Bringing Maple Syrup as a gift from Canada

I don't think there's any restrictions against it, it's not an animal product or a live plant. However, if it's larger than 3oz it will have to be in your checked luggage (but that's an airline restriction, not customs).

As long as it's commercially bottled I can't imagine why it would be a problem. Not the same, I know, but we brought maple syrup into the US for friends in Florida and Customs didn't have a problem with it.

A Canadian friend of mine living for the year in Paris posted a picture on her facebook in a Paris grocery store in front of pallets of liter size jugs of maple syrup. You can probably bring it but it is easily available in Paris.

Almost every grocery store in my Paris neighborhood has maple syrup. Twenty years ago this was not so but now maple syrup is commonly displayed as are cranberries which also used to be rare. French friends used to request that I bring flavored coffees from the states but now those are also widely available. The request I get from friends now is for salad dressings. Apparently they tire of the nightly dose of vinaigrette. A Caesar dressing from Heinz is on the grocery shelves but that's it.

I guess I would add a counterpoint to the last two postings -- if someone brought me maple syrup from Canada, I would be over the moon!! Yes, you can buy maple syrup here - but it's rather expensive (and I've never seen liter bottles). In fact a friend of ours brought us maple syrup recently -- "bottled" in a can, which made it much easier and less risky for her to transport (than a bottle with the risk of leak/breakage). I was most appreciative!!

Yes, of course it's easily available in Paris.

Then again, Canadian maple syrup is easily available in grocery stores pretty much throughout France.

Maybe those maple leaf-shaped sugar candies might be a better choice. Less of a problem for travel than a commonly-available liquid would be.

And Kim -- one can find liter bottles of Canadian maple syrup at Costco near Paris.

Without a car, I'm not very likely to be schlepping out to Costco!!!

I didn't mean to deny that liter bottles exist - obviously you all have seen them, and I believe you. I was simply saying that they're not on the shelves anywhere I shop. Perhaps that has some relevance to the availability of such sized bottles for purchase in Paris -- and perhaps not!

We have a friend in Burgundy who loves maple syrup, and a couple of times when we visited her we brought Maine maple syrup. The only issue was, of course, security, so we had to check a bag going over. This time, we didn't want to check bags, so we brought her something else. And while we were staying with her we stopped at the nearby Intermarche, and there were bottles of Quebec maple syrup at a very reasonable price. So we bought her a couple of bottles and told her where she can get them.

I take it everywhere as a gift, together with a bottle of Ontario wine, cushioned by my white t-shirts in the suitcase. The real deal maple syrup from Quebec, which is far superior to the wishy-washy stuff to be found in New England (the trees just don't have the same character, something to do with genetics).

With the G7 meeting in Canada ending it's interesting to see how Canada has enjoyed free trade with the EU. The recent 2017 Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement made most food products shipped from Canada to the EU duty free. I believe that maple syrup is shipped duty free to the EU.

PS Here in the States, Canadian maple syrup is cheaper than our demestic syrup.

And can anyone explain why the darker syrup is considered a lower quality than the ligher colored syrup?

And can anyone explain why the darker syrup is considered a lower quality than the ligher colored syrup?

Ssssh, it's a secret that darker syrup is actually better. At least my wife and I consider it to be so.

The real deal maple syrup from Quebec, which is far superior to the wishy-washy stuff to be found in New England

Not true if you get dark syrup here in Maine. Which usually means buying it directly from a producer, since stores probably mostly stock only light versions.