There’s nothing like a big stack of hot pancakes. It’s a comfort meal that evokes memories and good feelings. But what would a big stack of pancakes be without maple syrup? That sweet, sticky liquid is the favorite way to top our beloved breakfast foods. It’s also such a popular flavor that you can find Maple flavored buttercream, cakes, ice cream and candy. At the bakery, it was one of our most popular flavors to use in desserts. It’s always been my personal favorite as well. That’s why it was shocking for me when I realized the truth about syrup. Most pancake syrups actually contain no real maple.
For most of my younger life, I was a Log Cabin girl. I grew up with a solid supply of a variety of syrups available in our kitchen. However, I always gravitated to the Log Cabin. I’m not sure why except that it always reminded me of Christmas morning breakfasts.
My parents always held a big breakfast on Christmas morning for their friends. It was a break from the family celebrations and a moment to gather over a fun meal. Our buffet included Tupperware pitchers filled with orange juice and grape juice, stacks of toast and pancakes, a variety of breakfast meats and eggs. Simple, good food. Oh, and jugs of Log Cabin syrup. Those pancakes dripping with maple syrup were such a comfort, definitely rising up to the feeling that the Log Cabin branding meant to evoke. The snow falling, the magic of Christmas and the smells of cinnamon, evergreen and maple swirling in the air. It was bliss.
Later that evening at my grandmother’s house we would get to eat my favorite cake. Our Christmas desserts always included our traditional yellow cake enrobed in a silky maple buttercream.
Hungry Jack, another popular pancake syrup, debuted their microwaveable syrup in the 90’s just about the time my husband and I began our family. Although Log Cabin had been my go to for so long, I loved the convenience of that microwaveable bottle and the warm syrup it could produce. Thus began my family’s long love affair with Hungry Jack.
Thus, I was devastated to learn the truth about syrup. I believed I was eating maple syrup. Perhaps back in the 70’s I was. But now it’s simply “syrup”. Actually, a better terminology would be “sugar syrup”, although most call it “table syrup” or “pancake syrup”.
Maple Syrup
First, let’s talk about maple syrup: the gold standard. It’s what we think of when we hear, “syrup”.
True maple syrup, as most people understand, is a natural sweetener that derives from maple trees. Maple farmers extract sap from sugar maple trees and boil it down to a syrup, which gives it that rich, caramel color. Boiling sap to get syrup is similar to the process of making caramel sauce at home. To make caramel you boil sugar and water until it carmelizes. In turn, you are rewarded with a sweet golden liquid. The color and taste of your caramel will depend on how you boiled it. Similarly, the timing of the boil affects both the color and taste of syrup. This is why there are different grades of maple syrup.
In the past, there were five grades of maple syrup: three categories of Grade A, one grade B and one Grade C. However, this grading system was changed per international standards. Now A is the only grade and colors of the syrup dictate the flavor:
- Golden: lightest color, golden delicate taste
- Amber: light amber color, rich flavor
- Dark: dark amber color, robust flavor
- Very Dark: darkest color, strong flavor
You can find these standards by visiting the USDA website at https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/MapleSyrupStandards.pdf.
Pancake Syrup
The typical breakfast syrup is often now called “table syrup” or “pancake syrup”. I’m going to call it pancake syrup because I noticed that some sources refer to true maple syrup as “table syrup”. To be clear, maple syrup is made from one ingredient while pancake syrup is made with a variety of sugars and chemicals.
When I was growing up back in the 70’s and early 80’s, pancake syrup contained real maple syrup. I have no idea when it changed and it was difficult to find sources for this. What is clear, however, is that these brands want consumers to believe they are eating maple syrup, when in fact, their products are unhealthy sugar knock-offs.
