Syryp grades

[Brent]

This is going to sound pretty dumb from a guy that's in his 5th year at this.

Every year so far all we made was extra light, so grading was never an issue.

But this year it all changed. We didn't get any extra light.

So now the question is, we fill the sample bottle in the grader ( it is new kit) and iours is between medium and light, do we label it with the light or medium grade ? Do you use the lighter or darker ?

[ennismaple]

It's medium. Your syrup has to be lighter than the sample to be graded at that grade.

[Russell Lampron]

What ennismaple said is the way to do it. Your sample has to be the same color or lighter than the sample in the kit.

[Brent]

match or lighter is what I expected.

I felt pretty dumb going and buying the 3rd grader kit this year after looking at nothing but light blonde stuff for 4 years.

Hopefully the higher ups will figure out that all our syrup is pretty much the same and that the trees don't know about state, county or international borders.

Funny thing we finally thought we were organized enough this year to invite folks for a sugar shack / bush tour ... very low key. The visitors that were the most curious, almost exclusively bought our lightest stuff.

The other folks were those that were real maple syrup fans.
"I've seen it made before, where's you dark stuff ?"
We had to make a waiting list until we got the darker stuff bottled and so far everyone has come back or said they'll be back tomorrow for their order.

Where did this idea that light was better come from in the first place ?

[argohauler]

Because it looks prettier. My most popular grade is Amber. It's got the stronger maple flavour my people want.

And I don't agree amber should be labelled #2. Light to me is junk. I've only made light 2 years out of 16 and all it is, is sweet. I've even blended some light with dark so both were retailable.

[hard maple]

for some folks it's a pride issue
they don't like to even admit to making dark syrup
I know the trend has changed and consumers now prefer the darker grades for table syrup.
And last year when my grade C was worth 4$ a pound your fancy wasn't worth a penny more...