In my experience with maple syrup from sugar maple (Acer saccharum) the time of the collection matters more than the U.S. state or Canadian province that the syrup came from. Early syrup is pale gold, and has a very delicate flavor, while syrup at the end of the season (when the large Dutch crocuses bloom) is very dark and tastes a lot like molasses. Syrup from midseason is 'just right,' flavorful without being strong.
By the way, since I am the one who introduced this off-topic but popular thread to the list, our first batch came to a tragic end. We collected the sap and started the process on the back of the large wood stove, which we also use as part of our heating system, in the basement. When the sap colored, Johan took it upstairs to finish on the kitchen stove. He transferred it to a saucepan. Liquids cook down best when the top of the liquid is near the top of the pan. He watched it, and noticed it seemed to be nearly ready to remove from the heat. Then he went out of the room for 2-3 minutes and when he came back, it was overcooked. He saved it for me to try when I came home. It tasted burned, so I tossed it. Since our wood stove does not cook sap down as fast as an outdoor evaporator, we have to cook each batch for 3-4 days before it is ready to finish. He has started a second and third batch on the wood stove. The second batch should be ready to finish tomorrow and I plan to sit with a good book in the kitchen until it is syrup. It is a good idea to take it off the stove just before you think it is thick enough--it will thicken a bit more while cooling. If you take it off prematurely, you can always put it back on. Barbara van Achterberg, Easton, Connecticut ________________________________ From: Richard F. Dufresne <[email protected]> To: "Alpine-L, the Electronic Rock Garden Society; postings copyright by authors." <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, February 28, 2011 8:03:56 AM Subject: Re: [Alpine-l] Maple syrup At 10:29 PM 2/26/2011, you wrote: A great discussion of maple syrup especially the post by Richard Dufresne on its production. > >Does the region in which the maple trees grow affect the flavor of the syrup? >I >ask this because the wine growers talk about the desirability of using French >oak for wine barrels (or Hungarian oak), but the tree is Quercu robur, what we >call English oak. Apparently where it grows makes a difference. > >Bill Plummer >Southern Tier of New York The makeup of the soil, including available mineral content, as well as microflora which could tweak the tree's metabolism and ratio of proteins, as well as temporal variables like climate, all could determine the subtleties of the maple syrup. These would be essentially the same effects present with wine grapes. Differences in mineral elements like boron and manganese would affect catalytic reactions and the ratios of products produced. Many of these components are produced in tiny quantities, and have powerful effects on perceived taste. It's not uncommon for flavor and fragrance chemists to discover that a minor component that was previously attributed with having a critical effect on flavor is replaced by one present in lower quantity, but with greater potency. The golden reference on the Internet for flavor chemicals is the Leffingwell site: http://www.leffingwell.com/ How chirality affects flavor perception: http://www.leffingwell.com/chirality/chirality.htm Chirality reflects on the handedness of how individual atoms or groups of atoms of otherwise identical structures are connected. Think of going from 2D to 3D. The site has rotating 3D chemical structures on it. Here is the page for sotolon, which also has a description of the odors, including desirability and odor threshhold: http://www.leffingwell.com/chirality/sotolon.htm Richard F. Dufresne 2119 US 220 Alternate South Candor, North Carolina 27229 USA 910-974-4009 Alternate e-mail: [email protected] World of Salvias: http://www.worldofsalvias.com/ No attachments over 1 meg without a heads-up post, please
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