Syrup Test, Hi Tech Vs. Low Tech?

[Spanielslovesappin]

I found myself writing this in another post as part of a reply and thought it was worth its own thread.

As for the "Old Fashioned" vs. "High Tech Syrup"; I in my heart of hearts know that syrup made with buckets/no RO/wood evap. is far superior to the high tech version. That said economics dictates i become more efficient to reach my fiscal goals. We hosted a large brunch over the weekend and un-benounced to me my wife set up a blind taste test pitting VT syrup made by a 30K+ tap operation with tubing, high Brix RO, Steamaway/oil fired Evap against NY syrup made by a 1K tap operation with buckets and a wood evap. It was not my syrup and both were good quality grade A medium amber. we were all presented identical Belgan waffles cut in half. The Syrup was presented in identical containers warmed for the same amount of time. My wife instructed us to apply jug A syrup to the left hand side 1/2 waffle and the jug B to the right hand. After all 7 of us had consumed a full 1/4 waffle of each syrup we all had picked a clear winner though no one had yet revealed there choice. Further every one agreed that both syrups were tasty and good!

4 people picked NY 3 Picked VT... I picked the high tech VT syrup! Even though i hate the thought of the technology for me this proved that you can make good syrup more efficantly and has soothed my raw nerve on the subject! This is not a VT vs NY thing...

Try your own test out, its fun!

[jmayerl]

No need to do your own test, this has been tested scientificly already. Sap ran up into the high 20's is now different than when processed than 2% right out of the tree.

[DrTimPerkins]

As for the "Old Fashioned" vs. "High Tech Syrup"; I in my heart of hearts know that syrup made with buckets/no RO/wood evap. is far superior to the high tech version.

Your heart may know, but your taste buds probably can't tell the difference. We've done tests on air injection and on RO syrup over several years. In numerous blind taste tests (with fairly large sample sizes), people (and this is maple producers, regulators, packers, researchers.....not maple neophytes) really can't tell the difference from one syrup to another based upon technology used to make that syrup. The myth of "techno-syrup" is just that....a myth.

We did not test oil-fired vs wood-fired syrup. One of the major factors there would be wood-smoke flavor, which technically is considered an off-flavor. Now what is pretty common is that people tend to prefer flavors that they are used to....so if you do use a wood-fired evaporator, the subtle differences in wood-flavor could be a factor in whether a syrup is preferred or not. Another factor which "might" come into play is that galvanized buckets have some natural antimicrobial action, so the result is somewhat lower invert sugar, which means a lighter syrup and correspondingly lower flavor. This has nothing to do with sap processing though. If we start with a common sap using different technology to process it, people cannot tell the difference. That is essentially what your results show....4 picked one type, 3 picked the other. No real differences there at all.

[Spanielslovesappin]

Of course i know there is no difference and have poured over UVM's whole body of maple research... but sometimes traditions die hard!

For me this was

A. A Fun fun way to make brunch more interesting
and
B. Helpful for me to do "personal research" as i wade start to wade into the technological deep end of Maple Production!

:)

[DrTimPerkins]

...but sometimes traditions die hard!

That's not necessarily a bad thing either.

[bowtie]

i was not trying to say one is better than the other, just that percieved image is or can be a selling point, the amish use this to their advantage quite often. i think there is growing faction of our population that relate or recognize the "value" of dirty hands and sweaty brow, and the old-fashioned way of doing things, vs the more mechanized or mass produced product. i think is a backlash against the big businesses, wal-mart, imported chinese products, that can be used to up-sell the product by a small producer, so long as it is a quality product.

[Tweegs]

Psychological.

People get it in their head that it’s going to taste different, so to them it does.

I’ve got a friend of the family that loves my syrup because it has a slight oak flavor. He was given a sample from our first attempt making syrup on an open air block arch, so it probably did have an off flavor. We’ve been on the 2x6 since yet he insists he can still taste the oak, and I can’t tell you the consternation that caused me at first. I couldn’t taste it, neither could the wife, nor could the judge who tossed us for a miss-grade but had a sip anyway.

This guy likes it and it’s worth a half-gallon sale every year, so I find it difficult to inform him that I’ve always used ash, not oak. :lol:

[English River Maple]

Hmmm, marketing and perception of products before you taste them. If Mcdonald's marketed the Big Mac with a picture of an ugly, greasy, morbidly obese dude or worman with dark nasty colors in the background...I guess the Big Mac might not taste as good....before or after the first bite :).

[Dave Y]

Perception is reality!

[GeneralStark]

Even labeling the jugs A and B may have affected people's perception.

[Jeff E]

Do you guys agree that syrup has more flavor variety based on what the trees are doing day to day than other factors (assuming it is a clean operation).
I find it to be very interesting how the flavors change throughout the season. One day my wife says the syrup has a buttery hint to it, the next day there is a slight carmel touch to it, etc.
I will usually do some bottling each day and mark these unique flavors. We had a news crew interview us for a story last year and we broke out a few of the select bottles. They were not maple folks, so I thought they would prefer a rather standard Medium amber. They liked what I had marked 'edgy' as the flavor had some intense flavor, but was still medium amber. I suspected the syrup was on the edge of being off flavor, thus the name.

[GeneralStark]

Do you guys agree that syrup has more flavor variety based on what the trees are doing day to day than other factors (assuming it is a clean operation).
I find it to be very interesting how the flavors change throughout the season. One day my wife says the syrup has a buttery hint to it, the next day there is a slight carmel touch to it, etc.
I will usually do some bottling each day and mark these unique flavors. We had a news crew interview us for a story last year and we broke out a few of the select bottles. They were not maple folks, so I thought they would prefer a rather standard Medium amber. They liked what I had marked 'edgy' as the flavor had some intense flavor, but was still medium amber. I suspected the syrup was on the edge of being off flavor, thus the name.

Syrup flavor certainly has to do with what the trees are "doing" i.e.-sugar content, organic and inorganic compounds, time in season. However, what the microbes in the sap are doing, and the conditions in the evaporator probably have a larger impact on the overall flavor of the syrup.

[802maple]

I find that the minerals in the soil, play as large difference in flavor as any one thing

[Tweegs]

My taste buds aren’t that refined.
Some talk of distinctions in fine wine…what’s in the soil, surrounding area, and such. I suppose syrup could be affected similarly.

Personally, I couldn’t tell if wine grapes were grown in the perfect soil or next to an outhouse, I just get a headache from the research.

It’s the same for me with syrup. Got so looped one day trying to detect that smoke flavor that I outpaced my grandson. Don’t know which of us drove his mother more nuts.

(BTW, I’m totally innocent of putting that snake in her purse…sort of.)

[Maple Hill]

No need to do your own test, this has been tested scientificly already. Sap ran up into the high 20's is now different than when processed than 2% right out of the tree. OK just have to ask- what is the difference? Flavor?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I believe he meant NO different not now different.

[PerryW]

There are many other factors besides processing methods that affect the taste of Maple Syrup,

The only way to properly test the two procedures would be process syrup using both methods using the same batch of sap.