From B.J. Roche in The Boston Globe:
New England’s maple sugarmakers are finding themselves in the middle of an intrigue that touches on international trade and the ethics of big-box retailers. Last week we noted the busting of BJ’s Wholesale Club in New Hampshire for selling lower-grade syrup in Grade A bottles. The Massachusetts Maple Producers Association has lodged similar complaints against Trader Joe’s in Hadley, but Massachusetts has no laws regulating maple syrup classification. Syrup is graded by color and flavor from Grade A Light Amber, the costliest, down to Grade B and a commercial grade sometimes used in curing tobacco. “Large packers buy barrels of B grade and even commercial grade and blend this with various A grade syrups to achieve the grade, and, ostensibly, the price point, that some of the large retail chains specify,” notes Dick Uncles of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food. Sugarmakers have voiced concern that the misgraded (and off-tasting) stuff will turn consumers off the real Grade A syrup. The source of all this syrup is Quebec, which exports its huge surplus. “I don’t have any problem with the stores buying cheap Quebec syrup or selling it cheap,” says Mass Maple coordinator Tom McCrumm. “What I have a problem with is calling it something that it isn’t. People buy that stuff for $6.99 a quart, I’m selling for $14 a quart, and they think I’m ripping them off.” For the real thing, go to: www.massmaple.org, www.vermontmaple.org, or www.nhmapleproducers.com.