Bottle your maple syrup : Get it right!
Your maple syrup is precious. It deserves to be stored properly so it retains its healthful properties—if it doesn’t make it to the table right away, of course!
Several packaging options are available to stave off syrup’s two worst enemies: light and oxygen.
You need only follow a few basic rules to keep your high-quality syrup stable until it’s opened. The details of theprocess are important.
1. Make sure the inside of the container is clean. The syrup’s temperature must reach 85 °C (185 °F). It can be hard to handle boiling and putting in bottle at the same time. One alternative is to boil the syrup first and deal with bottle later. Just reheat the syrup to 85 °C (185 °F) again, but don’t exceed that temperature as it could alter the syrup’s colour and taste and may precipitate its minerals, which means you’ll have to filter the syrup again.
2. The syrup must reach at least 66° Brix to prevent fermentation. However, it’s best not to exceed 67° Brix, or the sugar may crystallize.
3. Once the container is sealed, it must be turned upside down or on its side for a few minutes to sterilize inside the lid. Turning it upside down also allows you to check the container’s seal.
4. The next step is to cool your syrup. Leaving a space between the containers or placing them in a cold water bath will do the trick. The idea is to prevent the temperature from rising and to let it fall as quickly as possible instead.
5. To make sure your syrup is at its best, the container must be impeccably clean. Dunking them in a water bath helps remove any syrup residue from the outsides of the container. Even if you don’t immerse them in water, you still need to make sure the outside is clean.
Did you know…
…a new image for the cans available in Canada has recently been launched (see image below)? Wanting to offer not one, but two distinctive and current designs, we worked with two Canadian artists to create the visuals for the regular and organic cans. After much research, our choice fell on Christine Genest and Annie Carbonneau for their colorful and unique style.
We wanted the artists to draw on their memories and echo those of the maple syrup producers, but above all, those of the syrup consumers! We are convinced that the values conveyed by these visuals, their bright colors and their characters will stand out on the shelves!
