For 131 years, Aunt Jemima, the breakfast brand of pancake mixes and flavored syrups, has perpetuated a racial stereotype against Black people. Announced today, growing pressure from the public has pushed the brand’s owner, Quaker Oats, to remove the Aunt Jemima logo from its products later in 2020, with a name change to be announced at a later date.
The Aunt Jemima name and brand was born after its original founders were enchanted by a song called “Old Aunt Jemima,” sung by a performer in blackface. Nancy Green, who was born into slavery, became the face of Aunt Jemima and traveled the country promoting Aunt Jemima’s pancake mixes.
For years there has been growing outcry over the use of Aunt Jemima’s name and likeness to sell a line of breakfast foods. In a 2015 New York Times op-ed, Riché Richardson, an associate professor at Cornell University, wrote: “This Aunt Jemima logo was an outgrowth of Old South plantation nostalgia and romance grounded in an idea about the ‘mammy,’ a devoted and submissive servant who eagerly nurtured the children of her white master and mistress while neglecting her own.”
Aunt Jemima’s line of pancake syrups will always carry a nostalgia factor for some, but its taste will never rank high on a leaderboard. The first two ingredients in the brand’s syrups are corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup (followed by water). While Aunt Jemima’s rebranding is long overdue, its popularity is vexing as well. We asked a couple of our on-staff Vermonters and maple syrup enthusiasts to recommend syrups you should be using over the syrup formerly known as Aunt Jemima.
Slopeside Syrup Organic Pure Vermont Maple Syrup
For 10 years, the grandchildren of a ski resort owner in Vermont have been tapping into the 20,000+ maple trees on the property. Each syrup grade is perfect for specific uses whether it be a food topper or a baking addition. Regardless, each of Slopeside’s Syrups are pure maple syrup, no corn syrup in sight.
