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Thread: It tastes different!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Central Wisconsin
    Posts
    428

    Default It tastes different!

    My BIL and SIL visited the East coast last fall for the colors. For Christmas presents they brought me back a new Hydrometer, Maple candy and a small 4oz Maple leaf of syrup from a respected producer. In my humble opinion, the syrup definitely tasted sweet but it lacked the distinctive maple flavor that I'm used to here in Wisconsin. Granted, I only produce 7-10 gallons a year so I'm not an expert but I'm wondering what gives?
    1960 - 1970s 70 taps on galvanized buckets with Dad and Grandpa.
    1970s - 1985 Acted crazy!
    1986 - 2005 20-30 buckets.
    2006- 2017 70 buckets and bags
    2017-2019 100 bags and buckets
    2020 Finally retired!!! 75 buckets, 50-75 on tubing. RO Bucket, New 12 X 16 Shack and a 42X42 flat pan.
    2021-Adding another 125 taps along with a second RO bucket.
    2022- Shooting for 350 taps, with 100 on lines.
    Lots of Family and Friends and dogs named Skyy and Nessy!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Porter Corners, NY
    Posts
    55

    Default

    My guess is that "maple flavor" you are refering to is from boiling on a relatively open fire pit and getting the delicious smoke flavor in your syrup. Assuming your avitar picture is how you are boiling your sap. I love the smokey flavor that I get in my syrup, I also only make 6ish gallons a year, boiling on a cinderblock arch.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Central Wisconsin
    Posts
    428

    Default

    No Trevor. My Avatar is from years ago. I have a enclosed arch with a 6 foot stovepipe. I'm not talking a smoky flavor but a Maple one.
    1960 - 1970s 70 taps on galvanized buckets with Dad and Grandpa.
    1970s - 1985 Acted crazy!
    1986 - 2005 20-30 buckets.
    2006- 2017 70 buckets and bags
    2017-2019 100 bags and buckets
    2020 Finally retired!!! 75 buckets, 50-75 on tubing. RO Bucket, New 12 X 16 Shack and a 42X42 flat pan.
    2021-Adding another 125 taps along with a second RO bucket.
    2022- Shooting for 350 taps, with 100 on lines.
    Lots of Family and Friends and dogs named Skyy and Nessy!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Kirschnerville, NY
    Posts
    463

    Default

    Maple can take on various flavor profiles depending the time of year it was produced, your production techniques, and most importantly your soil and mineral contents. What may taste as normal maple to you in Wisconsin could be viewed as a different flavor in other parts of the maple belt.
    Jake Moser
    Moser's Maple

    2 beautiful little girls
    1 wife that's become her mother

    www.facebook.com/mosersmaple

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Bristol, VT
    Posts
    1,978

    Default

    What grade of syrup was in the purchased bottle? What grade(s) do you typically make?

    I had some syrup from Wisconsin once and really lacked much flavor at all....
    About 750 taps on High Vac.
    2.5 x 8 Intens-O-Fire
    Airtech 3 hp LR Pump
    Springtech Elite 500 RO
    14 x 24 Timber Frame SugarHouse
    16 x 22 Sap Shed w/ 1500 gal. + 700 gal. tanks
    www.littlehogbackfarm.com

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    203

    Default

    Im probably the most novice guy on here but , it seems to me the lighter the color (higher grade) the more sweet forward it is. The darker is more classic maple flavor to me. Im a dark amber or the old grade B fan myself. I can certainly taste a difference in the syrup I make down here and the syrup I bought in ontario.
    Last edited by esetter; 01-18-2018 at 06:52 PM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Campbellford, on
    Posts
    682

    Default

    There are SO many factors that can effect flavour mainly sap handling techniques and boiling methods. I think this has a greater effect on flavour then location IMHO. I’ve got many producers within a stones throw of my farm and our syrups all taste different. My next door neighbor’s syrup is so different in colour and flavour to mine you would think it comes from another continent. But they are both good in their own ways.
    Last edited by Clinkis; 01-18-2018 at 10:21 PM.
    Maple Rock Farm
    www.Maplerockfarm.ca
    400 taps on Vacuum
    18”x60” Lapierre propane evaporator with Smokey Lake auto draw off
    Homemade 3 post RO with MES membranes
    Ford TS110 tractor sap hauler

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Rock Creek, NC
    Posts
    5,807

    Default

    As others have said there are many profiles of syrup flavor and many things influence the color and flavor. Last year I bought a new truck and the dealer gave me a gift bag with NH made products inside. One of the things inside was a bottle of dark robust maple syrup. One morning I sat down to a pancake breakfast and was set to enjoy the flavor of some dark syrup as most of mine is golden and amber. What a disappointment! That dark syrup had no maple flavor at all, it was just sweet. My golden has more maple flavor.

    A local producer decided to do a taste test last year for Maple Weekend. He had my golden syrup, his amber syrup, and some dark and very dark syrup from some other local producers. I did the taste test starting with the amber through very dark and then to the golden. To my surprise my golden had the most and best flavor of the four samples. If the flavors had followed the colors I shouldn't have been able to taste my syrup at all with the flavors of the dark syrup still on my pallet. Others that did the taste test walked away in disbelief too.
    Russ

    "Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!

    1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
    A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
    Four chainsaws and no chickens!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Central Wisconsin
    Posts
    428

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by GeneralStark View Post
    What grade of syrup was in the purchased bottle? What grade(s) do you typically make?

    I had some syrup from Wisconsin once and really lacked much flavor at all....
    The purchased that was given to me was Golden and mine is generally a darker amber. Like I said before, the purchased was very sweet but not with the maple flavor..
    Thanks for the comments guys. Its probably just what you have grown up with over the years that become the "Normal".
    1960 - 1970s 70 taps on galvanized buckets with Dad and Grandpa.
    1970s - 1985 Acted crazy!
    1986 - 2005 20-30 buckets.
    2006- 2017 70 buckets and bags
    2017-2019 100 bags and buckets
    2020 Finally retired!!! 75 buckets, 50-75 on tubing. RO Bucket, New 12 X 16 Shack and a 42X42 flat pan.
    2021-Adding another 125 taps along with a second RO bucket.
    2022- Shooting for 350 taps, with 100 on lines.
    Lots of Family and Friends and dogs named Skyy and Nessy!

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