I didn’t used to be brand loyal, but now that we’re working to improve our diet, I love finding products that are just simple good food. This is part of my Real Food We Love series. It is not a sponsored post.
I grew up pouring pancake syrup on my breakfast, not realizing that it wasn’t really “maple syrup”. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I noticed the “maple-flavored” on the label. I remember feeling a little insulted, that I’d been duped all those years, thinking that it was maple syrup I was dousing my pancakes with.
The first time I bought the real deal, I was a little taken aback by the price. Ouch! But, I’m one for sticking to principles and I wanted real maple syrup. Eventually it became a habit and I got acclimated to the price that was higher than maple-flavored corn syrup.
There’s no looking back for me now. I love the flavor of real maple. I could just eat it off the spoon. I also prefer its texture over pancake syrup. The alternative is really stringy and sticky. True maple syrup doesn’t get stringy. Now one of the tricks about this different texture is that it pours out very quickly. We’ve solved the problem of the child pouring $2 worth of syrup onto his plate
We make a stopper of sorts out of the safety seal on the top of the jug. By cutting an X in the seal, we allow some syrup to flow, but not all the syrup. Works super well!
Last year during our sugar fast, we relied on maple syrup and honey to sweeten things. It was a great way to have a little sweetness that was closer to the natural product.
Typically we buy these big jugs of syrup at Costco. The price hovers around $12.
What we make with real maple syrup:
- Oaty Maple Breakfast Cake
- Buttered Maple French Toast Casserole
- Maple-Sweetened Chocolate Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
- Maple-Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls
- Maple Vanilla Almond Granola
- Pancakes with Apples and Whipped Maple Butter
The best thing about this maple syrup is that that’s all there is in it! It’s just pure maple syrup.
Disclosure: Costco does not know I exist, so this is certainly not a sponsored post. But, I thought it would be fun to share some of the real food products that I’ve found. Stay tuned for more “real food products we love“.
Frozen Chicken Tenders & Why You Should Buy Them
Real Food Products We Love: Ak-mak
Real Food Products We Love: Trader Joe’s Light Coconut Milk
Real Food Products We Love: Fage Greek Yogurt
Real Food Products We Love: Organic Applesauce
I have become hooked on real maple syrup. I am trying to wait patiently to go buy it at the end of the week when it’s payday and budget will allow it. My favorite way to use it is in hot chocolate.milk. Maple syrup and cocoa powder warmed on the stove. My boys love it!
Sounds like a great combination! I bet you could make the syrup ahead of time and add it to hot milk?
Another food blog I follow has a recipe for a make ahead chocolate syrup that you just stir into milk. This makes me want chocolate!
Sounds yummy!
My birthday was last week and I spent my birthday money for a Costco membership. One of the main reasons for getting the membership is the price of the maple syrup. Costco should have you as a spokesman, as making the decision to get a membership was based on reading your blog and realizing that it could benefit even my small family. Thanks.
Well, I hope it is a success, esp if you did it because of me! Haha! We’ve really benefitted from it over the years. I just need to find the prime time to go to avoid the crowd. The best time is to send my husband on his way home from work. Unfortunately, he blew out his knee over a week ago and isn’t quite better yet. That’s a long walk through Costco.
We get the Costco maple syrup, too, and it’s tasty and a good deal for the real thing. I prefer the lighter color pure maple syrup, but I’ve had trouble finding it since we moved back to WA from the East coast…
I have to say that when my 13-yo or 16-yo have a slumber party I do NOT serve the real thing. Most of the kids around here haven’t ever tasted it and I can’t convince them not to pour 3+ oz onto their plate (ack!). So they get the best fake stuff I can find or, preferably, homemade coconut or berry syrup.
It’s a travesty when they pour that much! We’ve been there. I totally get you on the fake stuff. An alternative would be to make a sugar syrup instead. I’ve got one in the GCE cookbook. There’s also a recipe on the side of Mapleine. We’ve done that when we couldn’t swing the real stuff.
