Marketing Syrup as Reverse Osmosis or Pipeline Free

[GeneralStark]

I have come across a few local producers here marketing their syrup as "produced without reverse osmosis, pipeline, or vacuum" and I am wondering if there are producers on the trader that do this. Does anyone market their syrup as four-wheeler, pickup truck, or tractor free?

If you do, why have you chosen this marketing technique and do you think it is working for you? Are there customers out there demanding this "type" of syrup? Does this really matter?

I understand that there are people in the industry that believe that ro affects the flavor, and that vacuum seems cruel or unusual punishment for the tree ( but will still hang four buckets on a tree), but I am trying to wrap my head around this marketing technique.

It seems to me that producing a good quality, excellent tasting syrup should be the major priority for any producer, and by focusing on what you don't do, you are missing something. I also think that it is bad for the industry on the whole to be suggesting that certain production techniques are better or worse that others. Why not just focus on making your product stand out for its quality and flavor and not by trying to undercut folks that produce good quality products using modern technology?

[Dill]

I was reading this article yesterday
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...ton-abbey.html

And he is advertising his syrup as
Vermont's old-fashioned heritage can sometimes be new-fangled good, as in the effort of Newhall Farm to preserve the overall health of our sugar maples. For this reason we prefer not to use vacuum pumps to extract the liquid that essentially carries food to all parts of the (scientifically known Acer saccharum) tree. Instead we encourage the slow drip of this high sugar concentrated sap, and it's natural, gravitational, free-run flow to produce MAPLE SYRUP that has a taste of place of the Alps at Newhall Farm.

Also has a bit about "woodfired".

My problem with marketing like this is the same problem I have with the organic people touting "formaldehyde free". Don't hit other farmers by undercutting their technique or making up issues that don't exist. If you want to market how good your product is, great. But don't do it by saying buy from me cause I'm much better than Joe down the street. Say if you like my product better than buy here.

[jmayerl]

Lol, I can't wait to get my new labels made.....produced by getting my atv buried for 3 hours. Or produced with blue bags only. Which sounds better?

[GeneralStark]

I was reading this article yesterday
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...ton-abbey.html

And he is advertising his syrup as
Vermont's old-fashioned heritage can sometimes be new-fangled good, as in the effort of Newhall Farm to preserve the overall health of our sugar maples. For this reason we prefer not to use vacuum pumps to extract the liquid that essentially carries food to all parts of the (scientifically known Acer saccharum) tree. Instead we encourage the slow drip of this high sugar concentrated sap, and it's natural, gravitational, free-run flow to produce MAPLE SYRUP that has a taste of place of the Alps at Newhall Farm.

Also has a bit about "woodfired".

My problem with marketing like this is the same problem I have with the organic people touting "formaldehyde free". Don't hit other farmers by undercutting their technique or making up issues that don't exist. If you want to market how good your product is, great. But don't do it by saying buy from me cause I'm much better than Joe down the street. Say if you like my product better than buy here.

I always encourage people to taste my products before they buy, and I too am really bothered by people trying to market their opinion on production techniques instead of fact. If you think that ro or pipeline affects the flavor, shouldn't the burden of proof be on you to prove that accusation? Is this marketing technique about flavor or quality
or some other philosophical issue?

[Jeff E]

I have had people stop by, see my tubing, get a tour and see the RO, then see my wood pile and smile, and ask 'you make syrup with wood fire?', and yes I do, then they buy syrup.
Others love the concept if the energy effeciency of the RO. Bottom line, people have preferences. You cant make everyone happy all the time.

[Dill]

I see the issue as people are completely divorced from where their food comes from. Most have never been to a dairy farm or know how syrup is made. Which is why we all spend time explaining the process. So the problem with producers making issues, like the lack of formaldehyde when in fact none of us can use it. The buyer latches on to that as a fact and will tell others. In the long run it hurts the industry. It really does amaze me when people who have lived in New England for their entire lifetime still don't have a handle on how syrup is made.

[Snowy Pass Maple]

Here's an even better one... according to Crown Maple, boiling sap is bad This is how you defend going to over 30 brix with RO.

Using reverse osmosis to remove most of the water is far superior because it protects the delicate sap from prolonged exposure to heat which causes burning and excess caramelization.

More seriously, it almost sounds like they just didn't like the taste of maple syrup and are going to extreme processing conditions with the goal of making an ultra light syrup that diminishes the traditional maple flavors. And then they are on a huge mission to "educate" upscale consumers on how it should taste - according to their 3-year old view of the maple world. I find it concerning given how much press they get with those messages... and I can understand why some people may market more traditional methods to defend against this kind of nonsense.

To that end, Turner embarked on “a 3-year odyssey trying to figure out how to make the best possible product.” Obsessed with eliminating impurities that can give syrup a bitter aftertaste, he researched production methods, consulted with experts at Cornell University’s Sugar Maple Program and “worked with all the equipment manufacturers to get the best and brightest ideas.”

And he invested massively in the world’s largest and most high-tech sugarhouse, a gleaming, state-of-the-art facility that includes filtration and ultraviolet sterilization equipment, and a one-of-a-kind, NASA-grade reverse osmosis machine that can remove up to 90 percent of the water from tree sap. (This reduces the need for boiling, which alters the sap’s natural essence, says Turner.)

Huh?!?

I'm wondering if they will eventually just vacuum distill it to get straight sugar water... someone should tell them that as early as 1935, it was known that you have to actually heat it to make the maple flavor :-)

[super sappy]

New York Post article March 9 th " willing and maple "Page 29 - Crown Maple Owner Robb Turner says the ro reduces the need for boiling which alters the saps natural essence . Man I am glad I got a ro this year otherwise Id be making a product with a bad aftertaste....I also have a local guy that advertises that a ro is just a shortcut . Ill live with the ro and the 29 gallons I made on my 2x6 last nite LOL-supersappy

[Ed R]

I think this is just push back by several producers using "traditional methods" against the "Crown maples" of the advertising world.

[Russell Lampron]

I don't know if he still does but I remember a seller on ebay selling "Kettle Syrup". He stated that it was made the old fashioned way in an iron kettle over an open wood fire. I think it was his way of circumventing the grading system and pawning some commercial grade syrup off on the unknowing public making them believe it is a better product.

I make my syrup the new fashioned way. I suck the sap out of the trees with vacuum and squeeze the water out of it with my RO. I make a great tasting product and have more repeat customers every year.