Pasturized maple syrup

[vernon]

Hi all..How do we know if our maple syrup is pasturized ? A lot of people ask and I don't know how to answer.Thanks Maple cove

[happy thoughts]

To reach syrup stage, sap is boiled a long time at temps well above the boiling point of water. The final product is beyond pasteurized. It is virtually sterile.

[BreezyHill]

HT is nearly correct. Pasteurizing is a quick process to kill of bacteria, gram negative ( bad...like ecoli) and gram positive( Good like acidopholious). Since sap is boiled to about 220 for a lengthy period of time, relative to the pasturizing that is only a few seconds, the product in its natural state is sterile. The only way it can become contaminated is if it is left open or put into storage containers that are not sterile and it is packed below 180-190. The 180 temp kills the bacteria in the container. Storage in glass is better for longer periods of time where in plastic is muchless unless the bottles have an oxygen barrier coating.

The person is likely interested because honey as a very interesting burn curing factor if it is raw. If it is pasteurized this affect is destroyed.
Get some raw honey and keep it in the sap house. Next time you get a burn put some on...the sooner the better. I got a burn from a torch at an old friends house, at lunch a couple hours later he grabbed my hand and put some raw honey on it. That night I took of the gloves and looked at it. It hardly even look the lest bit pink. It was blistered really bad and cooked the hair up my arm off. Bad O ring and the torch head caught on fire. Couldn't see it thru the shaded lens...boy could I fell it, and the smell was nasty.

Ben

[maple flats]

It puzzles me how you get "a lot of people asking" when I've been selling syrup for 11 years and have never had the question asked.

[happy thoughts]

breezy you are nearly correct as well:). First, some very pathogenic microbes are gram positive, for example staph and strep. Gram +/-is not an indicator of pathogenicity but indicates the ability of some bacteria to absorb a specific stain used in identifcation. Pasteurization does not kill off all microbes, just those that are most likely to cause disease. In the case of milk, that means heating for a few seconds at temps well below the boiling point. Boiling at 212* F for at least 15 minutes kills most bacteria and fungi but will not kill many bacterial spores. You still kill many more microbes through boiling than through simple pasteurization especially at temps that exceed the boiling point of water such at the temps needed to make syrup.

[BreezyHill]

Flats this is simple...internet. There is so many people that are able to get a vast amount of people to read an article on a computer and it is then fact.
This started happening in my business when hoof and mouth and mad cow hit. To little was know that was factual and people panicked. People didn't eat meat or drink milk in the US when the issue was across the Atlantic...that is until some animals made it into the US and Canada and the feed ingredient system was contaminated. The issue has been resolved and all mills are doing a much better job of testing and recording batch info.
Some where some one likely opened a bottle of syrup that was not packed properly and they started surfing the web.

HT you are correct mad cow cant be burned...at 2700 degrees F it is still found in the ash that remains. We aren't in Kansas anymore.

[red maples]

I wouldn't say its pasteurized. I would say it kinda more like sterilized. pasteurization involves specific length of time heating and rapid cooling to slow bacteria growth. We boil the heck out of it. cool it heat cool it heat it!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization

Oh yeah 5 years of selling syrup and never had that question either. but we had some crazy questions!!!

[happy thoughts]

We boil the heck out of it. cool it heat cool it heat it!!!

Red, you bring up another interesting point. Repeated heating over a number of days is an old method of sterilization that helps decrease the number of spores that survive. The concept is based on spores growing between heating. The live bacteria produced are killed by the next heating before more spores are formed. By the time syrup reaches proper density, the sugar content helps control any further bacterial growth assuming it is properly bottled and sealed.

But to keep it simple for vernon, the original poster, the first thing I'd say to customers with that question is, why do you ask? I figure they're either concerned about flavor changes, shelf life or spoilage. Once you know the reason for the question then you 'd be better able to address the concern.

[BreezyHill]

I emailed a person I know that is very food safety conscious. She had some interesting responses.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-pasteurization.htm

http://articles.aberdeennews.com/2008-03-28/news/26428225_1_raw-milk-unpasteurized-milk-foodborne

She recalled reading somewhere that you should only by syrup that is pasteurized but does not recall where. I asked if it said pure maple syrup and she thought not...just syrup and wondered the difference. Pure is made of the sap of trees while most in the super market is mostly corn syrup flavored.

So now I am wondering if on bottles of aunt (*&^) it says pasteurized?

You do know the old farm joke? Take the bottle of syrup...instruct the customer to do the same as you....place the container in your left hand and hold four inches from the left side of your face. Now slowly move it across your face... not more than five inches away. When you get to the right side stop and count to 5, then slowly move back to the left side and set it down. There you go, It has been past your eyes. :mrgreen:

My grandfather was an MD. He told me this one as a little boy. My dad shared it with his Surge customers. I can remember old farmers laughing for minutes over that.

Do ask the question as to where they heard it as HT said, and post your responses received so others can be prepared.

I have a local dairy...organic that has been stopped by the state from selling milk retail due to several issues with listeria. So it has been in the paper several times in our area.

