We don't know how maple syrup works, or even really what it is. Which is why the cheap stuff just doesn't taste as good, Maple syrup is made fom sap, which is boiled to get rid of most of the water. But that heat also allows all kinds of chemical reactions to happen that change the color and the flavor. And we just don't know what those reactions are because sap is complicated. It's kind of like tree blood. It carries water and minerals all throughout the plant, and it contains all kinds of compounds. But then when you heat all that stuff up, like who knows what happens?! No one has sorted it all out! We figured a couple of things out, like vanillin is in there. We know that! Which is the stuff that gives vanilla the vanilla flavor. But until we can figure out, like at least most of these compounds, the fake stuff just isn't going to taste like maple syrup