slow cooking = flavor?

[Mountainmark]

So, I make some pretty tasty syrup :lol: I'm quite partial to my own. I had always thought this was due to the satisfaction of having made my own product and it was a psychological affect. Or perhaps it was my trees. Then one day the wife and I went on vacation to Ontario and met an old timer there who made syrup. I started telling him how wonderful my syrup is (rarely one to pass up a bragging opportunity ;) ) He asked me how I was making it and I explained that I slowly simmer the sap on my woodstove and just keep adding more as it cooks down. This way i'm counteracting the drying affect of the woodstove and getting something out of it to. The old timer assured me that it was not a psychological affect and that in fact, my syrup was probably better than what could be found in the stores. He told me that the act of slow cooking sap actually allows more of the "maple flavor" to be transfered to the syrup because it takes heat for that to happen and b/c my sap was exposed to heat for a longer period of time it would therefore have more flavor.

My question is this: Does anyone know if there is any truth in this? I'm no expert in these areas, but I have talked to some other syrup producers who say similar things. Would love to hear if it is true!

[happy thoughts]

What color was your final syrup? I've made syrup a lot of different ways including slow evaporation on a wood stove and even crockpots. From my experience, these slow evaporation methods made light syrup. Some of the lightest I ever made was in crockpots. Though other things are also going on to produce darker syrup, one thing I'm pretty sure is missing from the slow methods I used was high heat to cause carmelization of the sugars and imho that is what makes darker syrups preferred by a lot of people. Dark or light, it all tastes good to me. In my own batches, the lighter stuff has more delicate flavor, more vanilla than maple. In the proposed grading system intensity of color also seems to go hand in hand with intensity of flavor.

[Mountainmark]

My syrup is generally pretty dark, I would call it grade B, though i don't have a grading chart. This year my second batch was much lighter but even it had more complex and deeper flavor profiles than what I'm used to getting from other producers. i agree that the darker syrups are preferable. Interesting to hear what you say about carmelization. i hadn't thought of that, and you could be right except for the fact that I can end up with such dark syrup without high heat. Last year I called my syrup grade "C" Lol. But then sometimes I do use the range top for finishing. Sorry, I'm not very scientific in my method. I'm sure there must be a degree of personal satisfaction creating a bias for me. Thanks for your thoughts happy thoughts!! Food for thought :cool:

[Asthepotthickens]

We did make one slow cooked batch overnight by mistake. We were tired so we stopped adding wood and shut it down for the night. There was about 8 inches boiled down sap in the pan so we added a few more inches and went to bed. To my surprise at 7 am we have syrup in the pan. The remaindind fire and coals was enough to boil it down over 8 hours.
We do believe that this was the best batch we ever made
now I know why thank you

[crawflyer]

every year I gather first run sap and put 5 gallons of it in a 6 gallon stainless stock pot on my wood stove in our kitchen we use for heat. I always have a cast iron kettle with water on it for adding moisture to the dry air during winter so I figured why not use sap when available. The sap never boils, just simmers and I keep adding sap for about 48 hrs. until it gets close to syrup... I then fire the stove up and bring it to a hard boil to finish..about 30 or 40 minutes. the syrup looks like watered down lemonade...very mild with just enough flavor to tell it's maple syrup. Some may like it but I prefer something stronger.

[Mountainmark]

Very interesting replys so far. It would seem things aren't so "cut and dry" as I had previously thought. Perhaps there are some variables that are playing in here. Crawflyer, you said you use the "first run" sap, which according to my (limited) understanding is a higher sugar sap? When I cook down my sap, it is pretty much all my sap for the whole season. At the end my 5 gallon stock pot usually has a couple quarts of syrup. I'm only running seven to ten taps so I can get away with this. I wonder if your and happy thoughts experience with slow cooking is representative more of specific season, and mine a result of "layers" of seasons. I have worked all my life in food service and as of the last several years as a professional cheesemaker. My palate is something I rely heavily on for my job. As such, i'm fairly certain that "very mild" is not what i'm getting. What i'm getting is nuances of flavor that stay longer on the tongue, covering different areas of the palate, stronger at times and milder at others. Sorry for the odd description, it's always a bit hard to describe flavors. I have had what I would describe as "strong" flavored syrup as well as "strong" flavored cheese, though I wouldn't necessarily equate "strong" with "good" in either case. Though I would favor stronger over milder generally speaking. Really just thinking "out loud" here. It really is a bit of a mystery to me how some of us could end up with such different results from similar processes. I guess i'll have to keep mulling it over. Thanks for helping me think through this guys, I appreciate it! :)

[happy thoughts]

Like I said, many things play into syrup color and flavor. Season does have something to do with it as early season syrup tends to be lighter. Microbial action is thought to play a part in darker syrup but in my crockpot experiment last season, season itself wasn't part of it as I made crockpot syrup at the same time I boiled on a block arch for the most part using the same late season sap. We were slow getting the arch built last year due to the unexpectedly early start to the season. There was no comparison in syrups and the crockpot version included a longer run of sap much like your wood stove version. Crockpot batch was very light gingerale color, arch was dark amber. Each had a distinctive taste of their own and both were delicious in their own way. The dark stuff was definitely more maple tasting. All the more reason to love maple syrup for it's uniqueness. There are so many flavors and colors. I want to try them all! I like the fact the big operations like crown maple are starting to treat syrup like fine wine :)

[Mountainmark]

....... All the more reason to love maple syrup for it's uniqueness. There are so many flavors and colors. I want to try them all! I like the fact the big operations like crown maple are starting to treat syrup like fine wine :)

Very well stated!

[falconer]

I discovered that color and taste have mostly to do with the amount of carmalization that occurs while boiling. My syrup has always finished light amber, but I like heavier taste, so this year, I tried sloshing and scraping the sides of the pan and had good results. Next year, I'm going to try carmalizing a few bottles of syrup and re-bottling to make a carmal concentrate to add during finishing.
Best year ever - 49 pints and maybe another run to come. 20x60 block arch with two pans works for me.