Syrup color and grades

[BillinTennessee]

I have read the information on the grading of Maple Syrup but that is not my concern

My question is why is my syrup darker as the season progresses? Is this normal?
It is from the same trees.

The first batch I boiled came out light Amber. It got darker with each batch after that.
The last two batches are pretty dark.

I don't really care which color it is for my own taste. I like the more robust flavor.

[Run Forest Run!]

That's totally normal Bill.:)

[DrTimPerkins]

My question is why is my syrup darker as the season progresses? Is this normal?

Yes it is normal.

The SHORT answer to the "why" is below.

Nearly all the sugar (99.9%) in maple sap is sucrose (a large 12-carbon sugar). Once it comes out of the tree, microorganisms act upon the sap, and use the sugar to fuel their growth. In consuming the sugar, the microbes cleave the sucrose molecule into two other smaller (6-carbon) sugar molecules, fructose and glucose (collectively referred to as "invert" sugars). The warmer it is, the faster the microbes grow, so later in the season when it is typically much warmer, there is a fair amount of this going on, with the result that perhaps up to 4-5% of the total carbohydrate in the sap is in the form of invert sugar (glucose and fructose). Now when you heat sugars, they undergo a number of different processes. Different sugars caramelize (form color and flavor compounds) at different rates and temperatures. The invert sugars do this at a far lower temperature than sucrose. So early in the season when the sap is almost pure sucrose, there is very little color or flavor development. Late in the season when it is warmer and there are more microbes, you have more invert sugar, more caramelization, and thus more color and flavor development.

As a slight aside, invert sugars have other characteristics which affect the crystallization process, thus syrup that is very dark, which tends to have high invert levels, is not good for making maple confections (cream, candy, etc.).

[BillinTennessee]

Thanks for the answer and the "Why". That explains it very well.

I made some candy from the medium dark and it turned out very well.
I still like the dark Amber better.
I'm not sure why the Light Amber would be in demand if it has less flavor.

[Downstate]

Just boiled down the first 40 gallons of the year. Sugar content between 2.5 and 3 with one tree hitting 5%. Ended up with 7 pints of dark amber. Was really hoping the first run would be light amber since that is my preference. Maybe it was just a fluke. Have 10 sugars on tubing and three on buckets. Almost 100 gallons collected this week.

[Sandersyrup]

So I just finished 3 gallons of Dark Amber but today's boils looks like it will finish light! I've never gone from dark to light before! Not sure how that happened.


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[BillinTennessee]

So it seems we have no control over the finished color of the Syrup.
Can the commercial producers artificially change the color somehow?

[mellondome]

Not artificially, but they will blend light with dark to get medium.

[Sandersyrup]

I do believe that early in the colonial sugaring bonanza white sugar from India (?) came along cheaply to the Americas and Maple which was the household sugar at the time was struck with competition that was pure white. This white sugar became popular because it was pure white and becoming more affordable. This is why the lightest grade of maple syrup became the most popular grade for ages and ages. I do believe at that time companies were able to find a process to make the maple sugar significantly white but it was not sustainable. I think this is about the time syrup (not granulated sugar) became the niche of maple sugar. And only recently have people realized it's the dark stuff that you really want. Ha!

It's worth reading about. I have a great book about maple history that every maple person should absorb.


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[fisheatingbagel]

Hi John,
So don't keep us in suspense! What's the title of the book?

[BillinTennessee]

Interesting theory John.
And sounds about right.

[Sandersyrup]

The Maple Sugar Book.

Get one put it in your Shack and turn pages between wood firing and drawing off.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1890132632/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/192-5181672-1822600#


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