The funny Taste of Maple Syrup

[not_for_sale]

Hi all,

Forgive my ignorance but I am from Europe, and have never tasted " Pure Maple Syrup". even though I've lived in the United States for 15 years I only bought the cheap stuff.

Until last week. I thought it would be a cool project for me and the kids to tap some trees on our new to us 25 acres. So we did, and we had a small run these past few days here in the middle of Michigan. We boiled about 10 gallons down to about a quart in a propane fired stock pot.

Tastes pretty good, very light in color, almost like the store bought honey. Also tastes nothing like the syrup I am used too. Very heavy Vanilla taste. My refractometer ether says its 58 % sugar.

But, I have nothing to compare it too, and I saw Grade A Amber "Uncle Luke's " from Canada at SAMs today. So I bought that at 14 bucks a quart. Now that stuff is darker than mine, and tastes again nothing like it. I can't say it tastes worse or better, just different.

But, here comes my question...

Is there really that much variety in the taste of this stuff ?

Thanks for all opinions on this - as tast is something very individual.

Joe

[spencer11]

well, for starters welcome to the trader! but you syrup isnt done yet...is should be 66% sugar, not 58% so that is probably why it tastes a little different

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Also, how did you filter it? Leaving niter in it would effect the taste, as would filtering it though a cloth that had soap or fabric softener residue.

[happy thoughts]

Yes, welcome to the forum NFS! I'm glad you finally got a taste of real maple syrup. Spencer is right, you need to cook it down more especially if you want to keep it for any length of time or it will spoil.

Your vanilla tasting syrup sounds just like the first and best I produced last year. Light color and a nice vanilla taste. Light color is often produced early in the year and gets the highest prices. In VT the lightest syrups are graded fancy. Most people tend to prefer darker syrups for their stronger flavor.
Flavors can vary for a lot of different reasons. The Canadian Ag dept has some info about flavors and has even developed a flavor wheel which I found last year. You might be interested in these links:

http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1231363888838&lang=eng

http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1231367338440&lang=eng

Consider maple syrup like fine wine. Now have some fun producing and tasting as much of it as you can! And good luck this season:)

[not_for_sale]

Thanks for the welcome.

If I could produce syrup that tastes consistently like the two batches we did this week I'd spent more time doing it.I will try to boil the next batches to 66%. I am not too worried by it not lasting though. My boys love it. Yes we left the sugar sand in it. I didn't feel like filtering it.

However, if this much variety in taste exists I can see why it isn't mainstream. McDonalds is so successful because you know what you are getting, no matter where you are. Even though its quality is not the best, it's consistent.

The $2/24 oz bottle of light syrup we still had in the cabinet from ALDI has 40 % of sugar, It tastes consistently across many brands.

[not_for_sale]

I just tested the "Uncle Luke". It clocks in at 65.5 to 66.4 % on my refractometer. It tastes more like the caramelized sugar candies we used to make as kids. And, I took the ALDI syrup that contains lots of chemicals and tasted it side by side. They taste very similar. Very much. If someone gave me a taste of either, I'd go for the $2 stuff. While the one we made has a variety of tastes with vanilla sticking out while this one tastes very strongly caramelized, even though Uncle Luke is supposedly a light Grade A Amber.

[TerryEspo]

Welcome NFS:

Good point about McDonalds, but it cannot happen with syrup. Even the same tree will change its sap as the season progresses. Trees in one yard will give different sap that trees across the road.
McDonalds cannot say 100% natural with no additives. Corn Syrup, Log Cabin and Aunt Jemiama are consistant, but that is not true Maple Syrup.

The beauty of true, real maple syrup is no additives and the different flavours. I love the early sap which gives the light honey coulor syrup, much better to me than darker syrup.

I bet you will taste some that will will just love and be addicted,,,,like the rest of us !!

Good luck with all you do.

Terry

[not_for_sale]

Terry,

Are you sure it's the sap and not the time that bacteria and enzymes have to work on the sap because its warmer on average?

If so, wouldn't treatment with ultraviolet in storage keep the sap from producing darker syrup?

Joe

[happy thoughts]

NFS- it's both. Growing conditions have a lot to do with flavor and so does bacteria if there's sap spoilage, or bacterial growth that increases in the tree and tap as the weather gets warmer and the season progresses. Some producers do just what you said with UV light to keep bacteria counts down if they can't keep sap cold or can't boil it soon after collection. The general rule of thumb is to treat sap the same as you would milk. Keep it cold and process it as soon as possible.

[TerryEspo]

Hi Joe:

Like fishing, I,m not sure of anything, lol. I am just going with what I have learned here. I am sure that warmer temps affect sap, sure. I usually boil my sap same day, never gets a chance to spoil and I get different syrup as the season progresses.
Light syrup early on and progressivley gets darker,,,,then buddy !!

Hopefully the more knowledgeable people here can give better advice.

Terry