How Long Can You Store Maple Syrup in the Freezer

Believe it or not, this question is not supported by as much university research as you might call up. The starting time major breakthrough in syrup storage all-time practices occurred in the 1940'due south; nevertheless, from that fourth dimension till now, little has inverse. To respond this question properly, your author scoured scholarly sources, equally well as the internet itself. While much was learned, no unmarried authority offered a clear answer; and then, with the support of known resource, besides as our ain decades of easily on, institutional knowledge, I'm going to address the common questions on the thing.

For those who don't want to stick around for the details, here's the TLDR (Too Long, Didn't Read) on all-time practices for storage and handling to preclude your syrup from spoiling:

Maple syrup will go bad if stored under improper conditions. To forbid spoilage, maple syrup should be stored in a absurd, nighttime location such as a closet, fridge, or freezer. In this manner, maple syrup can be safely kept for a year or more. Upon opening, shop your syrup container in the freezer or refrigerator, consume inside a year from the engagement of opening.

How long does maple syrup last?

Since 1946, when F.W. Hayward published his informative report from Cornell University, sugarmakers accept understood that syrup should be packaged hot, and stored under cool weather condition. No matter where y'all procure syrup from, if it isn't packaged hot (above a 180-caste F), but not too hot (I would recommend less than 195-degrees F), and into a clean container, no number of best practices recommended here will foreclose spoilage. Hayward's original experiment in 1946 but tested samples to seven months, but his findings were interesting, all the same.

Showtime, and arguably the well-nigh important indicate, is the effect of storage temperature. In the 1946 experiments, samples were stored at 34F, seventy-75F, and 100F. When the last measurements were taken at the stop of the 7-month trials, the syrup samples were 1.6 times darker at 100F, 1.2 times at seventy-75F, and no detectable darkening at 34F. In 1980, the Agricultural Experiment Station at the Academy of Vermont built upon these original findings. Their report ended through statistical assay that flavor changes were less discernable with darker grades compared to their lighter counterparts. Specifically, four of 36 taste panelists noted a difference in gustation for Very Dark Strong Taste syrup, compared to 18 of 36 for Amber Rich & Dark Robust Taste syrup. The grading arrangement was much different in 1980 than it is today, so I took the freedom of translating their results in mod terminology. If that didn't make any sense to you, the testing panel essentially concluded that storage temperatures had a greater upshot on calorie-free syrup compared to after season, nighttime syrup.

Less significant, but withal identifiable through assay, were the affects that storage container type has on syrup darkening. The same UVM study from 1980 reported that in descending club, syrup is best stored in glass, plastic, and so metal (normally tin). Tin has fallen out of style in the by few decades, for a number of reasons, not the least of which beingness negative flavor impacts. However, glass and plastic remain popular. Of the two, glass is less permeable to air and darkens significantly less than plastic. Plastic containers and their enclosures have modernized greatly in the forty years since this study'due south publication, modern plastics are much less permeable than their early cousins.

Which leads to the real problem, oxidation. Oxidation is not a unique phenomenon to maple syrup, but to about foods in general. A great manner to visualize this is to consider apples. When sliced and given a flake of time, apples will increasingly turn brown. The enzymes in the apple react with oxygen, converting the natural phenols into melanin, which is brown in color. Comparatively, this is remarkably similar to maple syrup, albeit at a much, much slower rate. The increased permeability of plastic enables oxygen to penetrate the syrup, this oxygen, combined with higher temperatures, speeds the oxidation procedure. Which explains why the 1980 UVM study recommends drinking glass every bit the preferred storage vessel for the maximum extension of maple syrup shelf life. Though, again, the drawbacks of plastic are minimal if you take our recommendations and shop your syrup in a cool place. Storing your syrup properly, and decision-making for temperature especially, your maple syrup should last upwardly to 2 years.

Does maple syrup need to be refrigerated?

Every bit is evident from the previous section, the uncomplicated answer is that yes, yous should admittedly refrigerate your syrup, especially later on opening. These reasons include everything I have already mentioned; but nosotros've nonetheless to address i of the other common ailments yous'll encounter over time, I'm referring to mold. The single biggest prevention technique for mold growth or spoilage is canning at high temperatures. For the consumer though, proper storage techniques are critical in ensuring maximum shelf life, especially after opening. Store your maple syrup in the fridge or freezer if you lot tin can!

