Molasses

[BlueberryHill]

My last batch of the year was pretty dark and I think the syrup still tastes good, but I noticed a bit of a molasses aftertaste. I had my wife try it and asked her what she thought and she said it tastes maple-y, uugh! Her taste buds are not the most refined. So I asked my mom, I did not tip her off at all just asked her what she thought. She said it was awesome, and even tasted a little bit like molasses. Cool, so I gave her a quart. If molasses considered an "off" flavor? Does that make it no longer considered Grade A? Not sure exactly what to do with this, or what to call it. I have about 6 gallons. Not even sure how it happened. Syrup pan was getting pretty dirty right at the end. Would that do it? Or is it just what the trees gave me? Sap was all fresh and tanks were all nice and clean. Sap was a little cloudy but it still tasted good.

[Ausable]

In my humble opinion - No. I am a hobby producer and my Wife and I like different flavors. I like to make it a little on the thick side for my own use and get some interesting flavors doing this. We made some this year that has a caramel - maple flavor and using it on ice cream. Another draw off had a very creamy texture and taste along with the maple flavor. I would imagine it is more important to have a consistent color and taste if selling maple syrup to the Public. But - for myself - I like variety.

[ryebrye]

My last batch of the year was pretty dark and I think the syrup still tastes good, but I noticed a bit of a molasses aftertaste. I had my wife try it and asked her what she thought and she said it tastes maple-y, uugh! Her taste buds are not the most refined. So I asked my mom, I did not tip her off at all just asked her what she thought. She said it was awesome, and even tasted a little bit like molasses. Cool, so I gave her a quart. If molasses considered an "off" flavor? Does that make it no longer considered Grade A? Not sure exactly what to do with this, or what to call it. I have about 6 gallons. Not even sure how it happened. Syrup pan was getting pretty dirty right at the end. Would that do it? Or is it just what the trees gave me? Sap was all fresh and tanks were all nice and clean. Sap was a little cloudy but it still tasted good.

I had some last year that had a bit of a molasses flavor. I don't like it but others do.

Molasses is one of the flavors mapped under the "confectionary" category on the "map of maple" they handed you at the hyde park sugarmakers meeting this year

There was another map of off flavors but I can't find that one online.

http://magazine.good.is/articles/the-university-of-vermont-s-map-of-maple-syrup

[BreezyHill]

BBH, We just shipped out to a a bulk buyer 7 jugs from the end of season that my son and I thought was off. My wife, who hates off flavor maple said it was fine. But we shipped it out. The buyer actually commented on how good the flavor was and paid max price for it. I was expecting far less and was presently surprised. Clean tanks I think make a big difference. We wash them down with peroxide after every run..if time that is....several times we could not with two and three day long runs.

IMO it was what the trees and the weather gave you to work with. Warm days degrade the sap fast. When it starts cloudy and gets warm...well you did good to get a useable product out of the rig.

[Cabin]

In my humble opinion - No. I am a hobby producer and my Wife and I like different flavors. I like to make it a little on the thick side for my own use and get some interesting flavors doing this. We made some this year that has a caramel - maple flavor and using it on ice cream. Another draw off had a very creamy texture and taste along with the maple flavor. I would imagine it is more important to have a consistent color and taste if selling maple syrup to the Public. But - for myself - I like variety.

One of the joys of sugaring is the variety of taste we can get. I figure it is due to soil types and how the season progresses. It seems that the sap chemistry is constantly changing during the season. I like the discovery that there is no one 'maple taste'. In 24 hours my syrup went from a medium caramel to dark molasses taste. 5 boils this year and 5 different taste.

[Moshers Maples]

I have some that has that molasses taste also. I boiled 175 gallons last Tuesday made some very good syrup from it. On Thursday I drained the flu pan and boiled that off, this is the stuff that has the molasses flavor. Only two days between being boiled and two different flavors. I'm keeping it separate from the other batches. It doesnt taste bad and I think when I adjust the density and bottle it it it will be fine. I will keep it for myself if others dont like it.

[BlueberryHill]

Thanks for the responses. Mine does not taste bad either, and it is just a hint of molasses but it is there. I did 5-6 batches where I filtered and canned this year and they are all different too. I actually think that the flavor of everything I made was really great this year. I'm giving the credit to the trees. It's cool to hear that others are getting the same kind of results as well.

[Galena]

Maple peeps...molasses flavour is not bad!!! I know people who frickin LOVE so-called 'black syrup', which looks like maple but has a strong molasses taste. And yes it is an acceptable flavour on the official maple flavour wheel:

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

So whatever you do, DON'T complain about the weird flavours your syrup may have (ETA: unless they are truly obnoxious, like mould,plastic or rubber...yuck!)

FWIW...Start of each season, I get vanilla/marshmallow in the first batch, always. Then that flavour fades a bit by 2nd batch. Batches 3-5 are traditionally maple, usually deepening a little more each time. Batch 6 almost always is a glorious shade of red and starts to get a brown-sugary note. And should I get a 7th batch, wow does the molasses ever come through. Oh yeah and this is from a batch of uhm 6 trees? So I'm not tapping a couple thousand with vacuum and RO'ing the bejheezus out of it. Buckets and spiles all the way. Hell I pulled spiles 3 days ago and my best tree is still producing perfectly clear, clean, sweet sap.

Anyway so my point is, try to celebrate the diversity of flavours in your syrup, from your trees. I strongly suggest printing out the flavour wheel and laminating it.