Sweet season

This all-natural ingredient is only produced in eastern North America, with more than 70 per cent of the world’s maple syrup coming from Quebec. With only one harvest a year, our SpinneysFOOD bottles of this product use only concentrated maple sap harvested directly from sugar maple trees. This is really a precious commodity; 40 litres of maple sap are needed to produce one litre of pure maple syrup, and on average, each sugar maple tree products one litre of syrup per year.

Our partner, The Maple Treat Corporation, has its roots in being a family business. Luc Bergeron’s Granville Island maple syrup stand is where he sold maple products from his farm in Quebec more than three decades ago. From there on, his business grew beyond the confines of Canada. And in 2017, The Maple Treat Corporation was formed and brought four maple businesses, all family-run, under one umbrella: Decacer, LB Maple Treat, Great Northern Maple Products and Highland Sugarworks.

Now the corporation is one of the largest maple syrup providers in the world, with approximately 25 per cent of the world maple syrup market – and is available at Spinneys.

“The Maple Treat Corporation brings four family-run maple businesses under one roof – Decacer, LB Maple Treat, Great Northern Maple Products and Highland Sugarworks. Each one of these businesses was owned by local families with an entrepreneurial spirit that pushed them to offer the best maple products on the market,” says Turenne. “The Maple Treat Corp. is honoured to build on the journey of dreams and determination of these families by continuing to put premium-quality maple syrup into the hands of consumers around the world. Our corporate values reflect similar principles these family businesses embraced, which are safety, integrity, employees, sustainability, customers, community, and excellence.”

Spinneys works with partners that align with our mandate of ‘Let’s Do Better Together’, so what we also love about the organic maple syrups from The Maple Treat Corporation is that they are all certified by Ecocert Canada, which puts forth strict guidelines to receive the organic certification.

“We work with over 1,500 maple farmers who deliver maple syrup directly to our facilities which enable us to set a high benchmark for quality,” says Turenne. “We are the largest single purchaser of maple syrup (about 40 per cent of all maple syrup in Quebec or 30 per cent in the world) and one of the largest bottlers of maple syrup in the world. Every drum of syrup that arrives at our facility is independently graded by an accredited third party which guarantee the authenticity and quality of our syrup.”

“Amber is the most popular grade and dark comes in second,” says Turenne. “Apart from being deeper in colour, dark maple syrup is slightly stronger in taste, which many customers prefer.”

But let’s also talk about the benefits of this amazing ingredient. Did you know that 100 per cent pure maple syrup in packed with essential vitamins and minerals? It’s a great source of manganese, riboflavin, copper and calcium, and the SpinneysFOOD Maple Syrups have no artifical colouring, flavours, or preservatives.

This is a great reason to whip up one of these fantastic recipes: