Wait, You Need to Refrigerate Maple Syrup?

In my time at Extra Crispy, I've learned a lot about Americans' habit to over refrigerate. Turns out you don't need to refrigerate butter, or eggs (if they weren't already refrigerated—the Americans are some of the only weirdos who buy them that way), or onions. And so I was fairly confident that a lot of the condiments I refrigerate would probably be just fine outside the fridge. Mayonnaise, obviously, has to stay cool—egg salad in the sun is a recipe for food poisoning. Ketchup? It's up for debate, but probably not. Soy sauce? Definitely not. But then I stumbled upon a condiment that you need to refrigerate, one that I had never considered throwing in the fridge. Apparently, you need to store maple syrup in the fridge.

This is news to me. I've always kept the maple syrup in the pantry, alongside the hot sauce and its ilk, without worrying about whether it was slowly growing something icky. And that's fine if your bottle of maple syrup hasn't been opened yet. But once it's open, according to maple syrup makers far and wide, the fridge is the right place for it to be. Unrefrigerated, maple syrup can grow mold, which is not delicious. I personally prefer my maple syrup to be room temperature when I'm sloshing it over my waffles or pancakes, so, well, I guess it means that I just need to take it out of the fridge before I do that.

Not only do maple syrup makes encourage refrigerators, you can even stick maple syrup in the freezer. It won't freeze solid, but it will make sure that the maple syrup stays good longer. How can you tell if your maple syrup has gone bad? Look inside. If there are mold splotches, that means your maple syrup is probably not worth using.