After a decade of industry consultation, Canada has decided to make its maple syrup sound even sweeter by banishing the No. 2 grade, and insisting on label descriptions such as “golden” or “very dark.”
The new phrases would harmonize language used by Canada, which makes 84 percent of the sticky treat poured over pancakes and waffles, and the U.S., which produces the rest, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a statement from Ottawa today.
Producers who boil maple tree sap into syrup during the spring will have two years to produce labels with categories such as “golden maple syrup with a delicate taste” and “very dark maple syrup with a strong taste,” the government said. The new rules follow 10 years of effort by the International Maple Syrup Institute, according to the statement.
According to a document posted on the government’s official gazette website, the current syrup system can cause “consumer confusion in regard to dark and stronger-tasting maple syrups that are graded as Canada No. 2 rather than Canada No. 1. It is therefore possible for consumers to view these syrups as lower quality.”
The government plans two grades of syrup - Grade A and Processing Grade - along with four classes: golden delicate, amber rich, dark robust and very dark strong.
Maple syrup is “a national delicacy and an important driver of our economy,” Ritz said. Syrup production of 8.6 million gallons, enough to fill 13 Olympic swimming pools, was worth C$350 million ($301 million) in 2011, the government said in the statement.
of course…
i thought there was a syrup thread somewhere but i couldnt find it.
*cliffs… nyspeeders reference maple syrup for some reason, i found an article on it, posting it here for no particular reason.
