What's in your "syrup"?

I believe that most people would think that syrup comes from a maple tree and would assume that this is a trick question.
The purpose of this blog is to show you how you can can easily eat local healthy foods. However, the journey to feed yourself and your family higher quality foods not only includes whole foods. Let's face it, we all use extras. There are items that we need as ingredients in homemade foods, condiments, etc. that are not purchased through a local farmer. When you do purchase items at the grocery store I encourage you to read the label so that you can really see what you are consuming.
Syrup isn't really syrup. Confused? If you look at the back of a typical syrup bottle you will see a whole variety of ingredients. Not one ingredient is maple syrup!
Here is an example of ingredients from Mrs. Butterworth's:
High fructose corn syrup, Corn syrup, Water, Salt, Cellulose gum, molasses, natural and artificial flavor, Sodium Haxametaphosphate, Preservative, Caramel color, and citric acid.
You really get a bang for your buck with 2 doses of corn syrup!

The smaller bottle pictured is Maple Syrup purchased at Trader Joe's. You can get maple syrup at most grocery stores. It is usually on the top shelf or in the natural foods section. Who knew......you have to go to a natural food section to find real syrup.
Here are the ingredients in the Trader Joe's Maple Syrup:
100% Pure Maple Syrup U.S. grade A Medium Amber

Shocking! There is only 1 ingredient and you know exactly what it is!

Cost Comparison:
Mrs. Butterworth's double pack at Costco is about $5.99 for 2 64 oz bottles
Trader Joe's Maple Syrup is $5.99 for 8oz

I've said it before and I'll say it again.....you get what you pay for!
I've noticed that we do use less maple syrup because it has a richer taste and you don't have to drown your waffles with it. Another point of interest would be that you can buy syrup in bulk and just refill your container. The last time I was at the Everett Co-op I saw syrup, honey, vinegar, etc. in their bulk section. You just bring in your bottle and they charge by the pound.

Start looking at the labels before you buy products. You can pay for quality healthy items now or you can pay for medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, and other food related health problems later.

I will try to do a food comparison post on a regular basis.