You know, the other thing that Costco in my area just started selling is the wonderful Kerrygold butter! I don’t eat much bread, so when I do I really want it to taste good and that butter certainly does it for me. You don’t need much to add great flavor, and it goes well with real maple syrup (see, I brought it around to topic, LOL).
I’ve been afraid to buy that! It’s so pricey, I’m afraid we’d like it too much. Ha!
My brother has his own bush as he lives in upstate NY (Cross Country Farms). Try substituting it in your breads as a sweetener such as you would with applesauce. My 2 favorites are maple candied yams and on top of maple walnut ice cream. Neither are healthy, but both taste absolutely amazing. I believe St Albans, VT makes a maple cookbook and sells it at its annual maple festival happening soon. http://www.vtmaplefestival.org/Cookbook.html if you are looking for things to do with it besides on your pancakes. VPR’s VT edition has a special today at noon on sugaring(3/25 VPR.Net) if you are at all interested in the science behind why it tastes sooo good. You can also boil it down to a candy and put it on top of snow if you still have some in your yard; we call it sugar on snow.
I would love to have a sugar bush, but that would mean living someplace cold! lol
If you by it in the largest size you can freeze it to keep it longer
I did not know you could freeze maple syrup! Thank you!
This is the one I have as well. I need to go check to see if the bottle says, but does the stuff ever go bad? I use it so very rarely (just not a pancakes and waffles kind of girl, so I rarely make those, especially now the kid is grown) and my plan to make those chocolate cupcakes always seems to get derailed by other choices, so it just sits there in the pantry, taking up space.
Freeze it or refrigerate. Honey can be left on the counter. REAL Syrup will mold if kept at warm temperatures; don’t waste your money by leaving it on the counter. It will crystallize on the bottom over time. You can dissolve that, or you can eat it like candy or sprinkle it on cake :).
Keep it in the fridge, I usually buy it once a year, we don’t use a ton of it either but it lasts just fine that way.
Yes, I think it needs to be refrigerated.
Maple syrup doesn’t go bad – it’s kind of like honey. I do refrigerate mine after opening.
The jug I buy at Sam’s looks exactly the same, just a different label and costs around $12 as well.
Thanks for the tip to keep it from pouring out so quickly. I have taken an old small glass maple syrup bottle and pour some into it then warm on the stove in a small pot of water. Yummy!
We don’t have a Costco within 100 miles of our home, but we do have a few maple trees. Three years ago we started tapping the maple trees to get maple syrup. It’s a time consuming process, but it’s also very simple.
That is a great thing. So happy for you!
We don’t have a Costco within 100 miles of our home, but we do have a few maple trees. Three years ago we started tapping our trees to get maple syrup. It’s a time-consuming process, but it’s very simple.
Hi,
Please I would like to tap maple syrup from my tree. Ist too late now or I can still do it.
Please send reply my email address so I get doing it.
thanks
almas nathoo
You can collect maple sap when the daytime temperatures are above freezing but the night time temperatures are below freezing. The farther north you live, the later that season is. We got our start at http://www.tapmytrees.com. Good luck!
Costco doesn’t exist in my neck of the woods, but we do have a Sam’s Club and they also sell real maple syrup for around $12/liter.
For baking and cooking I always use real maple syrup. When it comes to pancakes and waffles we are a house divided. My husband wants the corn-based syrup he grew up with. He does not use maple syrup on his pancakes or waffles (nor does my oldest daughter).
He is the “picky” one, isn’t he? 😉
Nothing like maple syrup! I have a cousin in VT that taps her trees and makes syrup every year. I get a gallon from her and savor every drop. Nothing like it!
That is such a treat. Jealous!
We get the same syrup- mostly because my son is allergic to corn, but now I’d never go back to the fake stuff! My son likes maple syrup in his gluten free oatmeal- every morning. Because it was so hard to be consistent with how much went into his bowl, I finally put the entire jug into a pump dispenser bottle intended for tempera paints that I found at the local teacher store. Now it stays in the door of the fridge and is so much easier!!
Clever idea!
Love good maple syrup and Costco brand isn’t too bad!
How do you know this is pure Maple Syrup?
It’s marked accordingly.