A container already using new grading system that is not yet in place.

[red maples]

So my wife had 2 pieces of her art in a show out in Hollis NH this past weekend. Well she won best in show. Her prize was a pint of syrup from the folks that tap the trees on this particular property. (ironically I am a maple producer) but I enjoy tasting syrup and compairing to mine.

Anyway this particular sugarhouse has it marked with the cap sticker "Grade A Amber Rich Taste". Now, as we all should know by this time, this is the "medium" version of the new international grading system. Well that grading system is not quite in place yet (with the exception of VT) but this sugarhouse is using it? I really don't mind if they do that but if NH hasn't yet adopted these new rules then how can they use it? (NH on schedule for 2015 season to start new grades).

I am not gonna call them and complain like I said I really don't care but just wanted to see what others thought of it.

[GeneralStark]

How is the syrup? Is it Amber Rich?

[Amber Gold]

Bending the rules, but maybe it wasn't done intentionally. Could be confusion on if the rules have been adopted.

[Cabin]

Maybe they sell a lot to people from Vermont?

[red maples]

thats a good one. One explaination I heard was that since there were no more 2013 temp grading kits because Ironically they are made in VT and since already switch because they have to friggin first in everything maple it screwed the rest of who use the temp grading kits. Thx VT. anyway if you had disposed of the 2013 kit then you may have got the OK to go ahead and use the new grading system. It was a very grey area I guess. but what ever its all good.

It honestly tastes like a light not a medium and it is just even with dark color on the 2013 grading kit. which would now fall into the "amber" grade. but if I was grading with old I would call it medium.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

thats a good one. One explaination I heard was that since there were no more 2013 temp grading kits because Ironically they are made in VT and since already switch because they have to friggin first in everything maple it screwed the rest of who use the temp grading kits. Thx VT. anyway if you had disposed of the 2013 kit then you may have got the OK to go ahead and use the new grading system. It was a very grey area I guess. but what ever its all good.

It honestly tastes like a light not a medium and it is just even with dark color on the 2013 grading kit. which would now fall into the "amber" grade. but if I was grading with old I would call it medium.
It sucks coming in second all the time doesn't it.

[morningstarfarm]

Lol...with tongue firmly in cheek...we aren't the ones darkening the standards...oh and weren't the new kits messed up on light? Was told everyone should use your old kit for light...

[red maples]

LOL Flat Lander!!!

I still think over all NH has better flavor!!! so there!!! :evil:

[unc23win]

thats a good one. One explaination I heard was that since there were no more 2013 temp grading kits because Ironically they are made in VT and since already switch because they have to friggin first in everything maple it screwed the rest of who use the temp grading kits. Thx VT. anyway if you had disposed of the 2013 kit then you may have got the OK to go ahead and use the new grading system. It was a very grey area I guess. but what ever its all good.

It honestly tastes like a light not a medium and it is just even with dark color on the 2013 grading kit. which would now fall into the "amber" grade. but if I was grading with old I would call it medium.

Exactly some places sold out of the old kits and only had the new kits available. So they used the kit and labeled according to it, which I believe would be correct. I was under the understanding (and I could be wrong) that Vermont was going to be the first to mandate the new grading system be used and that other states could use it, but were not required to mandate it.

[DrTimPerkins]

...because they have to friggin first in everything maple it screwed the rest of who use the temp grading kits.

Having been in the room during some of the updates on the new grading system at the IMSI meetings, the conversations were far more of the nature of "....we aren't going to do it until Vermont does it first."

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

LOL Flat Lander!!!

I still think over all NH has better flavor!!! so there!!! :evil:

i'm glad you took it as a joke because i'm just kidding.
well let me tell you a little story that just happened here in P Town about a leaf peeper stopping at the store I sell my syrup to.

A women stopped and she was going through the store when she started talking to the owner about syrup. She mentioned she was from a upper mid west state that starts with a W. She made the comment that VT syrup has much better taste than any of the other state syrups she has tried.
as the cartoons use to end
da da da da thats alll folks!

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Having been in the room during some of the updates on the new grading system at the IMSI meetings, the conversations were far more of the nature of "....we aren't going to do it until Vermont does it first."

SO why in the hell did VT change there was nothing wrong with how it was being done, except for a bunch of Flat LANDERS sticking there nose into things that didnt need to be.

in world that people are taught to be different we have the definition.

di·ver·si·ty noun \də-ˈvər-sə-tē, dī-\
: the quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc.

[DrTimPerkins]

SO why in the hell did VT change there was nothing wrong with how it was being done, except for a bunch of Flat LANDERS sticking there nose into things that didnt need to be.

There were a fair number of quite good reasons to consider changing the grading system. Just a few of them are provided below.

1. Syrup is marketed more and more out of the region (New England). Many VT producers sell in bulk, so just selling locally in roadside stands is not going to move the volume of syrup that is being produced. Thus in order to make country-wide and world-wide distribution of syrup easier, it is far better to have a single common terminology to describe syrup rather than a wide variety of different terms and standards.

2. We are primarily selling flavor, but the former grading system provides the consumer information on color. Although as producers we know that color and flavor typically go hand-in-hand, the uneducated consumer doesn't know that. Most foods with a variety of flavor intensities use a scale like mild-medium-strong to describe the flavor. Syrup used light (Fancy)-medium-dark, which doesn't really describe the flavor at all. Having flavor descriptors makes the system far better for the consumer....especially the consumer who doesn't come from a place that makes maple syrup.

3. The trend is towards consumers preferring stronger flavors. In many areas you couldn't sell "B" syrup for the table. The new grading system allows for consumer sales of darker syrup.

4. Industrial buyers of syrup had to wade through a wide range of terminology in order to make purchases. The newer system standardizes the terminology and allows the buyer to easily compare from one seller to another what they are trying to purchase.

5. The term "light" in the food industry typically implies fewer calories. In the case of syrup it means lighter color and a lighter flavor. This is confusing to consumers. Similarly the word "Fancy" implies that the syrup is of the highest quality, when in fact, it merely means a light color/light flavored syrup.