Syrup
Grade A Maple
A tier
Grade A maple, under the current North American system, is table-grade syrup of any colour class that meets density and defect rules—Golden, Amber, Dark, and even some Very Dark can be Grade A. The letter no longer means "light." Older recipes that say Grade A often meant the pale bottle. Buy by colour name first. Grade A only tells you it is fit for the table, not how loud it tastes. Grade B as a current shop label is outdated in most markets.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
Any Grade A ColourTable
Traits
Any ColourDensity SpecNot A FlavourNot Automatically PaleOld Meaning DiedRead The ColourTable FitTable Quality Band
History
US
US Grade A meant the lightest table maple; B was darker cooking syrup.
US and Canada moved to colour names; Grade A became a quality band across colours.
Shoppers had to relearn that Grade A Amber is not the old Grade A Light.