Production technology of maple sugar
When the weather is cold, the trunk and roots of maple trees store a lot of starch. When spring comes in March and April, starch stored in tree trunks or roots will be converted into sucrose in large quantities. Because maple sugar will gradually lose its flavor when the weather gets hot, in early spring, sugar workers will start to select maple trees that are at least 30 to 40 years old and drill holes in the trunk to let the sap flow out. The original sugar content of maple juice is only about 2% ~ 5%, and then it is concentrated "maple syrup" with sugar content higher than 66%, about 60%.
The different concentration and sugar content of maple syrup will make the sweetness, taste and color different, so different brands of maple syrup on the market also have many flavors.
How to preserve maple sugar?
Maple syrup has a long shelf life and can be stored at a temperature when it is unopened. Once opened, put it in the refrigerator to avoid mildew. If you want to extend the shelf life of maple syrup, you can divide the maple syrup into several portions and put it in the freezer. You just need to take one at a time, put it at room temperature for slight deicing, or heat it with warm water.
Maple sugar is also graded.
The grades of maple sugar in the United States and Canada were originally different, and it was not until recent years that the standards were unified. According to the evaluation of International Maple Syrup Research Institute (IMSI) in Canada, maple syrup is divided into four grades according to the color * * *, and each grade is accompanied by a taste description, so that people who want to buy maple syrup can make a clearer choice.
Grade a golden yellow: delicious.
The season of producing maple syrup will also affect the flavor of syrup. When the weather is still cold, maple syrup is bright golden yellow in color and soft and mild in taste.
Grade a amber): rich in taste
When the temperature starts to rise, the produced maple syrup will be beautiful amber, with mellow taste and unique aroma of maple sugar. It is a maple sugar grade that can taste the characteristics of maple sugar and has public acceptance.
A-level dark color): strong taste
In the late sugar-making season, rich maple honey began to be produced. Because the sugar content of maple juice began to decline, more juice was needed to concentrate it into syrup with sufficient sugar content, so the color and flavor were rich. The darker the color of maple syrup, the lower the transparency, and the more you can feel the special smell of maple syrup, which is bitter; Dark maple syrup is generally eaten less directly and is mostly used for cooking. Very suitable for meat dishes or baked desserts, which can better set off the aroma of maple sugar.
A-class very dark color: strong taste.
Very dark maple sugar presents a strong maple leaf flavor, and the bitterness is also the heaviest; Therefore, it is mostly used in business and is widely loved by food manufacturers and chefs.
From left to right: Grade A gold, Grade A amber, Grade A dark, Grade A extremely dark (PIC: goo.gl/XeZWia).
In addition to the above four color grading maple syrup, there is also a kind of "processing grade maple syrup", which meets the food safety standards, but the taste is poor and cannot be classified as grade A; Processing-grade maple sugar is not retailed in the market and is usually used in agriculture.
For the conversion of old and new maple sugar grades, please refer to the following figure:
Understand the unique flavor of maple sugar
Maple sugar is mainly composed of sucrose and water, and with special amino acids, it has a special flavor of sweet and sour taste, and its aroma is better and mellow. Maple sugar is regarded as one of the healthy sources of sugar intake because its calories are slightly lower than ordinary edible sugar and it contains minerals beneficial to human body.
With the same weight of maple sugar and sugar, maple sugar has a stronger aroma and less sweetness, which is very suitable to replace sugar and brown sugar for dessert cooking, such as pudding, baked biscuits and muffins. Even maple syrup can be used instead of sugar to stir-fry sugar, and it can also make braised pork with beautiful colors.