The Best Maple Syrup You Can Find at the Grocery Store

A bowl of vanilla ice cream with syrup being poured over it on a neatly set table next to a small syrup jug.

I love maple-sugaring season. Every year, just as the temperature starts to thaw in New York City, I know it’s time to make my annual pilgrimage to the rural outskirts of Western Massachusetts where my family lives.

We drive along winding roads and rolling hills dusted with snow, and we look for trails of smoke snaking over the sugar shacks, signaling that the boiling of maple sap is underway. It’s here, in cozy wooden shacks nestled among maple trees, where the fresh maple sap is reduced to a syrup, and those in the know come to celebrate (and stock up on) the season’s latest offerings.

As a kid growing up in California — far from the maple-harvesting regions — I was no stranger to pouring corn-syrup–based “pancake syrup” on my hotcakes as I watched my Saturday-morning Looney Tunes. But I can remember the first time I tried real maple syrup at a diner. And it was a transcendent experience — from the silky way the syrup poured to its robust flavor and how it absorbed perfectly into the pancakes.

After tasting 26 syrups, we were happy to discover that nearly every sample in our lineup was pretty good. Maple syrup that’s 100% pure is likely going to be delicious poured over morning flapjacks, drizzled across waffles, and stirred into yogurt or tea.

That said, we found a few particularly special bottles that we think are worth trying, including a classic everyday syrup, a syrup that’s delicate yet still maple-y, a bright, fruity dark syrup with hints of toffee, and a gift-worthy one with notes of coffee, bourbon, raisins, and vanilla. We also took care to find a tasty budget option.



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