And why isn’t maple syrup bad for health, and why isn’t sugarcane syrup (a.k.a. molasses) bad for health?
The answer is they are, in great quantities. They’re full of sugar. Eat them in moderation, like you would any candy. But there are lots of great nutrients in them, so do feel free to eat them, as long as you treat them as a treat to be used in small quantities, just like candy.
From what I’ve heard, corn syrup isn’t a problem per se; it’s high-fructose corn syrup that’s a problem, and that’s a problem specifically because too much fructose is bad for the liver. Of course, there may also be concerns about pesticide residues in GMO corn, or other nutritional issues I haven’t heard about.
My suspicion, if corn syrup itself is pointed to as the culprit, is that the problem amounts to “way too much of your diet is based on this one species.” That’s often a problem, because most species have too much of some nutrients and too little of others. My suspicion is that maple syrup (the real thing) and sorghum syrup are both better than sugarcane syrup or corn syrup, if only because both represent a different species being eaten.
Sorghum syrup doesn’t taste exactly like sugarcane syrup or maple syrup; it has its own flavor. But it’s the same type of flavor. It goes great on pancakes, and on anything else you would normally eat maple syrup with. You can buy a bottle of it on Amazon to taste out and see if you and your family like it, if you want to.
I haven’t tried this yet, but it seems worth trying. Sugarcane can be eaten raw, kind of like enjoying a fresh fruit, instead of pressing it for syrup. Maybe sweet sorghum stalks can be, too! If so, that might make a yummy fall treat, and it would be something you could try if you don’t want to press them for syrup.
P.S. By the way, you can tap other tree species for syrup! I hear walnut trees make amazing syrup, and so do a lot of other nut trees. Do you have some of those, and if so, are you interested in doing all the work to boil down syrup?
You can also turn any fruit juice into a syrup by boiling it down. I do that with elderberries every year.
P.P.S. You can make fake maple syrup for cheap with a sweetener of your own choice (including something like stevia, which you could grow). Fake maple syrup is made from the herb fenugreek, which tastes like maple, except with a bitter aftertaste. So another option to replace fake maple syrup would be to plant a bunch of fenugreek and make it yourself, with ingredients you approve of.
FYI, In large quantities, fenugreek is not safe for pregnancy, but it’s amazing for nursing. It enhances milk supply to an impressive extent. So be aware of that, in case either of those circumstances may be relevant to your family.