Endurance Tap and Untapped Maple Syrup Energy Review

At the end of November we attended an expo as media called The Running Event or TRE for short.  There we met two rather unique companies called Endurance Tap (https://endurancetap.com/) and Untapped (https://untapped.cc), who produce maple syrup energy products for athletes.

Now I bet you were thinking “maple syrup? Isn’t that for pancakes and waffles?”  Well as it turns out maple syrup is an excellent all natural sugar source that is an alternative to the many non natural / artificial sugar substitutes and certainly better for you.  There has been countless articles and studies on the effects of artificial sugar substitutes and how they are bad for you.

Endurance Tap Review

In early 2014 Canadians Matt and Pat of Endurance Tap set out on a mission to make an all natural simple digestible food source for endurance athletes.  After testing and several attempts they settled in on just 3 ingredients including proprietary ginger, Canadian maple syrup and sea salt.

As an endurance athlete I can tell you that race day nutrition plays a vital role in overall performance.  Do it right and the glory is yours, do it wrong and a good day can quickly turn sour on you and your stomach.

To help combat race day nutritional issues ginger and sea salt were added to the maple syrup mix.  Ginger aids in settling stomach issues and the sea salt helps replenish lost salts due to sweating.  I have experienced both in an Ironman event and it’s never fun if you’re not able to cope with your nutritional needs and your stomach is going haywire.  Just a little bit of salt can do wonders for your performance after sweating out a lot.

Why Use Ginger?

The word ginger comes from the ancient Sanskrit singabera, meaning ‘shaped like a horn’.  It was first mentioned around the 5th century BC when Confucius wrote about it.   Medicinally it has been used in the West for at least 2000 years and in that time it has shown the capacity to help with various ailments due to it’s anti-inflammatory properties.

Why Add Salt?

During an endurance event, unless you’re walking, you are going to sweat and depending on how fast and far you go, that can be quite a lot.  Performance tends to decline over time with the loss of calories and electrolytes.  The combination of salt and maple syrup helps replenish these losses, allowing you to perform longer and stay stronger.

Endurance Tap Products

Currently Endurance Tap has a single nutritional product that they call the Salted Maple Energy Gel.  In reality it’s syrup rather than a gel, but for marketing purposes it makes sense to call it a gel.  Each gel or syrup pack contains 100 calories, which is roughly the typical amount for an energy gel pack.

Endurance Tap sells the Gels in orders of 6, 12 and 24 at a starting price of $17.35 plus shipping.

Untapped Review

Untapped hails from Richmond Vermont and got it’s start in late 2013 when founders, professional cyclist Ted King and the Cochran family of professional alpine skiers, naturally gravitated to the organic simplicity of maple syrup.

Why Maple Syrup?

• Maple syrup is low glycemic. Containing all natural sugars, maple syrup provides prolonged, sustained energy rather than offering a quick burst and subsequent crash like many adulterated sports sweeteners.
• Maple syrup contains Calcium, Riboflavin, Manganese, Zinc, and Potassium. These inherent components of maple syrup promote energy production, muscle recovery, and help prevent cramping.
• Maple syrup features more than fifty antioxidants. This cocktail of polyphenols have powerful free radical fighting properties. Foods with similar qualities include berries, green tea, red wine, and flaxseeds.
• Maple syrup contains amino acids, which help prevent muscle deterioration.
• Maple syrup is water soluble making it easy to digest, quick to absorb, and no more gut-rot from downing chemical-laden energy gels! Plus it’s a cinch to clean up; just rinse with water. Alternative sports gels are like tar to clean up.

Untapped sells both Gel packages and Waffle maple syrup products and have additional flavors including coffee and raspberry.  While the Gel packs contain pure maple syrup, the maple waffles do have other ingredients and oils.

Endurance Tap and Untapped Maple Syrup Energy | Bottom Line

It’s exciting to know there are two companies out there producing great all natural alternatives to energy gels.  For those looking to boost their performance and have had issues with other gel products, these may be your next secret weapon.

As someone who is a big fan of pancakes and waffles and loves maple syrup, I have to say these will probably be my go to products for endurance events.  I love the absolute simplicity of the product and that it is derived naturally from maple trees.  It’s pretty much a win/win.

As far as packaging goes, in a marathon I would probably opt for untapped’s typical gel packaging, but for cycling and ultras, the Endurance Tap resealable caps are really appealing.

Check out both Endurance Tap (https://endurancetap.com/) and Untapped (https://untapped.cc) to gear up for your next big adventure.