[BreezyHill]

Read this and it may help you to answer the question and it could be a good sales pitch...print it off and put it in a page protector for display if asked the question or as a proactive approach.

Good Luck!

[happy thoughts]

Loved the joke breezy:) Not sure though why your friend thinks syrup needs to be pasteurized though since by the process of reaching syrup density, sap is boiled long and hard at temps above the boiling point of water. That seems redundant to me. All syrup goes beyond times and temps that would be needed to simply "pasteurize" raw sap. As I said before, by the time you reach syrup, it's well past pasteurized.

The links you list are specifically targeted toward milk which is a much richer medium for bacterial growth than syrup and does not contain anywhere near the sugar content of correct density syrup. Sugar acts as a preservative at very high concentrations and is one of the reasons syrup density is set where it is.

I'm thinking one reason people may ask is because of other sweeteners like honey which is sometimes pasteurized though I understand much flavor is lost through heating just as the taste of raw milk or even apple cider changes when pasteurized. I can understand how milk and cider might benefit from pasteurization, honey not so much because first it has antibacterial properties, and secondly pasteurization alone or even simple boiling will not kill bacterial spores, such as botulism, the spores of which are sometimes found in honey, a source known to cause illness in infants and the immuno-compromised. But even this is not the same as true botulism poisoning caused by the toxin produced by the living bacteria (which will not grow in very high sugar concentrations) and not just by the presence of spores.

[red maples]

Yes that is true I put the label on all my honey that says "do not feed to infants under 1 year of age". because of the possibility of Botulism. older kids and adults can handle the botulism. infants immune systems are not strong enough to handle it and it can be very bad including death for them. The bad thing about pasteurized honey is its heated so it kills off the natural medicinal properties. and it just becomes another sweetener.

As far as milk I have a pretty big fear of listeria being from a food background and knowing the risks. I actually have a friend of a friends brother that died from Listeria cheese made form Raw milk and or raw milk that he got from somewhere in Wisconsin I think. but I will eat a Medium rare Burger!!! whatever..... :rolleyes:

[BreezyHill]

HT, she is a bit of a nut. To many people read a 100 word article and assume that what applies to one item in life applies to all. You would not believe the discussions I have been in at soccer games; when you hear someone say some off the wall comment about. I have personally changed a young girls lifestyle from vegetarian to beef eater. You would not believe the transformation in her over the next few months. I would not have if I had not seen it for myself. Change in skin tone, less of a mode swing under stress, less sick, stronger, faster, mental processing speeds increased amazingly, hair, etc. She has Native American blood but had a very pail skin tone. Within in months the tone darkened and has stayed that way.
Nothing wrong with a medium rare, good burger. I would not eat one like that at a fast food place but I have sold beef for 30 yrs. and have hauled steers to the place most fast food places get their meet. Nice clean place but the old ways of doing things were not up to par I will say. In the last 10 years things have changed 100% in the industry.
With the cost of grain worms cost producers way to much. Clean slaughter practices are a standard. There is more of an issue eating out than at home. Cross contamination of other meat is bigger issue in my mind.
I personally watched a place create one of the worst ecoli contamination accidents in NYS history. It was a stupid move from the start all the way to the end. You never dump water in a well. "Ah it will be just fine" was the response I got.

Well got to go...I will finish later.

[happy thoughts]

vernon and others, I thought you might be interested in this draft from the FDA re food safety and low risk foods. As proposed, maple syrup would be exempt as a low risk food.

Per proposed FDA guidelines to the the Food Modernization and Safety Act (which requires Maple producers to now register with the FDA), maple syrup would be considered an exempt food because of the low risk of food borne illness associated with it.

From a draft of the proposed guidelines in pdf format http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodScienceResearch/UCM334110.pdf

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has conducted a qualitative risk assessment (RA) related to manufacturing, processing, packing and holding activities for human food when such activities are conducted on farms. The purpose of the RA is to provide a science-based risk analysis of those activity/food combinations that would be considered low risk. FDA conducted this RA to satisfy requirements of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) to conduct a science-based risk analysis and to consider the results of that analysis in determining whether to exempt small or very small businesses that are engaged only in specific types of on-farm manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding activities that FDA determines to be low risk involving specific foods FDA determines to be low risk from the requirements of sections 418 and 421 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), or whether to modify such requirements for such facilities.

The RA identified the following as low-risk activity/food combinations:
• Making hard candy, fudge, taffy, toffee;
• Making cocoa products from roasted cocoa beans;
• Making honey;
• Making jams, jellies and preserves from acid foods (e.g., acid fruits);
• Making maple syrup;"

<snip - lists other exempt low risk foods/activities .....>

It goes on to say

"Maple syrup has not been associated with illnesses from foodborne pathogens. Maple sap must be extensively boiled (evaporated) to produce maple syrup. This boiling, combined with the reduced water activity of 0.83-0.86, acts as an inherent control for foodborne pathogens (International Commission on Microbiological Specifications"