The first reference of mold appearing in maple syrup occurred in the Botanical Gazette from 1908, F.L. Stevens, the author, doesn't delve also deep in the weeds, it's mostly 2 paragraphs noting that in that location are, in fact, molds that form on maple syrup. He closes with, "…the concentration of the saccharide solution in which the fungus was growing had little effect on the size of the spores or hyphae; and that ammonium nitrate can be used to a limited extent as a source of nitrogen". Fortunately, ammonium nitrate treatments are not the go to method for mold growth prevention in maple syrup!

My start insights every bit to the nature of mold in maple syrup were from a few years back, when I read Professor Kathie Hodge'due south Mushroom Blog on the subject area. The Cornell University professor provides a great fungus 101 about the type of mold that tin thrive and grow in the "harsh" environment provided by maple syrup. As I'm sure almost of you know, water is evaporated from maple syrup during the production process until a 66% saccharide content is accomplished. Believe information technology or not, most molds are unable to thrive in the "desert" surroundings of maple syrup, except for a certain type, called xerophiles. Professor Hodge explains that the blazon she encountered, chosen Wallemia sebi, is the type you would find on dried foods, such as nuts, berries, beef hasty, and the similar. Her fact canvass didn't incorporate whatever information on whether the mold, if consumed, posed any dangers to human being beings, and then the search continued…

To the International Journal of Indoor Environment and Health, besides called Indoor Air, which published a helpful piece on the subject field. Equally it turns out, Wallemia sebi is quite common in the dust of your house and doesn't seem to have a pregnant allergen causing component. The journals findings indicated that a mixture of allergens, rather than i individually, are likely to cause elevated chance of developing negative respiratory symptoms.

Mold Remedies

So, what does it all hateful? Our official recommendation if you observe mold in your long-term maple syrup reserve is to remain at-home. Remove the mold from the syrup with a spoon, and heat in a pot to 180-195 degrees F for 15 minutes. xv minutes will exist sufficient to neutralize any remaining fungal contamination. I would also recommend that you eolith your remaining syrup into a glass mason jar of some sort, one that you lot cleaned and sanitized before hand (boiling in water works fine, don't forget most the covers!). I'll finish with one boosted note, when pasteurizing your syrup, try to avoid reaching a boil, equally this volition cause minerals suspended in the syrup to precipitate and turn your syrup a chip cloudy (also called niter). This isn't going to affect the gustatory modality, but you lot may have a bit of sediment cooked to the bottom of your pan. In this case, apply white vinegar and hot water to remove.

I took the picture higher up as I was editing this blog, March 31, 2022 for those wondering. Both bottles were canned during the leap of 2000, 21 years ago with what was called Grade A Medium Bister at the time. Every bit you can come across, they've just darkened slightly over the past 20 years, sitting on a shelf in the sugarhouse at whatsoever room temperature was, flavour afterwards season. Furthermore, I needed a discipline to depict mold and the furnishings from the passage of time, and these old bottles were the perfect candidate. Thankfully, they delivered and were bang-up exhibits for all of our learning. I'grand not sure I'll be opening them up for pancakes in the coming weeks.

References (Those unable to exist Hyperlinked within the text)

Desroches, T. C, McMullin, D. R, & Miller, J. D. (2014). Extrolites of Wallemia sebi, a very common fungus in the built environs.Indoor Air,24(5), 533-542.

Stevens, F. (1908). Mold of Maple Syrup.Botanical Gazette,46(5), 392-393. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2467648

Frasz, S. L., & Miller, J. D. (2015). Fungi in Ontario maple syrup & some factors that determine the presence of mold damage.International Journal of Food Microbiology,207(0168-1605), 66-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.04.038

Hayward, F. Westward. (1946).The storage of maple sirup (719). Cornell University. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112019762571

Morselli, M. F., & Sendak, P. E. (1980).Maple syrup containers: effect of storage on the stability of three table grades (vi). Agricultural Experiment Station, Academy of Vermont.

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