Rutty Buck Syrup Co. (Minnesota Maple Syrup Season-2023)

[Spinaker]

I would like to know more about this sugar sand, and I think it was Sugar rocks you mentioned the dog finding.

I'm guessing sugar sand is kind of like when honey starts to crystallize, and the rocks are. Larger versions or maybe a bunch of it clumped together?

How is that stuff formed, how is it prevented from forming, is there no use for it? Maybe in cream cheese or the like?

Sugar sand is the crystalized sugar that comes from the evaporation process. You can see it in the filter picture below; it is stuck to the filter. Much of it is collected in the pre filter and the rest is collected in the Orlon filter. Once bottled, any sugar sand that forms in the bottle is called "nitters" They can form when the sap gets above 190 F. The sand can be used in a cream cheese spread or with peanut butter. It is great stuff.


You want your bottles between 170-185 when bottling. Both to kill the bacteria before bottling and try avoid the formation of nitters. Nitters (bottled sugar sand) are often much lighter in color and flavor because they are not "cooked" as long. Nitters are harmless, but they cloud the syrup and collect on the bottom of the bottle which is not appealing to many. If I get a bottle with some nitters, I will keep that as a home jar.

The "sugar rocks" are just what I call them. All that is from skimming the foam off the top of the evaporating sap. There is sugar contained in the foam, in low concentrations. I knock the skimmer screen on the evaporator and it collects on the rocks around the evaporator. However, after weeks of evaporating 500 gallons of concentrated sap a little goes a long way. You can see the white foam on the rocks in the picture below.

[texastweeter]

Could you use it like creamed honey, mixed with some mashed chilis to make a maple ghost chili spread, or whipped with butter?

[Spinaker]

Yep. We have used it to make a whipped peanut butter and a whipped cream cheese. So damn good. You do have to whip it though, the consistency is very much like very fine sand. texastweeter

[Spinaker]

Here is a shot of almost all the syrup we made this year! (We are missing 1 gallon in jars as we were boiling when I took this.)


13.1 Gallons was the total haul this year!

[barelfly]

All that snow you had a week or so ago is gone! And all that goodness bottled up and ready to go! so, next few posts - what are all the ways that this goodness will get used? Pancakes and such, yes…but anything else?

[Spinaker]

Yeah, brother….80 degrees temps will do that!! Although we are supposed to get 2 inches of snow tomorrow. 🤣🤣 Never a dull moment in MN! barelfly

[Spinaker]

We divide it up. Some use it for breakfast stuff. Cocktails is a very popular choice for many too. My friends love to use it in their Old Fashioneds. I use it in glazes and to add to me and Sabrina’s coffee. I also pack a little shot of it for my summer time trail races! Great shot at mile 10 always helps boost to the finish line!

[RichieB]

Nice, and that oven pretty dang awesome.

[Spinaker]

Last batch of bottles!

[Elton's BBQ]

Amen!

[fzxdoc]

This has been such a fun topic to read, Spinaker . The camaraderie/skill shown in the photos of the RB gang/final product would make anyone want to join in the fun. No wonder you look forward to it each year.

Kathryn

[Spinaker]

Thanks Kathryn! Glad you enjoyed it!

[Panhead John]

Spinaker and others. Have you ever seen anything like this? I just ran across this video and couldn’t believe what I was seeing…..all this water just gushing out of a tree being cut down! It apparently was gushing out for a minute too, before the video was even shot. How is this possible? Not trying to hijack your post, thought it might kinda fit in here..

https://youtube.com/shorts/GiTD2mzwVK8?feature=share

[Spinaker]

Yeah there is a crack in the top of the crotch of the tree. It fills with rain water over the years and fills up. I’ve seen it before on an old oak tree. Winter snow is often a big contributor. It’s not sap, just snow/rain water. The tree was hollow on the inside and rotting, so there is plenty of room for the water to pool.

[Spinaker]

Well entered 3 bottles in the MN State fair this year. We did not place. (Shocking I know, we can't believe it either!!! LOL) It was a ton of fun and we learned A LOT. Mostly what the judges are looking for. As well as how to pick the right sap for submissions. Also, I must say, what a wonderful group of people everyone at the MN state fair was. From the people collecting our syrup to the folks stopping nay to ask us about how we make it. It was just a blast getting to know new people, talking shop and sharing ideas. (Not unlike The Pitmaster Club)


(Couple of wives not pictured, Jenny and Christine)

Some things we took home.

1) We found out that bottling the syrup at the right temp, with sanitized bottles that have been cooled is key. This keeps nitters (sugar sand) out and makes the syrup more more clear. (Which we did get some mark downs on one bottle) This forms when hot syrup hit the hot glass after sanitation and bottling. Micro grains of sugar crystals are formed in the syrup. it does not effect taste, only appearance.

2) Collecting sap from the middle of the season is key. This is when bacterial growth is at a minimum while still allowing for robust maple flavor.This can have a "metabolic" flavor to it. Which was totally new to us. Some say it is a "buttery" taste which we always loved in our syrup.

