Answer: We use organic maple syrup in our bakery. No refined sugar.
I want to begin by acknowledging something important. We live in a time when the word “sugar” is almost a curse. That is why when we created our company, we called it goodsugar, to make a clear distinction between sugars that disrupt and harm the body’s chemistry and sugars that are vital to human survival.
Let us be clear: without carbohydrates, you die. That does not mean you should live on bags of candy. It means the right carbohydrates, those naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables, are essential. No sweetener is better than some sweetener, but if you do use one, the source, concentration, and degree of refinement matter.
Refined sugar is not good sugar. If you eat a standard modern diet, it is almost impossible to avoid, since nearly everything in retail food establishments is laced with it. The biggest myth is that organic cane sugar is somehow better than conventional cane sugar. The difference is negligible. High fructose corn syrup is a disaster, and refined brown sugar is barely better than white sugar. Honey, if you are not vegan, is far less processed and does contain nutrients. Used moderately, it is vastly better than refined sugar.
We have to look at diet honestly before passing judgment on sugar as good or bad. Which brings us to maple syrup, the primary sweetener we use at our bakery. Without a natural sweetener, there would be no bakery. Customers would reject products that taste like sawdust, and from a practical standpoint, sweetener helps bind ingredients so they hold together. We use organic maple syrup in small amounts, just enough to signal satisfaction to the brain. The key is regulation. Like any food, it can be overdone. You cannot eat a 19-ounce steak or drink five cups of olive oil and expect to be healthy. The overall diet must be balanced, and the body provides constant feedback.
What makes maple syrup remarkable is how much more it offers compared to refined sugar. It is far more than just a sweetener.
The Tree’s Lifeblood
Maple syrup comes from the sap of sugar maple trees, which can live for over two centuries. A healthy tree can be tapped for decades without harm if done correctly. It takes roughly forty gallons of sap to produce a single gallon of maple syrup, since raw sap is about ninety-eight percent water.
Nature’s Chemistry
Sap flows only in late winter to early spring when freezing nights and thawing days create the pressure that draws it out of the tree. Maple syrup contains more than fifty antioxidants, including compounds like quercetin and benzoic acid with anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Scientists in Québec discovered a unique compound called quebecol, which forms only during the boiling process.
Nutrition and Energy
Unlike refined sugar, maple syrup contains trace minerals such as manganese, zinc, calcium, and potassium. Indigenous peoples of North America used maple sap as a spring tonic to restore strength after long winters. Modern science affirms this tradition, as the minerals help replenish nutrients lost during stress and illness.
Ancient Roots and Indigenous Knowledge
Long before Europeans arrived, Indigenous nations including the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Abenaki discovered how to collect and boil sap into syrup and sugar cakes. Among the Anishinaabe, the sugaring season is called “maple moon” or “sugar moon,” and it remains both a cultural and spiritual tradition.
Environmental Marvel
Maple trees are considered climate indicators. Warmer winters reduce sap yield, and scientists track sugaring seasons to study climate change. Maple forests, also known as sugarbushes, are rich ecosystems that support diverse wildlife.
A Versatile Sweetener
Pure maple syrup is graded by color and flavor: Golden, Amber, Dark, and Very Dark. The darker syrups carry bolder, more complex flavors that chefs use in cooking, marinades, glazes, cocktails, and even as stabilizers in pharmaceuticals.
The Human Connection
Tapping trees, boiling sap, and sharing syrup has always been communal. In Indigenous cultures, early spring gatherings were times for food, ceremony, and storytelling. Symbolically, maple syrup represents hidden sweetness inside hardship. The tree endures a brutal winter, and only then does it offer its gift of sweetness.
Nutritional Data Comparisons
One tablespoon of pure maple syrup has about 52 calories and 13 grams of carbohydrates, including sucrose, glucose, and fructose. It brings more minerals than honey, particularly offering calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and manganese, along with small amounts of riboflavin and antioxidant compounds like quebecol and various polyphenols. We use organic maple syrup in our bakery.
Raw honey is slightly higher in calories (about 64) and carbs (17 g), and delivers different water‑soluble vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin B₆, folate, along with minerals like calcium and potassium, plus its own antioxidants and antibacterial compounds. We do not use honey in our products.
Raw agave nectar has around 78 calories per tablespoon and is very high in fructose (around 56 %), with some B‑vitamins and vitamin C. We do not use agave in our products.
Natural molasses, especially blackstrap, offers a nutrient‑dense handful of vitamins and minerals: iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin B₆, one tablespoon can account for up to 20 % of daily needs for several of these micronutrients. We do not use molasses in our products.
Finally, white refined sugar provides about 49–50 calories per tablespoon, almost entirely from sucrose, but contains virtually no vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, or phytonutrients, it’s pure empty calories! We do not use white or brown refined sugar in our products.