Maple Syrup Nutrition Facts

When it comes to adding a sweetener to your recipes or stocking your store shelves and condiment selections, you want to use and offer the best. Today there are countless sweeteners besides cane sugar available on the market, and pure maple syrup is growing in popularity. When you are deciding on what to incorporate into your retail, food service, or bulk ingredient offerings, there are a lot of factors to consider. Here’s what you need to know, from maple syrup nutrition facts to other dietary details. 

What Is Maple Syrup?

Maple syrup is a natural sweetener. It is made from the sap from various species of maple trees. Liquid sap is collected, boiled, and concentrated to achieve a specific sugar content and viscosity. When collected, maple sap contains about 98% water and 2% sugar. Once it has been boiled and much of the water is evaporated, maple syrup contains roughly 33% water and 67% sugar. 

For generations, native peoples and local folks have gathered the plentiful sap in early spring and made enough maple syrup for their families and communities. This then grew into a localized industry wherever the sugar maples grew plentifully. Maple trees need to be roughly 10" diameter and greater in size to start tapping and collecting sap and can give sap as long as the tree is healthy and alive.

There are plenty of imitation maple syrups on the market, but they can’t touch the real thing. Corn syrup, caramel coloring and flavorings simply cannot compare to the natural depth of real maple syrup. But how does maple syrup compare nutritionally to other sweeteners? 

Maple Syrup Nutrition Facts

On a technical level, maple syrup is a combination of water and natural sugars along with trace amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and flavor compounds. The varying shades of syrup (or “grades”) are an indication, not of quality, but of when the syrup was collected, how long it was boiled to remove all water content, and other naturally occurring factors.

The serving size of maple syrup is 2 tablespoons, also equal to 30 ml. How many calories are in maple syrup? Pure maple syrup calories come in at about 52 calories and about 13 grams of carbohydrates per every 1 tablespoon (20g). It also contains a wide range of nutrients, including:

• Minerals: calcium (~20 mg), potassium (~42 mg), manganese (~0.55 mg), iron (~0.1 mg), magnesium (~4 mg), zinc (~0.15 mg), copper (~0.01–0.02 mg)

• Vitamins: niacin (~0.02 mg), thiamine (~0.01 mg), riboflavin (~0.002–0.01 mg)

• Other Compounds: organic acids (malic acid, fumaric acid), small amounts of amino acids (arginine, threonine, proline, leucine), and phytohormones (phaseic acid, abscisic acid) 

Along with so many trace nutrients, maple syrup also contains plant compounds called polyphenols–chemical compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In fact, some phenolic compounds have even been studied for their ability to enhance the effects of antibiotics. And quebecol, a polyphenol found in maple sap, may contain anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects.

Nature truly has a bounty of gifts contained in the sap of this one mighty tree. Because 100% pure maple syrup derives from natural sources, the exact amounts of all of these nutrients can vary, based on the individual trees and their unique growing conditions. 

Is Maple Syrup Healthy?

Any amount of any type of sweetener can impact the eater’s blood sugar and overall health. That said, maple syrup clearly offers more than just sweetness. For one thing, it is not a source of refined sugar, like cane sugar, where everything has been stripped out of an otherwise natural product. Instead, finished maple syrup is unrefined, requires little processing, and still contains all the above listed minerals, vitamins and antioxidants when it reaches consumers. In fact, the darker grades of maple syrup may contain more antioxidants, since they are often produced from sap that is collected later into the growing season.

The collection of sugars that give maple syrup its unique flavor profile are very diverse, and include sucrose, glucose, fructose, oligosaccharides, quebrachitol, inulin and others. That said, it is primarily composed of sucrose, which is known to cause less digestive issues for those who suffer from IBS and other gastrointestinal problems. A serving of roughly 2.5 tablespoons–or just over one standard serving–has been determined to be acceptable for those following a low-FODMAP diet.

Maple syrup also sits lower on the glycemic index, at 54, than both white sugar (60) and honey (58). This means that maple syrup causes less of a blood sugar spike. For those who are concerned about their blood sugar levels, this can be a real benefit. And while maple syrup and honey are both good alternatives to sugar for the additional nutrients they contain, maple sugar is naturally vegan, making it more versatile than honey. Maple syrup is also naturally gluten-free, and has its own unique flavor profile without the need for additives, colorants, flavorings, or preservatives. 

All things considered, while real maple syrup is a natural product that contains beneficial compounds, it is also primarily a sweetener. And it is well known that excess amounts of any type of sweetener can cause negative health impacts. However, when used in moderation, 100% pure maple syrup can be part of a healthy diet and makes for a smart sweetener choice.

Wholesale Maple Syrup From Bissell Maple Farm

When you’re sourcing natural maple syrup for your retail customers, are deciding which natural sweetener to use in your food service offerings, or if you need bulk maple syrup for another use, you can rely on Bissell Maple Farm to supply what you’re looking for. Draw from our family history and maple sugaring expertise and choose Bissell’s 100% pure maple syrup for your business needs. Contact us to learn more and to determine which products best fit your applications.