Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
This invention rela-tes -to a process for improving the
flavor of buddy maple sirup and more particularly, to ~ process
for removing the off-flavor usually found in maple syrlp prepared
from buddy maple sap.
Maple sap collected late in the season as the trees begin
to bud produces sirup that has an objectionable flavor which makes '
it unpalatable. This sirup is commonly called "buddy". When a
producer notes the appearance of buddy sap, he stops collecting it.
However, some trees may produce buddy sap earlier than other trees
in the same general locality, thereby contaminating good sap. If
sirup made from contaminated sap is of such quality as to be un-
marketable,'the contamination represents a substantial economic loss
.
, to the producer. In order to avoid such contamination and its
attendant economic loss, maple sirup producers have an urgent need
for a direct process for removing off-flavors in sirup made from
~, buddy sap.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide
a simple, easily applied process for removing off-flavors from sirups
made from buddy maple sap.
~ Another object is to provide a process for removing
'~ off-flavors from sirups made from maple sap contaminated with buddy
sap.
Still another object is to provide maple sirup producers
~, with a means of extending the sap collecting season.
A still further object is to provide maple sirup producers
with a means of avoiding financial disaster caused by the production
of unpalatable sirup.
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According to the present invention the above objects
are accomplishes by a process wherein maple sirup made from buddy
sap or from good sap contaminated with buddy sap is passed or trick-
led through a bed or column of ion exchange resin and the effluent
neutralized and concentrated, if necessary, to the proper density.
Although maple sirup producers have encountered the off-
flavor problem for many, many years, there is currently only one
method available for removing this so-called buddy flavor from the
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sirup. The method involves fermentation of the sirup with the micro-
organism, Pse _ omonas geniculata. However, this process is too com-
' plex and expensive for general commercial usage.
In the process of the present invention, cation or anion-
exchange resins, singly or in series, may be used. When the resin
J`, is exhausted it can be ~egener~ted and reused. In order to serve
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the purpose of the invention, the cation must be in the H+ form and
the anion resin must be in the OH form. The process is applicable
to both undiluted and aqueous diluted maple sirup. Dilutions of
1:0.2, 1:1, and 1:3, maple sirup:water, have been used successfully
with this invention.
p The rationale for the success of this invention is not
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known and much work would be required to determine why it works.
Maple sap contains mostly sucrose with trace amounts of fructose,
glucose, malic acid and amino acids. The nature and number of -
amino acids is not known. Presumably, when sap is sub,jected to ~;
~ prolonged heating in order to make sirup, chemical reactions occur
i`;3 and products other than those found in the original sap are formed. ~~ -
;l The nature of these reactions and of the products formed has not j ~-
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been determined. ~ ;
While working on this problem I found that the process,
in addition to removing off-flavor, also removes amino acids from
~ the sirup. However, I also found that the amount of amino acids ~` -
.j, removed from various sirups varies widely and that the amount re-
' moved does not affect the removal of off-flavors, adversely or other-
wise. Consequently, I have concluded that although my process removes
at least some of the amino acids from the
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sirup, the success of the process in removing off-flavor does
not depend on the removal of all or any particular amount of `
amino acids. In other wordsremoval of amino acids from the
sirup is not essential to the success of my process.
The invention is illustrated by the following examples.
Example I
Buddy maple sirup, diluted 1 part sirup plus 1 part water, was run~
through a one-inch glass column containing 150ml~ of a cation ;~
resin consisting of a sulfonated copolymer of styrene and di-
vinyl benzene at the rate of 150 ml. per 4 minutes. Each 150
ml. of effluent was neutralized to pH 6.5 to 7.0 and evapora-
ted to a sirup of 66 Brix. Sirups made from effluents 1 to
1~ were free of off-flavor. Sirup made from effluent 19 was
not free of o~f-flavor which indicated that the resin was sa-
turated. The resin was regenerated with dilute HCl and reused
with similar results. Two other cation exchange resins each
of which is a sulfonated copolymer of styrene and divinyl ben-
zene, produced similar results.
Example II
Buddy mapli sirup was diluted 1 part sirup plus 1 part ~ -
water and run through a one-inch glass oolumn containing 150
ml. of an anion resin consisting of a polymer of trimethyl-
benzyl ammonium, at the rate of 150 ml. per 4 minutes. ~ach
150 ml. sample of effluent was neutralized to pH 6.5 ~o 7.0
and evaporated to a sirup of 66 Brix. Sirups made from ef-
fluents 1 to 20 were free of off-flavor. Sirups from follow~
ing effluents were not free of off-flavor indicating the resin
was saturated after the 20th effluent. The column was regene-
rated with dilute NaOH and reused. Two other anion resins
both of which are quaternary ammonium copol~mers of styrene
and divinyl benzene, gave si~ilar results. i
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Example III
Buddy sirup was diluted 1 part sirup plus 1 part of
water and run through a one-inch glass column containing
150 ml. of the anion resin of Example II and then through a
one-inch glass column containing 150 ml. of the cation re-
sin of Example I, ` .
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The percolation rate was 150 ml. per 4 minutes. Although ;
the capacity of these two resins in series was only slightly better
than either of the reslns used singly, other combinations of resins
may prove to be far more effective than either one of the resins
used singly. A]so~ some buddy sirups may require the use of such a
system, that is, an anion exchange resin and a cation exchage resin,
or vice versa, in series, in order to remove all of the unpalatable
of-f-flavor.
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