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How long can I store sap? Sap is a highly perishable product. This article explains what happens as it is stored, and how to avoid problems.
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Filtering syrup in small batches is a huge pain. Any advice on how to make it easier?
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What causes syrup to be light or dark at different parts of the season?
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Q1: I’m considering switching from a flat pan to a larger pan with continuous flow, and keep hearing about the gradient. What is a gradient and why is it important? Q2: After a warm spell that made the sap stop running, a hard freeze made it start again so I collected and boiled. The syrup had an off-flavor. Why?
Ask Proctor: Defoamer
We regularly get questions from maple producers about which defoamers are the best to use. Of course, the answer is…it depends.
Assessing Strategies for Spout and Drop Sanitation in 5/16″ Tubing: Sap Yield, Cost, and Net Profit
The University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center and the Cornell Maple Program Arnot Forest conducted a multi-year study examining several common sanitation strategies and assessing the effects on sap yield, attendant costs, and resulting net profits. The following graphs briefly summarize the results of this work.
Assessment of the Flavor of Syrup Produced with High-Brix RO Systems
Concentrating sap with reverse osmosis (RO) substantially increases the efficiency and profitability of processing maple sap into syrup by reducing the amount of fuel and time required to complete concentration to syrup density in the evaporator, with gains proportional to the level of sap pre-concentration. Because most flavor development in maple syrup occurs through nonenzymatic browning reactions as sap is processed with heat in the evaporator, it has often been speculated that reduced evaporator processing time resulting from the use of RO might also result in perceptible impacts on syrup flavor. However, a series of controlled experiments conducted at the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center using the same sap processed to different levels with RO determined that concentrating sap up to 21.5% prior to boiling in standard maple evaporators had no substantive effects on syrup composition or flavor.
Birch can help increase your maple operation profits
Birch syrup production uses the same equipment as maple syrup production, and the spring sapflow season begins just as the maple season is ending. Sugarmakers might want to consider adding birch production to their operations to generate additional revenue.
Birch syrup production to increase the economic sustainability of maple syrup production in the Northern Forest
A presentation on the potential value of adding birch syrup production to an existing maple operation.
Changes In Sap Yields From Tubing Systems Under Vacuum Due To System Aging
This research was designed to examine age-related losses in sap yield in tubing systems operated under vacuum, and to explore different strategies to reduce tubing microbial contamination induced sap yield losses.