MAPLE SUGAR. 



27 



DISCUSSION OF RESULTS. 



COLOR. 



Sugar. — The color of a maple sugar, although not necessarily an 

 indication of its quality, is influenced by the crystallization and by 

 the dryness of the sugar. Very dark maple sirup, if free from sedi- 

 ment, when boiled down nearly to dryness and stirred gives a very 

 light-colored sugar. If this sugar is powdered, the color and appear- 

 ance are similar to those of the ordinary powdered cane sugar, although 

 it possesses a maple flavor. Such sugar can also be produced with 

 greater ease from a light-colored sirup. The color of the sugars varies 

 from 8, the darkest, to 21, the lightest, the average of the indi- 

 vidual States showing slight variations from 12 to 15. No compari- 

 son has been made between the Canadian and the United States 

 samples. 



Sirup. — The average color of the United States sugar-sirup samples 

 is 11, which is three points darker than that of the sap sirups. Table 

 XI shows the average color of the sugar sirups as well as that of the 

 sap sirups for the several States. 



Table XI. — Average color of sugar sirup and sap sirup, by States. 



State. 



Sugar 

 sirup 



Sap 

 sirup. 1 



State. 



Sugar 

 sirup. 



Sap 

 sirup, i 





10+ 

 11 

 11 

 9 

 11 

 10 



10+ 

 8+ 

 ( 2 ) 

 7 



8+ 

 8 



New York 



10 

 10 

 11 

 11 

 12 

 11 



7 





Ohio 



8 







8 







9 







9 







8+ 









i U. S. Dept Agr., Bur. Chem. Bui. 134. 



2 No sample. 



In only one State, Indiana, is the color of the sap sirup equal to the 

 sugar sirup, there being in all others a difference of at least two 

 points. 



TASTE. 



The flavor of a maple product is an indescribable property. It 

 is usually possible for a person with an acute sense of taste to differ- 

 entiate between sap sirup and sugar sirup after a very few trials. 



SUCROSE. 



The average percentage of sucrose in the sugars when reduced to 

 the dry basis is 91.89, with extremes of 98.62 and 57.04. About 

 55 of the 283 samples from the United States molded in storage 

 before analysis and in a few cases started to ferment. If the ana- 

 lytical results on these had been excluded, the average percentage of 

 sucrose would be 94.36 instead of 91.89. For sap sirups the average 

 figure for sucrose when calculated to dry basis is 95.18 per cent. 



