shipment of favorite products that are part of this program. How handy is that! Never run out of your favorite pancake syrup. Look for a Subscribe & Save info box in the listing to see if the product you are interested in offers this feature.

Photo source: SXC, juliaf

The first restaurant featured in this PBS program, Breakfast Special, is a family maple syrup operation, Cartwright's Maple Tree Inn, in Angelica, New York. This show is the work of Rick Sebak, who has produced a number of "nostalgia" specials for PBS.

Each spring, the Maple Tree Inn opens for about 9 weeks to serve all-you-can-eat buckwheat pancakes and maple syrup from the farm. Oh, yeah! The pancakes go back to 1963. The maple syrup operation goes back to the 1850s.

If you want to see how maple syrup is made, and eat a fresh pancake breakfast, this could be a trip for you. The buckwheat pancakes are made using a secret family recipe.

Did I say all you can eat?

I'm lucky enough to live in maple syrup country, in Michigan.

March is the time when some farms and nature centers offer educational programs about how maple syrup is produced. Friendship Woods in Madison Heights, Michigan, was one of those places. Budget cuts have forced suspension of these educational programs.

We still have our local green oasis -- cool trees and natural beauty in the midst of an urban area. Volunteers keep watch over this local resource.

In spring of 2010, gallon jugs were recycled as maple sap collectors. Clear as water until the boiling process starts. Forty gallons of sap produce one gallon of finished syrup. Programs like this help the kids (and adults) know a bit more about where their food comes from!

Perhaps in future years, these programs will be revived.

There are many pancake mixes available to offer a variety of convenience and flavor. If you can think of a version that you want, there is probably a mix for it. Buttermilk is a traditional favorite. We used to have buckwheat at home, too.

There are multi-grain and gluten free versions for those who want or need something a bit different due to health reasons.

You can create your own variations, too. Just start with basic buttermilk pancake mix and add your own special touches, like banana or chocolate chips. Who knows, you might end up creating a new family favorite for weekends, holidays or other special events.

Tips for cooking pancakes

• Use a hot griddle or skillet. Low or no sides makes flipping easier


• Mix the batter according to package directions to get the consistency just right, not too thin or too thick


• Spread the batter evenly and quickly, then leave the pancake alone to cook. Start with smaller pancakes when you are learning


• Look for bubbles over most of the pancake surface as your sign to flip


• Practice makes perfect, and you can enjoy eating the tasty trial runs

More than 170 Amazon customer reviews place this one near the top of the list. The cooking surface is large and can handle up to 12 pancakes at a time, so you can have a lot of food cooked quickly, and keep them all served with tasty, hot pancakes!

Use a glass or plastic dispenser to serve maple syrup at the table, and you can have it ready to go ahead of the meal. This way, you can focus on making the pancakes, waffles or other breakfast treats you will be serving.

If you like your syrup warm, use a glass dispenser and sit it in a small bowl of hot water for about half an hour. Some dispensers are microwaveable, but check the specific model before using it that way.

Different dispensers can be used for different versions of maple syrup, so some can have their light amber, while others enjoy their rich dark and Grade B syrup. Then the pourers can go right into the refrigerator, ready for the next pancake breakfast or dinner.

We like glass at our house, because that section can go in the dishwasher. The tops vary. Some are top-rack dishwasher safe. It depends on the model.

We have never used the dishwasher heating element. We just let the heat from the water dry the load. Saves energy and we don't have to worry about plastics.

What do you get for the person who has everything? Or someone who is downsizing and doesn't want more stuff?

Food is the universal gift. And if they cook, or like to eat, a pancake and syrup gift basket chock full of maple syrups and pancake mixes could be just the answer. And when you order it online you can have it shipped directly to the recipient.

Your special family or friends can have the fun of enjoying some new varieties of maple syrup, pancake mixes and related foods that they normally wouldn't find, or wouldn't get for themselves.