Disclaimer: The findings discussed are lab based and further studies need to be done.

Powdered maple syrup? Is that even possible?

Maple syrup is a popular natural sweetener in North America. In the past, sugar maple and red maple were used by the Native Americans in traditional medicine. Today, sugar maple and red maple contribute to the Candian economy tremendously through the wide distribution of maple syrup across America, especially in the Northern region.

Maple syrup contributes 494 million dollars to the Canadian economy. Although the maple syrup industry is a successful business in Canada, it faces the big challenge of high quantities of surplus, in 2017 surplus quantity estimated to be 38% of annual syrup production. 

In order to find a solution to this issue, scientists decided to develop a different form of maple syrup that could be appealing to consumers, powdered maple syrup. In order to create this, maple syrup was placed in heated metal drums with internal vacuums. Drums would then rotate at high speed to produce the end result, dried maple syrup with evenly distributed components. Dried maple syrup was then scraped off the drums by built-in scrapers. Each experiment was conducted three times each. 

The production of powdered maple gives an alternative use to maple syrup, and it would find a great solution to the high surplus quantities. This product demonstrates great promise in instant foods, and as a new ingredient.

Reference: Bhatta, S., Ratti, C., & Stevanovic, T. (2019). Impact of drying processes on properties of polyphenol‐enriched maple sugar powders https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpe.13239 https://web.uri.edu/maple/impact-of-drying-processes-on-properties-of-polyphenol%E2%80%90enriched-maple-sugar-powders/