Maple syrup shelf life

[sawyer40]

This was my first year making syrup and I made just shy of 28 gal. My wife and I have an ongoing argument as to the shelf life of the syrup. Her online search tells her it has only a 6 month shelf life. Is this true? I find that hard to believe. My father just opened a 1 gal metal can of VT syrup that was at least 10yrs old.
My syrup is bottled in plastic jugs and I keep them in a refrigerator in my cellar. Where can I go to get an official word(besides here)to prove my wife's search wrong?.

[ennismaple]

I've had syrup in plastic jugs go moldy in less than 6 months and other times I've seen syrup in the same container be just like the day it was pacakged a year later.

The rule of thumb I've heard is:
Plastic 3 months
Metal 6 months
Glass 1 year

Syrup that's in a fridge would be quite a bit longer than that. In a freezer it's pretty much indefinite.

[325abn]

We will be eating this years syrup at the start of next years season and it will still be plenty good.

If you pack it correctly I think it would last many many years.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have always heard 1 year in plastic. I always have all mine packaged within a 1 or 2 weeks of the end of the season and have only had 1 or 2 jugs mold within 12 months in years and that may have been a bad seal as sometimes the jugs have some flaws. In refrigerated or cooled dark enviroment, several years and frozen indefinitely.

[Jim Brown]

How it is processed will have a big impact on how long you can keep it. My father-in law and I made syrup and canned it in regular canning jars. My mother -in-law(age 94) was over a few weeks back and said she found a jar of syrup that 'dad' and I had made stuck way back in the can cupboard. She opened it and it was just fine!. Just as a side note. he has been dead for 24 years!
My 2 cents!
Thanks
Jim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I always package mine 1 degree brix thicker than normal everywhere else but VT, so I guess that would help.

[HanginAround]

Dad has a bottle glass bottle on his desk that was packed about 10 yrs ago, and opened shortly after... still good, never been refrigerated either.

[brookledge]

As for plastic the only thing that will happen is the light will cause the syrup to darken. That is why the companies have come out with jugs with a barrier that prevents darkening. As for the syrup I have had syrup that has been in plastic for many years and it taste the same as the day it went in just darker.
The key is hot packing. If it is not over 180 it will mold eventually. I hot pack into kegs and keep it as long as I want and it is just like the syrup that went in.
I have had a few over the years that have molded. The ones that are the hardest are the small 50 ml. bottles they cool off so fast.
So you can tell your wife that you can keep it longer than 6 months
Keith

[TapME]

I think a couple of post in other threads have mentioned that if it does get mold on the top just take it off and reboil and pack again. Others can give you more info about this I'm sure. We are still using syrup from last year that we packed in canning jars and it sure taste good.

[802maple]

I agree with Jim Brown, My grand mother died in 1993 and when cleaning out the attic at her house we found syrup in gallon glass jugs that my Grandfather had made it was startng to taste alittle old but it wasn't bad, We put it in with some new syrup and brought it to a boil and it tasted perfectly good again. A side note on this my grandfather stopped sugaring due to health in 1957 and died in 1961 so it was sometime before 1957

[fred]

i bought a collection of bottles from a guy that had pasted away he took several samples a year. the earliest sample was 1963 to 1996 . i tasted a couple from several years and they all tasted good. if you pull it off at the right brix and bottle it right it will out live you.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Usually it will out live you in something other than plastic, I can't see plastic keeping more than 3 or 4 years unless it is refrigerated. I tell people 1 year to be safe. I know there are exceptions to everything.

[maple flats]

At Bascom's open house Larry Myott (retired University of vermont maple specialist?) addressed this issue. He said the plastic and tin was 3-6mo. He stated that todays tin was not good, it had been cheapened too much and is no way like it was years ago. Said the inside of the can was low grade tin now, he no longer recommends using tin at all. In plastic he did say that refrigerating it more than doubled the life and freezing would last several years. Then he said that glass would last indefinately if canned at the right temp and if you did not touch the inside of the cap ever. His exception was glass with cork, the cork is too hard to keep from getting contaminated and should be sold and used in a 6 month window.

[Homestead Maple]

I agree that glass and probably stainless are best for long term life of syrup. When my grandmother passed away in 1994, my folks were cleaning out a cupboard in a hall way that joined two parts of the house and found 2 glass jars with "something" in them. My father remembered the type of containers as ones he might have used when he and his brother had made syrup when my Uncle had returned from the armed service in 1948. My father opened one and it was maple syrup. A little flat tasting he said but still well preserved. The density must have been right becuse he said that no sugar had formed in the bottom of the glass.
Other types of containers probably would have kept the syrup okay but probably would have changed the color or added something to the syrup as in the case of tin adding metal.