Showing 111 – 120 of 209 resources
Organizations grow and develop like children, animals or plants. Understanding organizational growth can help make sense of what is happening in maple producer organizations.
Some have questioned the accuracy of NASS’s Maple Syrup estimates. The most common criticisms typically include: some producers don’t return their report, some don’t report accurately, and some don’t receive a report. I will address each one separately.
Between 2008 and 2011 we conducted a series of controlled experiments performed with commercial maple equipment to investigate the potential effects of the use of RO on the composition, properties, and flavor of the maple syrup produced.
Recent findings, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, suggest that combining maple syrup extract with common antibiotics could increase the microbes’ susceptibility, leading to lower antibiotic usage.
Near the end of each sugaring season, producers must make a decision when to stop making maple syrup. Sometimes the decision is an easy call, such as when the onset of bud break and cessation of sap flow coincide. The decision to stop production can also be the result of careful economic analysis of the cost of production versus value of the product. The variable costs (fuel, labor, filters, etc.) of any maple operation are a key component to this sort of analysis.
During the 2015 maple sap season the Cornell Maple Program conducted a small trial, testing sap yield from 5/16″ tubing vs. 3/16″ tubing. This trial was not conducted at the Arnot Research forest but with a small maple operation cooperator. The tubing system consisted of six lateral lines, three 5/16″ and three 3/16″ alternating between the two treatments across the hillside.
The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical composition of the five maple syrup grades, including their pH, conductivity, mineral and carbohydrate contents. In general, quantification of the range of chemical composition for each standard maple syrup grade will strengthen the existing knowledge of maple syrup chemistry.
In the marketplace today, there are numerous instances where a product that does not contain any real maple syrup conveys in various ways, on its packaging or in its advertising and promotion materials, that it does contain real maple syrup or, even, is real maple syrup. The International Maple Syrup Institute (IMSI) and the North American Maple Syrup Council (NAMSC) believe that such behavior is misleading and deceptive to consumers, be it intentional or not, and should be curtailed, much as with any truth in advertising or labeling issue.
Pure maple syrup is on the rise in a declining overall market for pourable syrups. We are moving in the right direction, but still have a long way to go.
Sap flow is only part of what determines the total amount of syrup made (and how much money ends up in a syrup producer’s pocket). New research suggests sugar makers may be advised to look to their trees’ canopies as well as the weather forecast if they want to predict the tapping season.