Many see maple syrup as a breakfast necessity, especially for waffles and pancakes. It comes in different flavors and sizes, and believe it or not, it can last for up to a year if stored properly.
So, why is maple syrup entering the internet conversation?
Well, one maple syrup fan takes issue with this common design of maple syrup bottles. TikToker Quinn Valentine (@qster14) displays her anger in a viral rant about the unnecessary design of a maple syrup bottle that she purchased at the grocery store.
In the video, Valentine has a bottle of Shady Maple Farms Organic Maple Syrup, along with a plate of pancakes. The maple syrup comes in a medium-sized bottle with a tiny handle at the top of the bottle. This little design caught Valentine off guard.
“I need whoever designed the maple syrup bottles to come forward and explain this [expletive] handle,” she says.
Valentine says she was having a difficult time picking it up by the handle, and she almost dropped it. “I was just trying to get this out of the fridge, put it on my protein pancakes,” she says, referring to the tiny handle as a Christmas tree ornament hook. “Tell me why I picked it up like this, and she almost slipped and I caught it in the other hand.”
Once Valentine opened the bottle and poured syrup on her pancakes, she remained frustrated by thedesign of the bottle. “Can we just get a regular-sized handle?” she asks. “What is even the point of this?”
Why do maple syrup bottles come with handles?
No matter what bottle of maple syrup you buy, nearly every container will come with a handle. Historically speaking, the handles on maple syrup bottles date back to the late 1800s when ceramic jugs were used to store liquid food. The handles today serve as a tribute to the ceramic jugs originally used for syrup.
The maple syrup bottle that Valentine has in her video comes with a tiny handle known as a skeuomorph, as one commenter pointed out. ”Skeuomorphism. Hank Green did a video exactly on this,” they wrote.
A skeuomorph is a design that mimics earlier, often outdated variations of that object or its purpose, according to Mental Floss. While designers often use skeuomorphs in digital designs—the “Trash” folder on your laptop resembling a trash can, for example—they also exist in physical objects. In the 1930s, maple syrup manufacturers started to implement skeuomorph designs onto their bottles.
Maple syrup handles made for key chains?
After Valentine’s rant, viewers of the video shared their opinions on the “tiny handle” debate. One person wrote, ”It’s a vestigial handle.”
A second user joined in, writing, ”Sorry, us Canadians have really small fingers.”
@qster14 Fired up over a maple syrup bottle but yall get it #maplesyrup #packagedesign #productdesign ♬ original sound – Quinn Valentine
Others joked that Canadians put their maple syrup bottles on their key chains.
One person wrote, ”As a Canadian, it’s so you can attach it to your keychain.”
Another viewer said, ”It’s for your necklace so it can be close to your heart.”
A third user added, ”Canadian here, we put them on our key chains.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Valentine via both TikTok DM and email and Shady Maple via website contact form.
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