Filtering or mixing to get rid of "buddy" syrup flavor?

[Peepers]

Has anyone here had success carbon fitering syrup to remove the buddy flavor? I saw a post from Jim Powell a few years where he had a complex pressurized carbon filter. I was thinking of something smaller/simpler since I only have a gallon of buddy syrup (I'm a small operation) but can't stand the taste.

I also like the dark grade B syrup so I'm curious if anyone has mixed grade B or C with buddy syrup and had any luck covering up the buddy taste?

I did some searches and saw that some folks have had success letting their syrup air out for a while so maybe I'll try that.

Thanks

[maplehound]

At one of our maple schooling meetings, we were told that when mixing syrup you need to remember that when you add a gallon of bad syrup with 5 gallons of good syrup you end end up with 6 gallons of bad syrup. Easy to mix for density not for grade especially when one grade is bad.

[RileySugarbush]

Jim had some success but not complete. I had a few samples of his filtered and unfiltered buddy syrup. Filtered tasted different, but not great.

I agree with what maplehound said, don't try to dilute your way out of it. It doesn't take much of that nasty stuff to ruin some good syrup.

[KenWP]

I wonder if you mixed air into it by a long stir process if it would remove the taste a bit.

[Peepers]

I see some cheap coffee maker carbon filter refills out there so I think I'll heat up a quart of the nasty, cut open a carbon filter, pour it in and mix, mix, mix. Maybe now is the time to get that motorized candy stirrer that I told the wife I was gonna get her around holiday time... It wouldn't be the same as pushing it through a carbon block like are in RO filters but who knows, maybe it'll work.

I left a pint sitting in a big pot overnight and it still stinks this AM - yuck.

I used to use granular carbon for my aquarium filters years and years ago so maybe something similar but food grade will do the trick. Its worth a shot. I'll post my results. :)

[PerryW]

To my knowledge, the maple industry has been trying to get rid of buddy flavor from syrup for over 100 years. I recall that they pretty much know about the chemistry involved but have never found a cost effective way to remove the off-flavor.

[Peepers]

Well I got a generic "brita-pitcher-like" water filter cartridge, popped it apart, cut open the bag that was inside it and mixed the carbon in with a pot of buddy almost-syrup. The box said to keep it under 86 degrees so I'm just keeping it at room temp and stirring it whenever I walk by. It seems to taste a little less buddy after sitting for 8 hours but then again it could just be wishful thinking.
I'll do a taste test tomorrow and compare it to my non-carbon-filtered buddy syrup control group. Maybe I'll let it sit a few more days if it seems to be making progress. How long will it take a pot of room temp syrup to get moldy at room temp? I'm keeping it covered when I'm not stirring so I figure a couple of days should be OK.

I drew off when it was getting close to syrup so I should be able to filter it through some cloth to get rid of the carbon before finishing it and filtering it for real.

[Peepers]

The carbon filtering removed the buddy taste from my syrup. I let the gallon of almost-syrup steep at room temp covered for 5 days with the carbon bits in it and stirred occasionally every day. Last night I filtered it through some paper towels at slightly warmer than room temp to get rid of the carbon chunks (the carbon water filter said not to exceed 80 something degrees) then finished, filtered again and bottled it. While not as good as the light amber we've made this has a redder color and is a LOT better than what it tasted like before soaking in carbon.

The carbon filter cost around $6 so while this may not be economically feasible for larger operations for our family to be able to salvage a gallon of buddy syrup it was worth it.

[trackerguy]

Activated charcoal supposidly can change flavor and also lighten syrup, thus improving grade. OK for home use, but at least in VT it's illegal to sell syrup that's been altered in this manner as "pure maple syrup". That much said, I've always been curious what would happen if I charged the filter press with some activated charcoal when the syrup goes dark and nasty. I'd feed the result to my kids if it was palatable:evil:

[DrTimPerkins]

Filtering maple syrup with carbon or other active-resins is considered adulteration and is thus illegal throughout the U.S. and Canada. Years ago, when there was a big differential in price between light and dark syrup (and thus a big incentive to make dark syrup lighter), we did a lot of testing of ways to detect this type of adulteration.

There are ways to remove buddy off-flavor...they just aren't legal because they are also considered adulteration.

