Maple syrup is an intensely sweet flavour that is often used for topping pancakes, waffles, and french toast. It can also be used as a sugar substitute in baking, or used over nuts or fruits that are being dried to increase their sweetness.

Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in the spring.

A hole is bored into the trunks of the trees, and the sap is collected. The sap is boiled to evaporate out the water, leaving a more concentrated syrup. Most of the maple syrup produced in the world comes from the Canadian province of Quebec.

Beware of immitations: In the US, maple syrups must include only maple syrup, with only trace ingredients of for example salt allowed. “Maple-flavoured” syrups on the other hand include maple syrup but may contain additional ingredients. “Pancake syrup”, “waffle syrup”, “table syrup”, and similarly named syrups are substitutes which are less expensive than maple syrup, but their primary ingredient is most often high fructose corn syrup flavoured; they have no genuine maple content.