Question for Dr. Perkins (UV Light)

[dlclark_76]

Dr. Perkins I have been researching the use of uv lights to treat maple sap. And I have a couple questions that maybe you could answer for me. Is it true that as bacteria grows in sap the sugar content goes down, due to the bacteria feeding on the sugar? If this is true what kind of a sugar loss could a person expect if they had 2% sap that was stored for 5 to 6 hours at an average temperature of 40 degrees?

Thank you
Doug

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Perkins I have been researching the use of uv lights to treat maple sap. And I have a couple questions that maybe you could answer for me. Is it true that as bacteria grows in sap the sugar content goes down, due to the bacteria feeding on the sugar? If this is true what kind of a sugar loss could a person expect if they had 2% sap that was stored for 5 to 6 hours at an average temperature of 40 degrees?

In general yes, the sap sugar content will go down somewhat. The rate is dependant upon the microbial level and temperature, so not easy to predict in your example without knowing how high the microbial population is.

The other thing that happens is that part of the sugar is converted from sucrose to invert sugars (glucose and fructose). These invert sugars darken much more rapidly when heated, resulting in darker colored syrup (with stronger flavor).