• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

One Vibrant Mama

  • Home
  • Blog
  • SHOP
    • Real Food Done-For-You Menus
    • Back to Basics
    • Real Food Storage
  • Recipe Index
  • New? Start Here!
    • What are Traditional Foods?
    • Article Index
    • Feeding Children
    • Snacks and Lunches
  • About
    • Meet KerryAnn
    • Contact KerryAnn
    • Disclaimer
    • Privacy Notice
    • Terms and Conditions
You are here: Home / Food Matters / Friday Food Fight: Is Organic Important for Maple Syrup?

Friday Food Fight: Is Organic Important for Maple Syrup?

April 11, 2013 by KerryAnn 4 Comments

Friday Food Fight: Is Organic Important for Maple Syrup?

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won't pay more but we will receive a small commission. That helps keep the blog up and the free recipes coming. Thanks! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won't pay more but we will receive a small commission. That helps keep the blog up and the free recipes coming. Thanks!

 

It’s Friday, so its time for another food fight! Every Friday we look at an ingredient, a decision or a process within the real foods sphere. It might be as simple as why you should choose sea salt over iodized salt. It might be more complex, such as what soaking is, how to soak and why you’d want to do it. Grass-fed vs grain-fed. Pastured vs cage-free eggs. What if I can’t afford the best, what’s the next best alternative? All of those decisions that are out in the real food world that are enough to make your head swirl. We’ll take it one bite at a time. Information is always easier to digest when it’s in small pieces.

We’ll start with the easier and move to the complex. As always, we will do so in a good, better, best format, with an eye on the budget. Some weeks, it will be a blog post, other weeks a video.

In researching our last Friday Food Fight about formaldehyde in maple syrup, I hit upon another issue that greatly concerned me. There’s one major difference between organic and conventional outside of the use of pesticides that presents a potential concern. That is the presence of lead.

So now, not only do we have to worry about aluminum in our salt, we also have to be concerned about lead in our maple syrup!

When maple syrup is made, the trees are tapped and out comes a very thin, watery sap. This maple sap doesn’t naturally have any lead present. This sap is transported via a system of pipes and pumps to a building.  The building stores the sap until enough is collected.  Then it is put onto huge tables that are used to boil down the sap until it reaches a certain thickness, which allows it to then be sold as maple syrup. So how does lead enter the equation?

Lead soldering can be used in the collection buckets and boiling equipment used to make maple syrup. Bronze pumps and equipment with brass fittings used to pump the sap from the tap to the sugaring house can contain lead. Storage vessels after making the maple syrup can also leech lead. There are been several cases of contaminated equipment noted in the marketplace as recent as 2009.

How much lead is allowed in maple syrup? It depends on where it is produced. I saw that 250 parts per billion is allowed in Vermont. The University of Vermont has a nice brochure explaining to farmers how to reduce the lead in their maple syrup. Click here to view the pamphlet.

 

Protect Yourself

Lead is bad news and even sub-clinical amounts (levels of lead in your blood below what the lab standards say is ok) have been shown to reduce intelligence in kids according to more than one study (here and here, among others).  In other words, any lead exposure looks to be bad.  I don’t believe there is any safe level of lead exposure after looking at the studies on how lead reduces intelligence and IQ even at levels considered safe by government standards.  Click here to view a number of studies about how lead affects intelligence.

Organic certification requires that no lead-containing equipment be used in the entire process. This is the surest way to avoid the issue of lead in maple syrup.  However, I realize that not everyone has the budget for organic. If you choose to purchase conventional maple syrup, ask the producer about their equipment and test results for lead content.  The industry began to phase out the use of lead in equipment in the 1990s, but some producers who test their syrups have had problems with lead in equipment since that change.

The issue is that while it was phased out of most products, maple sugaring is normally done on family farms where the equipment might be very old.  Apparently some pieces of equipment can last more than a generation. Also, used equipment can be purchased and put to use on a farm.

Since the lead concentrates in little crystals that form during the boiling process, make sure you only purchase clear maple syrups that have had these particles filtered out.

 

Shared at Raising Homemakers, Frugally Sustainable, We Are that Family, Whole New Mom, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, The Shabby Creek Cottage, GNOWFGLINS, Sorta Crunchy, The Nourishing Gourmet, Food Renegade, Rattlebridge Farm, The Shabby Nest, Six Sisters’ Stuff, The Prairie Homestead, Skip to My Lou, The Better Mom, Real Food Forager, Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free, Time Warp Wife, Chef in Training, Far Above Rubies, and This Chick Cooks.