We’ll start with my family’s favorite: Hungry Jack. Although there are several varieties, the most common one is the Original. It’s ingredient list is as follows:
- Corn Syrup
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Water
- Cellulose Gum
- Salt
- Caramel Color
- Sorbic Acid
- Sodium Benzoate
- Sodium Citrate
- Natural and Artificial Flavors
Other flavors of Hungry Jack include Butter, Cinnamon & Brown Sugar, Honey Maple, Lite and Sugar-Free. The Honey Maple is the only flavor with the word “maple” on the front. The ingredients for that one are:
- Corn Syrup
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Water
- Cellulose Gum
- Salt
- Sorbic Acid
- Sodium Benzoate
- Honey
- Sodium Citrate
- Caramel Color
- Natural and Artificial Flavors
To view the full ingredients lists for each of the products, visit the Hungry Jack website. https://www.hungryjack.com/products/microwaveable-syrup
Another family favorite syrup was Log Cabin. It’s label evokes nostalgia with its warm cozy cabin. As a midwestern for my entire life I can vouch for the fact that there is nothing better than lazy Sunday morning breakfasts on cold winter days. The best way to get your kids up on the weekend is to make breakfast. The smells of bacon, pancakes and maple syrup linger for hours. In fact, Sunday morning breakfasts were always our special bonding time.
Here’s the ingredient list for Log Cabin Original:
- Corn Syrup
- Water
- Sugar
- Salt
- Natural Flavor
- Sodium Hexametaphosphate
- Sodium Benzoate
- Sorbic Acid
- Caramel Color
- Phosphoric acid
- Mono and Diglycerides
Log Cabin is the only one of the three to use the description of its original syrup as “authentic maple taste”. https://www.conagrafoodservice.com/products/log-cabin. Notably, it contains no high fructose corn syrup.
Log Cabin is also the only popular pancake syrup brand one to feature an “All Natural Table Syrup”. The jug I remember from my youth replicates a typical real maple syrup jug and its ingredients list is as follows:
- Brown Rice Syrup
- Water
- Cane sugar
- Brown sugar
- Natural Flavors
- Citric Acid
http://www.logcabinsyrups.com. However, even the “all natural” version does not contain maple.
Another family favorite syrup was Mrs. Butterworth’s. I remember growing up watching commercials featuring the talking syrup bottle. I took recent notice, however, that nowhere on the bottle is the word, “maple”. Instead, here are the ingredients:
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Corn Syrup
- Water
- Cellulose Gum
- Salt
- Cane Syrup
- Caramel Color
- Sodium Hexametaphosphate
- Sodium Benzoate
- Potassium Sorbate
- Natural and Artificial Flavors
- Citric Acid, Molasses
- Lactic Acid
- Mono and Diglycerides
Mrs. Butterworth’s does not list their ingredients on their website so you’ll have to take yourself to the supermarket like I did.
There are other brands of pancake syrup on the market, from well-known ones to individual store brands. Most every one that I checked contain similar ingredients to the above.
What’s Bad About Pancake Syrup
The Mrs. Butterworth’s website intrigued me because it features the vintage commercials. Although I remember them like yesterday, I spent some time watching them recently. I noted that back in the 70’s and 80’s the brand was advocating that the syrup contained real butter. So I popped over to Ebay to find an old bottle label.
Here’s what an ingredient label from the 1970’s contained:
- Sugar Syrup
- Corn Syrup
- Maple Syrup
- Butter
- Water
- Salt
- Algin Derivative
- Sodium Citrate
- Citric Acid
- Sodium Benzoate
- Artifical Maple Flavor and Color
Interestingly, I found a vintage Log Cabin label and that brand also used to contain maple syrup, albeit no butter
I could not find the date of the Hungry Jack launch, nor an original ingredient label.
Food was made safer back in the 70’s and early 80’s when I was a kid. Simply, many of the harmful food ingredients weren’t in existence at that time.
For starters, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) wasn’t introduced until the 1970’s. Its popularity with food and beverage companies grew between the mid-70’s to mid-90’s. It did not become the sweetener of choice of these companies until the 80’s, starting with a sugar cane shortage. Currently, it is the most popular sweetener used by food companies because it is cheaper than granulated sugar. (This makes me suspicious that when Hungry Jack was introduced, probably in the 90’s, it already contained HFCS).
High Fructose Corn Syrup is a highly processed liquid sweetener made from corn. The government pays subsidies to farmers to grow corn. Thus, products made with HFCS are cheaper than those using natural sweeteners, like maple syrup. None of this existed prior to the mid 80’s.
So what’s so bad about HFCS? First, it is made from GMO corn that is heavily sprayed with pesticides. Second, it is highly processed when it is turned into a harmful sweetener. During processing of corn syrup, they convert some of the glucose to fructose. In fact, the most popular form of HFCS is 55% fructose, while the other formulation is 42% fructose. Fructose is sweeter than regular sucrose, and more addicting. Since there is no chemical bond that forms between the fructose and glucose, it is rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream. Fructose is processed by the liver, which means that it has the ability to trigger fatty liver disease. Glucose, on the other hand, is absorbed through the small intestine into the bloodstream and stimulates insulin.
