Grade darker then B ??

[skillet]

Made 3.5 gallons of syrup that is darker than grade B. I think it tastes better than the medium amber. Is there a label for syrup that dark? Is it considered grade B. Ihave many people wanting dark syrup. It's all bottled up ready to sell,if i can find a grade label to put on it.

Thanks skillet

[Jerome]

enriched ! double the price

[maplehound]

I would sell it as grade B as long as it isn't off flavor.

[davey]

we are following Hershey's lead and calling it Extra-Special Dark.

[KenWP]

As long as it tastes good. Do you have to label it as to grade down there. They label all the syrup here as to grade even in glass.

[maple flats]

Skillit, I do not know PA's laws but in NY you can not retail darker than B, and B can only be sold in a few larger sizes. We have to label it Extra Dark for cooking. I think some of it tasts great but NY has it's own ideas. I do however believe you are not required to grade syrup and in that case you just sell it as ungraded dark syrup. You should be able to read the Pa laws for maple online, try a search.

[Russell Lampron]

In New Hampshire we go by the USDA color specs for grade and the only colors they are concerned with are grade A Light, Medium and Dark. If it has good flavor it is grade B no matter how dark it is. If it is darker than the Vermont color spec for grade B the packers consider it to be commercial.

You would have to ask your local inspector or association as to what to call it in your state. If you are selling it out of the sugar house and it doesn't meet a state approved grade for retail sale don't put a grade sticker on it and tell the customer what they are buying.

[hookhill]

Its taking me a while to figure out that the color grading scale is really unfair and inacurate. A small producer with a inefficient evaporator will make plenty of good tasting commercial syrup. Now you take a guy with an RO and steamaway he can turn the end of the season sludge into fancy. That fancy may taste like crap but he can jug it up and sell it retail. Right now my neighbor is trucking some "bottom of the barrel' slduge sap to a big producer and he is making fancy. We made some real delicious tasting C syurp this year and it kills me to send it off to a packer and get $21/gallon for it.

[maplecrest]

was the syrup still hot when you tasted it. give it a few days and taste it again. then place a grade on it. that med could turn out to be a funny tasting comm.

[dano2840]

if its good flavored stuff i sell it as grade C people buy it some like it on pancakes (not me) but most cook with it because its strong flavor actually tastes like fancey or ma in the finished food. if it doesnt taste good its blackstrap or frogrun and it should go straight to bascoms

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If your grading kit is more than a year old, it fades out more each year to the point each grade gets much lighter.

[KenWP]

Bet I made a gallon or so of stuff tonight that is darker then B. My syrup the last few batchs looks like molassas. Tastes okay but you can't see through it hardley.

[Bucket Head]

We make quite a bit of Gr. B that has excellent flavor to it. What we do is the Gr. A syrup goes to the general public, and the Gr. B goes to family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc. No stickers, no labels,...no problem. Those folks won't notify the Maple Police so there is nothing to worry about. They all want the dark stuff anyway! Labeling it Grade B makes it sound like theres something wrong with it!

I have no comments on good ole' New York State's policies, and policy makers.

Steve