Analysis of Maple Sirup.
—The average composition of ten samples of maple sirup of known purity is as follows:
| Total solids, | 70.50 | percent |
| Water, | 31.40 | „ |
| Ash, | .53 | „ |
| Sucrose, | 64.10 | „ |
| Reducing sugar, | 1.30 | „ |
The study of the ash of maple sirup is an important point in connection with its purity. It is distinctly different from the ash of the sugar cane and sorghum, and its study should not be neglected in all cases where there is any doubt respecting the genuineness of the samples.
Fig. 81.—Mill and Evaporating Apparatus for Sirup Making in Georgia.—(Bulletin 70, Bureau of Chemistry.)
Fig. 82.—Relative Length of Canes Used for Sirup Making.—(Photograph by H. W. Wiley.)
Cane Sirup.
—Sugar cane sirup is made by expressing the juice of the sugar cane as described, clarifying, and evaporating the juice to a consistency where only about 25 or 30 percent of the water remains, which is sufficient to prevent the sugar from crystallizing for a reasonable length of time. Sugar cane sirup is made in hundreds of small factories in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. It is usually made in a small way with mills driven by a horse or mule and with primitive methods of evaporation in an ordinary kettle. Hard pine wood is burned for the evaporation and the empyreumatic flavor of the pine is often absorbed by the sirup. In [Figs. 80] and [81] are shown typical apparatus used for the manufacture of sirup from sugar cane in Georgia and in [Fig. 82] the relative length of canes ready for manufacture. In factories where modern apparatus is used, in so far as I know, the vacuum process is not employed. In fact, except for economy of fuel, the vacuum process would be objectionable, since by boiling in an ordinary open kettle a larger quantity of sugar is inverted and thus the tendency to crystallization is diminished. It is a common but reprehensible practice in making sugar cane sirup to subject the freshly expressed juice to the fumes of burning sulfur. This makes a light-colored sirup but introduces a substance highly objectionable and one which destroys to a certain degree the flavor of the product. Experiments made by the Department of Agriculture show that delicious, wholesome, and palatable sugar cane sirup is best made by clarifying the expressed juice solely by means of heat and mechanical separation of the coagulum. The addition of lime or any other clarifying reagent is unnecessary and only makes a sirup of less desirable and less palatable quality. Since cane sirup is made uniformly in open kettles or pans there is a slight caramellization of the sirup during evaporation which gives a reddish tint to the product, which should be a mark of superiority instead of being so often regarded as a mark of inferiority. The consumer should always be suspicious of a sugar cane sirup which is light in color. It is probably a case of “Greeks bearing gifts” in the form of sulfurous acid or other injurious bleaching materials. Sugar cane sirup is not appreciated by the people of the North. In fact it is rarely seen or consumed by them. In its own country, however, it is a staple article of diet, highly esteemed, wholesome, palatable, and nutritious.