This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Last Updated on October 9, 2026

Maple Syrup Grades Chart: Color Classes and Taste

Maple syrup sold at retail has one grade, Grade A, split into four color classes: Golden (delicate taste), Amber (rich taste), Dark (robust taste) and Very Dark (strong taste). The class depends on how much light passes through the syrup. Golden lets through 75 percent or more, Amber 50 to 74.9, Dark 25 to 49.9 and Very Dark less than 25, under the USDA standard in effect since March 2, 2015.

Maple syrup grades chart

Taste and light numbers are from the USDA grade standard and the Federal Register notice that proposed the cutoffs; season timing and uses are from the International Maple Syrup Institute, the industry group that petitioned USDA for these classes.

Grade A color class	Taste (USDA wording)	Light transmission	When it is usually made	Typical uses
Golden, Delicate Taste	Mild maple taste	75.0% or more	The beginning of the season	Pancakes and waffles, yogurt, vanilla ice cream
Amber, Rich Taste	A full-bodied maple taste of medium intensity	50.0 to 74.9%	About mid-season	All-around use: waffles, salad dressings, barbecue sauce
Dark, Robust Taste	Stronger maple taste than the lighter colors	25.0 to 49.9%	Later, as the season goes on	All-around use, baked goods, glazes
Very Dark, Strong Taste	Stronger than robust	Less than 25.0%	The end of the season	Cooking and baking, where maple should be the main flavor

The four Grade A color classes on the USDA light transmission scale. More light through the syrup means a lighter class and a milder taste. Swatch colors are for illustration only; they are not a grading standard.

What “light transmission” means

USDA shines light through a 10 mm cell of syrup with a spectrophotometer and compares it with pure glycerol, fixed at 100 percent. It also accepts “any method that provides equivalent results.” Higher numbers mean lighter syrup.

Color is only part of Grade A

Grade A also needs maple flavor that matches the color class, no off flavors, no cloudiness, and no more than 68.9 percent solids (Brix), per USDA. Syrup that misses Grade A is Processing Grade, which may carry off flavors and must be packed in 5-gallon or larger containers, never retail sizes. Below that is Substandard.

When flavor and color disagree, the grade goes to the darker or stronger one. UNH Extension gives the example of Golden color with a Dark flavor: it is labeled Dark.

How to grade your own syrup at home

Use a current color kit. Temporary kits use glycerin tinted to match the darkest color within each grade. Replace an old one: kits as little as a year old can lighten enough to grade wrong (University of Vermont and University of Maine Extension), and USDA’s old permanent kit no longer meets the 2015 color rules.
Grade in good light. A clear blue sky is ideal, and a fluorescent light beats an incandescent bulb, per University of Maine Extension.
Find the class. Each jar is tinted to the darkest color its class allows. The usual way to use a kit: hold your sample next to the jars and pick the lightest class whose jar is at least as dark as your sample. Darker than the Dark jar means Very Dark. Right at a cutoff, grade darker, especially for syrup stored a month or more, per University of Maine Extension.
Taste it. Taste every batch, per University of Vermont Extension. Buddy flavor, the chocolaty to bitter taste of sap collected as trees come out of dormancy, is damage under the USDA standard, so buddy syrup is not Grade A Very Dark.
Check density too. USDA’s federal floor is 66 percent solids, with no more than 68.9 for Grade A. Vermont’s own state standard sets a stricter 66.9 to 68.9 Brix range, per University of Vermont Extension, and that is the range the hydrometer temperature correction calculator checks against. I finish my syrup indoors on the stove and check it with a hydrometer.

Without a kit or a light transmittance meter you cannot put an exact class on a jar by eye. A row of small jars, one from each boil, will still show how your season is darkening. If you sell syrup, check label rules with your state department of agriculture, per UNH Extension.

Old grades vs new grades

Before 2015, each state and province had its own grading system. This crosswalk follows the comparison table USDA published with its 2014 proposal in the Federal Register.

Old U.S. grade (1980 standard)	Old Vermont name	Old light transmission (Vermont)	Grade since 2015
U.S. Grade A Light Amber	Vermont Fancy	75.0% or more	Grade A Golden, Delicate Taste
U.S. Grade A Medium Amber	Grade A Medium Amber	60.5 to 74.9%	Grade A Amber, Rich Taste
U.S. Grade A Dark Amber	Grade A Dark Amber	44.0 to 60.4%	Grade A Dark, Robust Taste
U.S. Grade B for Reprocessing	Grade B	27.0 to 43.9%	Grade A Very Dark, Strong Taste
U.S. Grade B for Reprocessing	Commercial Grade	Less than 27.0%	Processing Grade (any color, off flavors allowed)

Read the rows as the closest match, not an exact swap, because the cutoffs moved. A syrup at 55 percent was Dark Amber under the old Vermont numbers and is Amber today. The old federal grades did not use light percentages at all; they were judged against USDA color standards.

The biggest change was Grade B, which was not meant for retail sale. The 2015 final notice moved Grade B syrup with no off flavors into Grade A so it can be sold in retail containers. Today there is no Grade B, only Grade A, Processing Grade and Substandard.

Why late-season and stored sap make darker syrup

As days warm late in the season, microbes turn the sucrose in sap into glucose and fructose, and amino acids and minerals rise, per the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center. Boiling then caramelizes those compounds and drives the Maillard reaction, giving darker, more robust syrup.

Boil time matters too: the longer sap boils, the darker the syrup, per UNH Extension. Late-season sap is less sweet, so it boils longer. A good cold snap can lighten syrup again.

Stored sap: bacteria grow in sap that warms up, and the syrup turns dark once it is boiled (Ohio State University Extension). Keep stored sap in the shade with snow around it, and boil it soon; sap left in collection containers more than two days makes a lower grade (Penn State Extension).
The boil: shallow sap and a hot fire give fast boiling and high-grade syrup, per University of Maine Extension. On my fire ring evaporator, a 3-inch chimney pipe gives a strong draft that gets sap to a rolling boil quickly. The finishing temperature calculator tells you when to stop.
After bottling: syrup in uncoated plastic jugs darkens close to 3 percent per month (University of Vermont Extension), and can drop a full grade in three months (University of Maine Extension). Hot jars stacked together can darken a full grade too, called stack burn, so space them while they cool.

To see how much sap a batch needs at your sap’s sugar reading, use the Maple Sap to Syrup Calculator.

Quick questions

What are the four grades of maple syrup?

Under the 2015 USDA standard, all four are Grade A color classes: Golden (delicate taste), Amber (rich), Dark (robust) and Very Dark (strong), sorted by how much light passes through the syrup.

What is Grade B maple syrup called now?

Grade B is gone. Former Grade B syrup with no off flavors is now Grade A, and USDA’s comparison table lines old Vermont Grade B up with Grade A Very Dark, Strong Taste.

Is darker maple syrup lower quality?

No. All four color classes are Grade A; darker syrup just tastes stronger. Off flavors, cloudiness or the wrong density are what drop syrup out of Grade A.

Does maple syrup get darker in storage?

Yes. University of Vermont Extension says syrup in uncoated plastic jugs darkens close to 3 percent per month.

Can you grade maple syrup without a kit?

Not exactly. The classes are set by measured light, so you need a current color kit or a light transmittance meter.

Plan the garden while the syrup cools

Plan My Garden is free to start: enter your zip code and it finds your frost dates, draw your beds, pick everything you want to grow this year, and it places each plant at square-foot spacing and builds a planting schedule from your frost dates, so the beds are planned before sugaring season ends.