Comment by gojomo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gojomo | Hacker News Reader

That was all interesting... but did I miss the part where the author explains how it came to be that "the nominally inferior grade offer[s] decidedly superior flavor" and yet "sells at a significant discount"?

The story seems to suggest that the milder (diluted or perhaps similar to diluted alternatives?) product would have been disfavored by the regime set up by the Pure Food and Drug Act, and thus assigned a lower 'grade'. But somehow the clearer/milder syrup got the higher 'grade'. Why? And what 'evolution' of "our sense of American identity" has outraced the labeling? (Was the Grade-A/Grade-B labeling ever aligned with preferences? Do people only now like the darker syrup more, and if so, when did that preference change?)

I don't mind the story, but the opening paragraph poses questions and promises answers that aren't delivered.

It's really not that complicated.

Maple syrup was originally a locally grown (American) sugar substitute. As such, what was valued was a neutral flavor, i.e., something that tasted as little like maple as possible, and as much like sweet liquid. Thus, Grade A (and Grade A Fancy, etc.) went to the lightest, mildest syrup, and Grade B (and Grade C, which is for industrial use) went to the darker syrup with a stronger maple flavor.

(As an aside: the grading is done by color. There is a small kit producers buy which has small samples of colored liquid for each grade, and the grade is assigned based on which liquid your syrup's color matches most closely.)

The change in preferences came when cane sugar became a cheaper commodity; there was no longer any reason to use maple syrup (or maple sugar) if you weren't looking for the maple flavor.

I used to make my own maple syrup, back when I lived in the US-- it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.

Thanks, that's much clearer than the article.

(The article talked about how people always craved the maple flavor, and were concerned about milder plain-sugar substitutes, as its lead-in to the 'truth in labeling'/authenticity-crusade era. That seemed to suggest tht even in 1906, an opposite grading emphasizing 'mapleness' could have taken root. Perhaps the regulators simply made the mistake of using the word 'grade' – implying a quality rank – when really their assessment was only of categories without any inherent preference ordering.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com