Similarly there are ways to remove lead (or other heavy metals) if they appear.....just aren't legal by most regulations governing "pure" maple.

There is a way to reduce/remove metabolism off-flavor that is legal. See http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc and look at the papers on metabolism. We've not tested this on buddy syrup.

[wally]

There is a way to reduce/remove metabolism off-flavor that is legal. See http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc and look at the papers on metabolism.

i had read the above linked paper a while ago. beyond the results published, i thought it raised a few questions about some of the "techniques" that producers are using now to increase efficiency in syrup production.

specifically related to the air-injected/heated syrup results. it would appear at a casual glance that air-injection might not be a good method for syrup production, even though it does reduce the metabolic compound that was studied. the side effect for air injection appears to be that it also reduces the desired "maple flavor" compound and darkens the grade.

although boiling efficiency might be better than for "standard" boiling, it appears to be at the expense of better flavor/grade. while grade matters little to me, flavor is the number one priority, and things that adversely affect flavor would be high on my avoidance list.

-tim

[DrTimPerkins]

specifically related to the air-injected/heated syrup results. it would appear at a casual glance that air-injection might not be a good method for syrup production, even though it does reduce the metabolic compound that was studied. the side effect for air injection appears to be that it also reduces the desired "maple flavor" compound and darkens the grade.

The air injection method employed in that study (as an attempt to remove metabolism off-flavor) was not the same as the standard air injection used in sap/concentrate processing to make syrup. We have found no adverse impacts of standard air injection on maple flavor in our studies, and I know of several producers who use air injection who have won maple syrup contests.

I also want to clear up a common misconception that some might have. "Buddy" off flavor of syrup is entirely different from "metabolism" off-flavor of maple syrup.

[wally]

The air injection method employed in that study (as an attempt to remove metabolism off-flavor) was not the same as the standard air injection used in sap/concentrate processing to make syrup. We have found no adverse impacts of standard air injection on maple flavor in our studies, and I know of several producers who use air injection who have won maple syrup contests.

I also want to clear up a common misconception that some might have. "Buddy" off flavor of syrup is entirely different from "metabolism" off-flavor of maple syrup.

thanks for the clarification on the air injection.

[Peepers]

Dr Tim - can you clarify more on the difference between buddy and metabolism taste in syrup? I'm still new at this and just making syrup for home use so my adulterated carbon filtered syrup is just fine with me! :D

I don't know what to call the "funny" flavor in the batch that I carbon filtered but it was nasty. My wife thought it had some chocolate flavors to it and didn't mind it but I couldn't stand it. It grew on me in a bad way and almost made me gag as I got closer and closer to it being syrup while finishing.

It is hard for me to believe that carbon filtering would be considered adulterating syrup since all sorts of other industries do it and the resulting products are often thought to be better than the non-filtered product. I suppose if the filtering also takes out the "good" impurities that give maple syrup its maple flavor it could be seen as a potentially bad thing.

[PerryW]

If you really want to know what buddy syrup tastes like, just go out after the next freeze (probably next week) and tap one or two maple trees (or ream a couple holes); get a gallon or two of sap and divide it into four pans and put one on each burner of your kitchen stove. Boil like crazy and you will have a couple ounces of buddy syrup to try in no time. You will also no doubt smell the buddy smell during the boiling. A bitter taste with a bad aftertaste.

[KenWP]

Well I got a generic "brita-pitcher-like" water filter cartridge, popped it apart, cut open the bag that was inside it and mixed the carbon in with a pot of buddy almost-syrup. The box said to keep it under 86 degrees so I'm just keeping it at room temp and stirring it whenever I walk by. It seems to taste a little less buddy after sitting for 8 hours but then again it could just be wishful thinking.
I'll do a taste test tomorrow and compare it to my non-carbon-filtered buddy syrup control group. Maybe I'll let it sit a few more days if it seems to be making progress. How long will it take a pot of room temp syrup to get moldy at room temp? I'm keeping it covered when I'm not stirring so I figure a couple of days should be OK.

I drew off when it was getting close to syrup so I should be able to filter it through some cloth to get rid of the carbon before finishing it and filtering it for real.

When it says 86 degrees is that C or F. If you have to boil water it would take all day to cool it off to 86 F. I would check if it's not C like mine thats on the tap which filters both hot and cold water.