MAPLE SUGAR. 3 



SAMPLING. 



In the case of grain sugar or cake sugar that is hard and dry, sam- 

 pling is comparatively easy, but with tub sugar or wet cake sugar 

 there is more difficulty, because the liquid portion has drained to 

 some extent and may have left practically pure sucrose. Maple 

 sugar is principally sucrose", or the sugar of commerce, with a mother 

 liquor surrounding the crystals which gives it its particular character- 

 istic qualities. Were the mother liquor removed completely from 

 the crystals of sugar, one would have the ordinary sugar of com- 

 merce, granulated sugar or sucrose. Maple sugar brings its high 

 price not on account of the sugar it contains but because of the agree- 

 able flavoring substances which are present in the mother liquor. It 

 is easily argued, then, that if this mother liquor is removed in part 

 the product is not maple sugar, and a person buying it would not be 

 buying maple sugar. With this point of view, it is necessary in sam- 

 pling a tub of maple sugar or of any soft sugar to see that the product 

 is thoroughly mixed before a sample is drawn, and that the sample 

 represents both the sugar and the proportionate quantity of the mother 



liquor. 



METHODS OF ANALYSIS. 



It is the general practice in the manufacture of maple sugar not to 

 skim or remove the mineral matter which is separated during the 

 boiling and concentration of the sirup; many makers cake the skim- 

 mings and settlings, considering that such a procedure does not injure 

 the product in any way and gives it a larger volume. In the produc- 

 tion of fancy cake sugar the manufacturer usually skims and removes 

 all sediment carefully before the final boiling for the cakmg of the 

 sugar. It will be readily seen that the sugar made without skim- 

 ming or filtration will have a much higher ash content than that 

 which has been carefully cleansed before caking. In order to place all 

 sugar samples upon a comparative basis, it is necessary in the prep- 

 aration of the sample for analysis to dissolve the sugar and remove 

 the suspended mineral and organic matter. Samples of maple sugar, 

 especially of that made from skimmings and settlings, have been 

 found with an ash content as high as 3 per cent, while sugar made 

 from carefully cleansed sirup sometimes contains as little as 0.77 per 

 cent. If the analysis were made on the sugar itself, it would be 

 possible to add nearly two-thirds white sugar and make a product 

 which, according to the ash, would not be suspected of adulteration, 

 but if this adulterated sugar were made into sirup and the substances 

 foreign to the sugar held in suspension were removed, the ash con- 

 tent would be so reduced that adulteration of two-thirds white sugar 

 would be readily seen. 



