maple flavor issue?

[riley04]

So I cut my teeth on making maple syrup this year. I have a few veteren sugarers in the area that really helped the learning curve. This site has been really helpful as well. I tapped 1 sugar maple tree this year and got 16 gal of sap. Froze it all as we got it in gallon milk jugs and performed the evaporating in 3 differnet sessions outdoors trying to do better each time. The result was a little too thin the 1st time, little two thick the 2nd and the last time...I think we nailed it. Now keep in mind we were going by temperature and not a hydrometer. End result...we ended up with about a quart of syrup. All good, but it lacks a little in terms of the maple taste. Is it because we froze it.....or because it was all from one tree? Any ideas? I've heard ideas fly around that when frozen the bacteria still feeds on the sugar a bit...just more slowly? Any ideas here.

P.S. Next year the upgrades includes several more trees, hydrometer, and small evaporator pans. Looking forward to it!

[seclark]

was the syrup a light or dark color?The lighter has a more delicate taste than the dark and not as much the maple taste that most people prefer,but if it was dark then maybe freezing the sap did have an effect.

[RileySugarbush]

How fast did you boil it? With your small batches the sap is maybe not hot long enough to develop a strong flavor. I know if you boil one saucepan down on the stove quickly it turns out light in color and flavor.

[riley04]

it was medium i would say. i should post a pic of the 1/2 pint jars. hopefully the color would come across good. in terms of boiling it down fast......i would say about 1 gal of water came off per hr...approximately. i do a lot of meat smoking, but no deepfrying.....so i used a pan from a smoker/deepfryer kit and boiled it down in that outside. when the temp got close and there wasn't much sap left.....we took it inside and finished on the stove with a digital thermometer. oh, another thing...i'm sure this was the 1st time the tree was tapped as well. any thoughts on my maple flavor? i'll get a pic posted for fun.

[Beweller]

Take a look at Centre Acer Project 483. Also US patent 2880094. UVM Ag Exp Stn Bull 151 is also of interest.

[riley04]

Ok....maybe it's a bit more light. As I mentioned before, we did three batches and they all turned out about the same color....and that's with varying sugar densities for sure. We were timid on the temp initially and it was quite thin....but the same color as the attached pic. This was the 3rd shot in the attachement.....definately hit 220F and the consistency is perfect, but not nearly as maple as I hoped. ???

[70 Buick]

funny I make very dark for myself
the family prefers it LOL

I think that is very light for me anyways

[seclark]

Riley04, the syrup you pictured is what most of my syrup was this year for some reason.It may have been just the year but I didn't get any dark amber at all this year just medium and the lightest light I ever got.The taste is great but not the real maple I prefer but the wife loves it.But it is great on vanilla ice cream:lol:

[red maples]

yeah when you are boiling a few gallons at a time the color and flavor doesn't develop as well. it looks like light from your pic and light or a light medium which is sweet with little flavor. thats why people are looking for the darker syrups because they are more robust. but invest in a hydrometer they aren't expensive and you can use just about anything to measure it in as long as its deep enough. PVC pipe with cap for example. sometimes you need to go over the 219* mark as much as 3 and 4 degrees to get the right density