By comparison, regular corn syrup (processed from corn) is 100% glucose. Sucrose, made from crystallizing sugar cane or beet juice, is made from a one-to-one ratio of glucose and fructose.https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-fructose-corn-syrup-questions-and-answers
It’s clear from the studies that fructose is a problem. Exactly how much of a problem is still being debated. However, HFCS is touted by many as a dangerous unnatural sweetener that is linked to diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, cancer, inflammation, dementia and obesity. Overall, it’s one of the most controversial ingredients on the market. It is definitely indicative of poor quality products that are nutrient deficient. https://drhyman.com/blog/2011/05/13/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you/.
Most European nations, along with Sweden, have restrictions on HFCS. However, here in America we consume more of it than any other country. In fact, in 2020 we made 7.6 million short tons of the stuff. Organizations, such as the American Heart Association, have issued advisories for people to limit their intake of HFCS and there are numerous reliable sources condemning its usage. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children do not consume it. Despite all of this, the American government continues to recognize it as “safe”. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=184.1866
In addition to HFCS, the truth about pancake syrup is that it uses many other chemicals in order to replicate the taste, color and texture of real maple syrup.
Sodium Benzoate is a highly controversial food preservative. It is linked to a variety of health problems, including fertility, inflammation, liver disease, kidney disease, GI upset, hyperactivity, and anxiety. However, doctors use it to treat Parkinson’s and Mental disorders. This raises a lot of questions about this chemical and whether it should be used in such popular food products, particularly when there are many other preservatives available. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9003278/#:~:text=Sodium%20benzoate%20(according%20to%20the,food%20in%20strictly%20defined%20doses.
Caramel Color is the most popular food color. The beverage industry relies on it to color sodas. It is made by heating a sugar compound together with an ammonia, alkali or acid. The harmful nature occurs during this processing. The World Health Organization has concluded that it is possibly carcinogenic to humans. Moreover, the FDA strictly regulates its usage. https://www.cspinet.org/article/caramel-coloring#:~:text=Caramel%20coloring%2C%20when%20produced%20with,and%20possibly%20in%20female%20rats.
The Importance of Choosing Real Maple Syrup
Real maple syrup is a natural occurring sweetener. Because it drives from natural sap from sugar maple trees, it contains amino acids, proteins, vitamins and organic acids. It’s high in antioxidants, calcium and zinc.
Pancake syrups, on the other hand, are unnatural sweeteners. Because they contain bad sugars and chemicals, they are actually harmful to our health.
I can understand why big food companies no longer use real maple syrup to make their sugar syrups. It is cost prohibitive to use a good ingredient to make a cheap product. Real maple syrup costs a lot more because the nature of making it is labor intensive. It takes 40 gallons of sap boiled for 24 hours to get just one gallon of syrup.
The big food companies are known for using the cheapest ingredients to produce abundant processed food. Cheap sweeteners help them to maintain their profits, despite the harmful ingredients they use to produce their products. They use harmful chemicals to mimic real maple flavor and unsafe liquid sweeteners with addictive properties to entice repeat business.
It’s disheartening and a little maddening to learn the true nature of our food. But it’s important so we can make better food choices. After looking into the truth about syrup, particularly the ingredients in it, I believe there is enough data to link a variety of chronic disease to it. I understand there’s a lot of confusion out there. Further, we need more studies for firmer conclusions. In the meantime, why risk it?
It may cost more to buy the real stuff. But, it’s definitely worth it. Plus, maple syrup is one thing that stretches far. A little goes a long way. I have found that a little maple syrup makes great maple scones, maple cakes and even maple old-fashioneds! If all this talk about maple syrup has made you hungry, read here to get my recipe for homemade waffles: The Best Waffle Mix
It is also reassuring to know you are supporting the maple syrup farmers and not a food giant. So next time top those pancakes with a good dose of the real stuff and allow yourself to feel good about indulging yourself because you now know the truth about syrup.
Cake image by Jennifer Kaye Photography. All other images by Michelle Adams.