3) We need to Brix test every bottle we submit to make sure we are hitting the right Brix.% we got marked down big time for this one. The great news is.....this is 100% fixable and "easy" to manage. I personally need to do a better job of testing before bottling to ensure better quality from a Brix stand point. We need to be between 66 and 68.9 Brix. Only one of our syrups hit this mark! Room for improvement. Next year will be better.


**Oh yeah......and some guy named "Riley Sugarbush" entered his syrup. He got second place.......I feel like with a name like that, you are cheating!. LOL.

All in all it was another great experience with the Rutty Buck Syrup Co.!!! (Score Sheets are below)

[Bogy]

Just like BBQ Competitions, you need to know what the judges look for. How many competitors were you up against?

[jfmorris]

STEbbq brix is a measurement that tells you how much residual sugar is in the liquid, with plain water having a brix reading of zero.

It is also called specific gravity, and is a key measurement in beer and wine making. The higher the sugar (specific gravity) before fermentation, the higher the potential alcohol produced by the yeast.

For comparison, the biggest beer I've ever made, about 13% ABV, had a brix of around 28 before fermentation, and ended around 7 or 8.

[Spinaker]

about 50 in each category, I think.

[RonB]

While winning stuff is always nice, pleasing yourself, friends, and family is more important. I think ya done good.

[jfmorris]

This is pretty impressive Spinaker - feedback is always good to have, and as good as your syrup is, I am betting next year its a blue ribbon winner!

BTW, how many wives do you have, anyway? Two in the picture and "a couple of wives not pictured"... Things are pretty wild in the Land of Tonka apparently...

[Spinaker]

Haha, the two guys in the front.....their wives were not there.

[jfmorris]

Spinaker so my somewhat educated guess is that you boil longer to get the brix higher next time? If I want to get my wort to have a higher gravity when making beer, I either boil longer, or use more grain and less water to start with.

[Spinaker]

Yep. Boil a little longer. But you have to be careful so you do not create more sugar sand.

[jfmorris]

Spinaker sounds like you just need to sit there with a refractometer or hydrometer and take readings every couple of minutes as it approaches the required brix.

I can't believe it's such a narrow window - 66 to 68. Above or below gets 0 points! Ouch!

[Spinaker]

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Must be a good way to weed out the people (us this year ☹️) that don’t know exactly what the judges are looking for.

[jfmorris]

These syrup judges seem much like beer competition judges. So much is subjective and up to what the individual judge expects and what their taste buds are like. Most folks that do that type job have more refined taste buds than the average person, and have gone through training to taste the various possible "off" flavors you can have in the product being judged.

[Spinaker]

Yeah, they are way more in tune to things than we are. We also had no idea what flavors are considered "off" as far as the judges were concerned.

[jfmorris]

Spinaker its a LONG list:

https://extension.umaine.edu/maple-grading-school/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2020/07/Off-flavors-opt.pdf

[Spinaker]

Thanks a lot for posting this article!

[Bogy]

Spinaker thank you for this topic. I bought a gallon of maple syrup today at the Clay County (Iowa) Fair today. The producer is from Luck, WI. He was impressed by my knowledge of Brix numbers and when the syrup was harvested from the color. Hopefully a gallon will take care of us until next year.

[Bob K]

Demonstrating my cluelessness here but how are the grades (I see A or B usually for retail purchase) determined - color, clarity, taste? Or is it more to do with time of harvest. Or something else entirely haha?

[Spinaker]

Demonstrating my cluelessness here but how are the grades (I see A or B usually for retail purchase) determined - color, clarity, taste? Or is it more to do with time of harvest. Or something else entirely haha?

It is more a case of light transmission through the syrup. All syrup in the store is now classified as "Grade A"

However, Golden, Amber, Dark and Very Dark are the different classifications within Grade A. Each has their own flavor profile. Golden is typically delicate in maple flavor while Very Dark is strong and robust in maple flavor.

Basically the USDA used to call darker syrups "Grade B" which made people think it was of poor quality. This was not really the case as far as most people were concerned. Back in the day, the lighter the syrup, the higher the grade. However, as tastes and demand has changed more people are accepting of a darker, more robust maple flavor in their syrup. In an effort not to penalize darker syrups, the USDA reclassified all syrup as Grade A; they then break those colors into subsets (Golden, Amber, Dark and Very Dark) under the Grade A umbrella. Everything you see in the store is Grade A, in some form or another.

Typically sap that is harvested towards the end of the season is darker and more robust. As the flavor profile changes, so does the transparency of the syrup. However, the USDA came to the conclusion that the syrup quality was not degrading per se, simply changing in profile. Hence the reclassification in 2015.

If you are seeing Grade B in stores, it is likely pretty old or the labels have not been changed in a long time!

[Bob K]

Aha thanks, perfect explanation. I’m sure it’s a case of my recollection being much longer ago than I thought - not old syrup, old memory cells. I specifically remember a recipe calling for Grade B for "more robust" flavor, easily coulda been 8+ years ago, time flies

[Spinaker]

Yep, that would be correct. "Robust" would mean any syrup the is darker in color and there for having a more "robust" maple flavor. As mentioned above, these were graded as "Grade B" prior to 2015. However, the actual quality is the same, merely a difference in flavor. Bob K

[Bob K]

Spinaker - AR: come for the bbq but stay for the world-class maple syrup knowledge, thanks!