Not everyone loves real maple syrup. While “authentic” and “natural” are generally favorable terms, for those who are accustomed to the joys of maple-flavored Mrs. Butterworth or Log Cabin Syrup . . . the real deal is a hard sell. When compared to the fake stuff, the glass bottles of genuine maple syrup from grocery stores can come off tasting a little like a tree.
Good news for naturo-philes, during the latest Dish Deathmatch, the Ohio syrup from Pleiades Farms came to play. Priced in a cute-but-teeny bottle at $4 for 3.4 ounces, it’s sweet, sticky, and tastes (perversely) more like honey, and not at all like a tree.
The Ohio maple syrup stood the taste test against a regular grocery Pancake Syrup, made with a time-tested formula of corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup (the dreaded HFCS) and maple flavor. The fake maple is a little thicker and browner than the real deal. No real complaints, but the flavor seems more shallow than that of the Ohio maple syrup.
Actually, armed with the the addictive powers of HFCS, you’d think that the Pancake Syrup might blow away the Ohio maple, especially when the two syrups were tested on a group of teenagers. The results were thoroughly mixed: some liked the runny-honeyish maple for its sweetness, others went for the fake stuff. If HFCS is more addictive, you couldn’t prove it through the group’s preferences.
And a bonus for Ohiophiles, your bottle of real maple syrup will come complete with the all-time best direction label in the history of the universe. It includes this statement: “If any mold should grow on top, simply reheat syrup to boiling and skim.”
The bonus mold steals the Deathmatch Gold: victory to the real maple syrup..
*Pleiades Farms are in Mount Gilead, Ohio. You can find their maple syrup products in local farmers’ markets. The test bottle came from the Worthington Farmers Market.