Maple syrup and golden syrup can be easily confused with each other. They have a similar color and texture and are often used in similar recipes and similar ways.
Maple syrup is especially popular as a topping for pancakes and waffles and is a staple in many kitchens across the country.
But can maple syrup be replaced with golden syrup? In many cases, they can be used interchangeably but there are some exceptions to this. Read all about them in this article.
Maple Syrup Vs Golden Syrup
Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the two syrups to find out what they are and how they compare. We’ll look at each in turn and then compare them.
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is made from the sap of maple trees, such as sugar maple, black maple, or red maple. The process for making maple syrup is relatively simple as the sap is drained from the maple trees and then boiled until it reduces down into pure syrup.
There are several different types of maple syrup and these are graded by how pure they are. Golden maple syrup has a delicate flavor and is the lightest colored syrup of them all.
It’s typically produced from sap drained at the start of the ample season. Amber maple syrup has a rich flavor and is amber-colored, making it a darker and more intense flavor than golden maple syrup.
Dark maple syrup has a more robust flavor than the previous grades and is a darker amber color. The final grade is very dark and this is usually produced towards the end of the season. It has the strongest flavor and darkest color.
Regardless of the grade, all pure maple syrups have the same sugar content.
Golden Syrup
This type of syrup is manufactured from sugar cane and sugar beet. These crops are harvested from where they’re grown in tropical and temperate climates respectively, and are then refined to make either white sugar or raw sugar.
The sugar is then dissolved or evaporated into either fructose or glucose and the resulting mixture is treated with enzymes to make a syrupy consistency.
You can easily make your own golden syrup at home through a very similar process by boiling sugar and water together with a little lemon juice or citric acid.
What Are The Differences?
As you can see from our explanations of maple syrup and golden syrup, they are made from very different ingredients and different processes.
There is no sugar in maple syrup other than the naturally occurring sweetness found in the sap of maple trees. In contrast, the main ingredient in golden syrup is sugar.
As golden syrup is made from sugar, it can serve more purposes than maple syrup can. The sugar used in golden syrup is inverted into glucose and fructose during the manufacturing process and these allow golden syrup to act as a preservative.
It can often extend the shelf-life of other food when included as an ingredient. This is why golden syrup has more practical applications during commercial food production than maple syrup does.
Golden syrup is commonly used in commercial baking. Not only will it help to preserve the freshness of cakes, cookies, and flapjacks, but golden syrup can withstand higher temperatures during the baking process than maple syrup.
This makes golden syrup a better choice for commercial applications than maple syrup.
When it comes to flavor, maple syrup is usually stronger. The increased amount of sucrose in golden syrup lightens the flavor compared to the more robust flavors found in maple syrup.
Is Golden Syrup the Same As Maple Syrup?
As we just learned from the previous section, there are many differences between golden syrup and maple syrup.
They’re made from different ingredients and maple syrup is stronger and richer in flavor than golden syrup. Maple syrup also doesn’t have additional sugar added to it.
The two syrups are often confused with each other, however, because they do have some similarities.
If you were to pour some golden syrup into a glass bowl and some maple syrup into another bowl, they would look very similar. They have a very similar golden color and both syrups are a similar consistency.
Although maple syrup does have a stronger taste than golden syrup, they share the same caramelized flavors so it is easy to mix them up.
This is especially the case when they’re used as an ingredient in a recipe and not just as straight syrups.
Is Maple Syrup Better For You Than Golden Syrup?
Maple syrup and golden syrup share many similarities and many differences and these differences mean that overall, maple syrup is better for you than golden syrup.
The main ingredient in golden syrup is sugar but maple syrup is only sweetened by the naturally occurring sweetness in the sap of maple trees.
As golden syrup is processed sugar, it means that golden syrup has a higher sugar content than maple syrup does.
The higher sugar content also results in more calories and on average, golden syrup has 15 to 25 percent more calories than maple syrup does.
Both golden syrup and maple syrup contain nutrients but they contain different ones. Maple syrup has a higher amount of manganese and zinc whereas golden syrup is a better source of calcium and iron.
Overall, maple syrup is better for you than golden syrup. They both have their advantages when it comes to the minerals they contain, but maple syrup has less sugar, calories, and a lower glycaemic index than golden syrup.
How Do I Substitute Maple Syrup?
Golden syrup is more versatile than maple syrup so there are some situations where replacing golden syrup with maple syrup will not be appropriate.
Many recipes that require golden syrup will not work with maple syrup and will not stay as fresh for as long.
However, in most cases where maple syrup is required, you can use golden syrup in its place. Simply use the same amount of golden syrup as you would have used maple syrup.
You may find that the flavor will be altered a little as maple syrup has a stronger and more complex taste, but golden syrup will work just as well.
If you don’t want to use golden syrup in place of maple syrup because of its high sugar content, there are some other options available to you.
One of the closest matches to maple syrup is honey and this can also be used in a one-to-one ratio. You will taste a difference with honey because of its own unique flavors but it can easily be substituted for maple syrup.
Other substitutions you can use for maple syrup in recipes include:
- Molasses (1:1 ratio)
- Coconut nectar (1:1 ratio)
- Brown rice syrup (3:4 ratio)
- Corn syrup (1:1 ratio)
- Agave nectar (1:1 ratio)
If you like to use maple syrup on your pancakes or waffles but don’t have any in your home, you have even more options available to you.
Fruits and fruit compotes always work well with pancakes and if you try them with some nut butter on top, you may never buy any maple syrup ever again!
Final Thoughts
In this article, we took a close look at maple syrup and golden syrup and whether they can be substituted for each other.
We learned that maple syrup is produced from the sap of maple trees whereas golden syrup comes from sugar. This means that maple syrup has a lower sugar content and is overall, the healthier option.
We looked at other similarities and differences, and also considered other ingredients that can be used as substitutions.
We hope that this article answered all of your questions about whether maple syrup can be replaced with golden syrup.
Intrigued by these sweet ingredients? Check out the differences between sugar here:
