Flavor Question - Butterscotch?

[BeattyMaple]

I'm a second year maple newbie from Monkton, MD. I am overwhelmed with sap from about 10 taps. I can only boil about 10 gallons at a time. This year I moved to an oil drum evaporator so I can handle a bit more.

I am concerned with the flavor of my maple syrup. I'm wondering what is normal for backyard sugarin'. I am getting mostly silver maple and sugar maple sap with a little bit from red maple trees.

My syrup tastes butterscotchy.

I'm going for the more store bought Vermont maple syrup flavor. Any suggestions or is that just the flavor of small-time, wood-fired oil drum evaporator, Maryland maple syrup?

I'm new here too so if this has already been covered, please point me to the thread. Thanks!

[TerryEspo]

My syrup has the same off flavour, not bad, I love it.
Vanilla or butterscotch, hard to nail down the exact flavour. To me, it is the better stuff.

I feel it is due to early season sap, batch boiled, boiled fresh, same day, not sitting around, boiled hot and fast and made into syrup right away. I find as the season progresses, that flavour goes away and more traditional maple syrup flavour is in the syrup, darker too.

Maybe others have a scientific explanation, lol.

[happy thoughts]

First, butterscotch flavor wouldn't concern me. It's a pleasant taste and might be descriptive of a lot of syrup being made. My earliest syrups tend to be butterscotchy or vanilla-like in flavor and lighter in color than the end batches. That said, there is no one taste for maple syrup, not even in VT. Intensity of flavor usually has more to do with color and the degree of carmelization and this is how the new grading systems designates syrup grades. Darker syrups generally have a stronger maple taste. There are so many factors that go into flavor including the age of the sap, the presence of certain bacteria, tree metabolism such as buddy sap, and soil conditions probably also play a large part. The Canadians have been doing a lot of research on maple flavors. You may find the flavor wheel they developed interesting.

http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/science-and-innovation/research-centres/quebec/food-research-and-development-centre/maple-syrup-flavour/flavour-wheel-for-maple-products/?id=1231363888838

Any one that complains about your homemade "butterscotch" syrup should probably be cut out of your will lol. Just label them a MD crab and toss them back in the ocean!

Have fun and hope you have a great season.

[happy thoughts]

I'm going for the more store bought Vermont maple syrup flavor. Any suggestions or is that just the flavor of small-time, wood-fired oil drum evaporator, Maryland maple syrup?

Forgot to mention a few things. First and foremost, welcome to the forum!

Second- Another thing to keep in mind is that store bought syrup is usually a blend of syrups from many different syrup makers. It is not unusual for dark syrups and light syrups to be blended for whatever color and flavor sells best. Consider your syrup estate bottled like a fine wine or single malt scotch.

[PerryW]

I noticed that most of last season's syrup had a butterscotch taste and I never remembered tasting it before. even some customers mentioned it. It did taste good, but not like I'm used to.

[40to1]

Over the years I have made a few batches with a butterscotch taste. I don't care for it.
My sense is that they were late-in-the-season batches. The sap wasn't buddy sap, but it may have been heading in that direction...

[maple marc]

My earliest syrup always has that vanilla butterscotch taste. I think most consumers have never experienced that taste it because producers generally blend it with dark, late-season syrup to get a medium taste. If you want to make darker syrup with a stronger taste, let your sap sit for a few days in warmer temperatures. Tell your picky friends this is the "real" taste of the woods. Have them try it on ice cream.

[PerryW]

Over the years I have made a few batches with a butterscotch taste. I don't care for it.
My sense is that they were late-in-the-season batches. The sap wasn't buddy sap, but it may have been heading in that direction...

My butterscotch-tasting stuff was ll real-light amber stuff and all from the first half of the season. Last year was unusual in that 2/3 of my syrup of light amber and some of it was so light it looked like corn syrup.

[DrTimPerkins]

My syrup tastes butterscotchy.

Sometimes syrup can have this flavor, but before we conclude that.....what are you using for defoaming? What was cooked in your pots before you used them for syrup?

[Swagner]

My first couple of boils where more of a buttered popcornish flavor. The only thing I can figure is due to the sizes of the runs I slowly cooked it down on my indoor wood stove . So this being said their was no scorching or caramelizing at all. Maybe this is the true flavor of maple syrup when cooked really slow. Was also Like a Grade A amber. Just my personal opinion but definitely wasn't my favorite. But my mother in law loved it. Thats what makes us so great everyone has a right to their opinion as long as it's not hurting others feelings.. May everyone have a safe and productive season

[frjeff]

Does the type of Maple tree make a difference? I tap two box elders and mix all sap together. I have been told that the box elders have more of the butterscotch flavor. None of my trees are Sugar Maples, so I'm wondering if my lower sugar content sap lends itself to this butterscotch flavor as well. My first year's syrup (last year) did not have a strong "maple" flavor. Good. but not the Log Cabin taste.

[happy thoughts]

Good. but not the Log Cabin taste.

Careful! That might be a hanging offense here :o

Log Cabin is not maple syrup. It's mostly corn syrup. I don't even see anything maple listed on the label.

[Cabin]

Careful! That might be a hanging offense here :o

Log Cabin is not maple syrup. It's mostly corn syrup. I don't even see anything maple listed on the label.

The problem is that is the taste many people are looking for. The first two years my wife insisted on buying the fake stuff because of the 'stronger flavor'. OK some of my early stuff was a bit thin as well.

[happy thoughts]

The problem is that is the taste many people are looking for. .

That's true enough and why many people prefer the dark syrup that used to be called grade B. But it's also true that many people still think those fake syrups are made from maple and are surprised to find out otherwise. The non maple industry is happy to ride on the coattails of the maple industry. The history of our food labeling laws has its roots in the maple industry and states like VT are quick to enforce them. They went after MickeyD's last year and won for selling what they called maple oatmeal that contained no maple.

[Ed R]

Frjeff, The type of maple and the type of soil the trees are on both impact the flavor of the syrup, the type of nitre you have and to some extent the color and grade of the syrup.

[happy thoughts]

Also the type of bacteria present can affect flavor. At least one species of bacteria if present is known to enhance maple flavor and give it color. (Pseudomonas genticulata)

[sapdog]

My butterscotch-tasting stuff was ll real-light amber stuff and all from the first half of the season.

Do people find that syrup from the beginning of the season is typically off-flavored? Last season i noticed that our middle-season boils did turn out the best (after the second freeze when we lucked out with a second run of high sugar sap), but I figured we were just getting better with our backyard setup.

I boiled Tuesday night and got a quart of beautiful-looking syrup, with an off-flavor that I'm having trouble identifying. Seems to be most similar to our end-of-season batch from the previous year. I'm inclined to think it's our evaporator setup and system - how likely is it to be the sap?

Lastly - how long of a flush do people typically give coming out of your lines at the beginning of the season when not cleaning them after the last season?

[Dave Y]

Sapdog,
It's the sap!

[sapdog]

Sapdog,
It's the sap!

Dave,
thanks for the reply. I think you're right. Will have to see what the next run brings.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to the hobbyist! Hope the season down in PA has been going well for you! I've got several friends from that area - it's a nice part of the country. best of luck.
sapdog

[Cabin]

Just wondering. Butterscotch is made by cooking down sugar. It could be that at some point the cooked sugar flavor overpowers the maple flavor or maybe sugar content and the boiling time is a factor.

[ROCKRIVERMAPLES]

is it possible someone dumped in some sap from box elder?

[supersapper]

I tap boxelder first because they run sooner than sugar maples. The syrup from the boxy always has a butterscotch flavor to it. I tell people that it is best on ice cream. The sugar maple is better on pancakes. Just my experience with the two.

[Ravenseye]

Last year and this year my early boils had a vanilla / butterscotch taste to them. As last season progressed, the flavor got more "mapley" if you know what I mean. I love both flavors and I tap a mix of maples so maybe it's the mix. I enjoy it no matter what!