42 BULLETIN 466, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Maple honey is the name often given to a light-colored maple 

 sirup which has been boiled to a density slightly heavier than that 

 of sap sirup, or similar to that of strained honey. The sirup could 

 hardly be an early run, but should be one in which there has been 

 some inversion of the sucrose, for otherwise the product will soon 

 crystallize. As this substance has no connection with bees and is 

 never stored in combs, the fitness of its name may be questioned. 



Maple wax is prepared by boiling sap sirup to a density nearly 

 equal to that of hard sugar, but without stirring, and then pouring 

 the product over snow or ice to secure an immediate cooling, thereby 

 preventing crystallization of the sugar. This can be made only in 

 small quantities and does not keep its waxy condition for any length 

 of time. 



As in the case of maple sugar, chemical examination of these 

 products should be carried on by concentrating them in solution to a 

 sirup with a density of 65, calculating the analytical results so ob- 

 tained to the moisture-free basis, and determining the original 

 moisture content. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



ANALYTICAL FIGURES OF PURE MAPLE PRODUCTS. 



Moisture. — Maple sirup should have a density equivalent to at 

 least 65 per cent dry substance or, in other words, it should weigh 

 11 pounds to the gallon. A thinner product does not keep, and a 

 heavier one shows more or less crystallization, depending on the 

 quality of the sap and on manufacturing conditions. Maple sugar 

 with a water content much over 5 per cent is runny and drains easily. 

 In tub sugar, the moisture content may run as high as 10 to 12 per 

 cent, but beyond this the sugar becomes mushy. 



Sugars. — Sucrose normally constitutes about 95 per cent of the 

 dry substance of the maple product, and, together with about 3 per 

 cent of reducing sugars, forms the total sugar content. In some 

 samples sucrose constituted about 97.5 per cent of the product. In 

 normal sirup, or sirup in which no acid fermentation has taken place, 

 the sum of the sucrose and the reducing sugars calculated to sucrose 

 by the factor 0.95 will give a figure ranging very close to 97.5 per 

 cent of the dry substance. 



Ash. — The total ash is an important figure in the analysis of a 

 maple product. The average percentage in 481 samples of maple 

 sap sirup was found to be 1 per cent, with extremes of 1.68 and 0.68. 

 In the 363 samples of maple sugars, the average was 0.98 per cent, 

 with extremes of 1.70 and 0.76 per cent, all figured to a dry basis. 

 Examining the results on these samples critically, we find that out of 

 the 844 samples 10 have an ash content of 0.77 per cent or lower 

 (Table XXIX). 