Related Posts

  • Friday Food Fight: Honey versus Maple Syrup
  • Friday Food Fight: There’s WHAT in my Salt?!?!?!
  • Friday Food Fight: Is There Formaldehyde in Maple Syrup?
  • Friday Food Fight: Rapadura versus Sucanat
  • Friday Food Fight: Peanut Butter Organic vs Natural

Filed Under: Food Matters, Friday Food Fight

I'm KerryAnn Foster, a crazy vibrant Jesus Freak with a heart full of hope. I'm not afraid to love on the least of these or get my hands dirty. This blog is my journey from ineffective, uptight, obese wallflower to a woman on fire for God and living the most vibrant, passionate life possible!

I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband, Jeff, and our two teens. I blog about self-confidence, health and home, homeschooling and living a vibrant, wide-open Jesus-centered lifestyle. I have over seventeen years of real food, natural lifestyle and health experience. We have homeschooled our children since birth and both Jeff and I run home-based businesses. We're crazy, we know it, and we love every second of it!

Read about my journey to health through celiac disease, PCOS, food allergies, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Adrienne Urban says

    April 23, 2013 at 8:19 pm

    How do we figure out which kind has the particles sifted out? Very interesting.

    Reply
  2. Susan says

    April 26, 2013 at 10:47 am

    Do you know anything about Trader Joe’s maple syrup? I’ve been buying their non-organic grade B.

    Reply
    • KerryAnn says

      April 26, 2013 at 10:53 am

      Susan, we’ll be covering more about maple syrup and looking at A vs B and some of the brands in May.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Blog - Maple Sugaring Giveaway: The Untapped Potential of Maple Syrup says:
    December 4, 2013 at 5:04 am

    […] you out with that.  We also know that storebought maple syrup can have potential problems, as KerryAnn Foster from Intentionally Domestic reports. Tapping your own ensures you are getting the safest–and freshest product possible.  […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

One Vibrant Mama Newsletter

Subscribe to the One Vibrant Mama Newsletter to get notifications of new blog posts and emails!

Follow Us on Social Media

Meet KerryAnn

I'm KerryAnn Foster, a crazy vibrant Jesus Freak with a heart full of hope. I'm not afraid to love on the least of these or get my hands dirty. This blog is my journey from ineffective, uptight, obese wallflower to a woman on fire for God and living the most vibrant, passionate life possible!

I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband, Jeff, and our two teens. I blog about self-confidence, health and home, homeschooling and living a vibrant, wide-open Jesus-centered lifestyle. I have over seventeen years of real food, natural lifestyle and health experience. We have homeschooled our children since birth and both Jeff and I run home-based businesses. We're crazy, we know it, and we love every second of it!

Read about my journey to health through celiac disease, PCOS, food allergies, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.

Instagram did not return a 200.

Follow One Vibrant Mama on Instagram!

Recent Posts

  • Homeschool for College Credit
  • Homeschool Class Plans – The Ultimate Guide!
  • Homeschool a Distracted Child, No Matter Their Age!
  • How to Create a Homeschool Syllabus for Your High Schooler
  • Keeping A Homeschool Bullet Journal

Ads




Ads


Ads


Archive

Footer

Disclaimer

We make a good faith effort to keep up-to-date on the allergen content status of products. However, product formulations change frequently. Always check product labels for the most recent ingredient information and call the company if you have any questions as to the gluten content of a product.

Statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products and/or information are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. Readers are advised to do their own research and make decisions in partnership with your health care provider. If you are pregnant, nursing, have a medical condition or are taking any medication, please consult your physician. Nothing you read here should be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

View Our Disclaimers, Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy for more information.

About

The information contained on Intentionally Domestic is meant for educational and informational purposes only. We are neither doctors nor dietitians. We do not dispense advice on curing or treating any health ailment or disease. Please consult your health care provider before following any information on this site.

  • Grain-Free
  • Gluten-Free
  • Casein-Free
  • Egg-Free
  • Nut-Free
  • Soy-Free

Copyright © 2023 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Got it! Maybe Later Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Subscribe to the One Vibrant Mama Newsletter

Introduce yourself and your program
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.