Stretching the Meaning of Pure Maple Syrup – Towle’s Log Cabin

You can read my latest maple history contribution to the Minnesota Maple Syrup Producers’ Association December 2021 newsletter at this link or by clinking on the image below.

This contribution takes a closer look at how the in the early 1900s, the Towle Log Cabin Syrup Company creatively used the term and idea of a “pure” product to advertise their table syrups. It was fairly well-known that Log Cabin Syrups were made from a blend of cane sugar syrup and maple syrup. Some in the maple industry wanted any blended syrups that weren’t 100% maple syrup to be labeled adulterated. To the disappointment of the maple industry, when regulations finally came out in the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the term adulteration was more rigidly applied to the presence of dangerous chemicals or unnatural additives. As a result, Log Cabin Syrup complied with the truth in advertising to say their syrup was a blend, but emphasized it was a blend of pure ingredients and what could have been a regulatory nightmare was instead turned into a promotional windfall.