Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-21
TALK ON MAPLE SUGAR
A Food Product Impossible
to Initiate.
CHIEF CHEMIST WILEY
TELLS WHY ADULTERATIONS
MAY BE DETECTED.
It's Peculiar Flavor Cannot Be Pro.
duced by Artificial Means-The
Pure Article, However, Rare.

| iC aiI2SAC, x1oWSFci, ISdIC.
Maple sugar is one of the few food prod
| ucts whose flavor 1T has been found i'm
| possible to initiate by artificial means. Ow-
| ing to the very limited supply of maple
| sap and the general and growing demand
| for maple sugar and syrup every effort has
| been made to initiate the maple flavor, but
| without success. DIR. II. w. Wiley chief
| o. the bureau of chemistry of the Agricul
| tLral Department, was talking with Star
man not long ago about the maple sugar
| industry and some of his remarks are worth
recording.
The high price of maple sugar and
syrup said DR.. Wiley, has rendered the
adulteratng of these articles extremely
reniunerative. These products are not val
liable alone for their sweetening power nor
| for their nutritive value, but especially be-
| cause they contain certain aromatic and
! continental bodies which impart to them
| an agreeable flavor. Moreover, this is
| flavor which has not yet been successfully
| initiated by any artificial means. although
| many attempts have been made to produce,
| artificial1y and synthetically, these favor
Ing matters.
THE exact chemical composition of the
| peculiar favoring of the maple is not
| known, though it is probably ether or
| aldehyde possessing a high boiling point.
| Some of the f1avoring matters present in
| tn, natural sap of the maple tree, how
ever, are volatile, is shown by the
| strongly aromatic odors pervading the air
| In the vicinity of a maple-sugar factory.
The residual faVorS, however, evidently
| have boiling point considerably above that
OF boiling water since they not entirely
removed from the product at the tempera
| ture at which the sugar and molasses are
made. Detection of this fiavoring matter
by chemical means has, up to the present
| time, baffled the skill of the chemist and
| for this reason the taste of the expert has
| been relied upon almost solely to distin-
| guish between the genuine and the adu-
| terated article in cases where the adulter-
ant is cane sugar. Thus it is apparent that
| pure cane sugar can be utilized to a GER
| tain extent in the adulteration of maple
products without certainty of detection.
The havor1ng matters appear to reside
chiefy In the molasses or semilquid parts
of the maple product, and for this reason
the refining of maple sugar to a perfectly
dry. white crystalline mass would deprive
1t of the chief of it's properties upon which
its high market value depends.
The Most Common Adulterant.
One of the most common adulterants
which has hitherto been used in the adul-
teration of maple syrup is glucose under
standing by this term the liquil product of
the conversion of starch into sugar. 1t Is
also well known that large quantities of
maple syrups are sold on the market which
are fabrications of other sweets, to which
a little maple molasses is added for the
purpose of giving them flavor, or, as Is
often the case, being entirely free from
any addition of maple product whatever
The maple flavor is said to be impaired to
syrups by mixing with them an extract
OF hickory bark, and this product has been
made and sold under the term mapeine."
1t Is safe to say that perhaps the greater
quantity of maple molasses or syrup on the
market is adulterated in the true sense of
the word. These definitions, however,
only of a popular nature and syrup with
out further definition can not be said to
be adulterated, legally, unless some statute
Is enacted establishing standard by which
these products can be judged
I'm regard to glucose it may be said that
its presence in moasses syrup Is an
adulteration unless the article containing
1t is distinctly so marked. few years
ago, when sugars, SyrupS and molasSeS
Were higher priced than they now, the
manufacture of syrups from glucose was
very profitable. The price of genuine
lasses and syrups, however, has at the
present day fallen so low as to make the
use of glucose for the above purpose much
less profitable than before At the present
time the use of glucose in the manufacture
of molaSSeS and syrupS cannot be said to
be fraud, If properly labeled. In this coun-
try glucose is made chiefly from Indian
corn, and the high price of this product
makes glucose cost almost as much as the
other materials of which ordinary molasseS
and syrups are made.
The Pure Article Scarce.
IF the pure article of maple syrup or
sugar be obtained when purchased at ran
dom, it is by accident, rather than by inten-
ton. Whatever may be the condition of the
products when they leave the manufactur-
ers in Vermont New York, Ohio or Canada,
| 1t is evident that all that part which goes
into general commerce is subject to ex-
| tensive authorizations. Only that part which
enters domestic commerce, that IS sold d.
recty by the manufacturer to the con-
| sumner, can be considered above suspicion.
1T is evident that the adulteration of
maple syrup is practiced to an enormous
| extent 1t is doubtful If more than five
per cent of the amount sold in this country
| is the genuine article. 1t is evident that
the makers of the genuine article
forced into competition with these extensive
authorizations, thus lowering the legitimate
| price. Every grove of maple trees in the
United States would be worth great deal
more to it's owner If the state and national
laws should be SO framed to eradicate
| this great evil. Such laws would permit
| the sale of these mixed goods under their
proper names, and thus protect both the
manufacturer and consumer"