Academic Consortium Publications for January 2025

The preeminent tree for making maple syrup is, of course, sugar maple (Acer saccharum). But perhaps after drenching pancakes in this delicious sweet sauce many thousands of times, the thought arises: is there another sticky liquid that also tastes good? A recent publication by Ann E. Colonna, Eric T. Jones, and Kent Wheiler proposes the answer might be Yes, thanks to the fluid of a related tree species identified in the manuscript title: “Consumers' sensory assessments of bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) syrup give way to a promising artisan industry”. Products evaluated were 10 bigleaf and 2 sugar maple syrups, plus 1 imitation maple syrup. Consumers tasted and evaluated each sample by indicating their hedonic response and using check-all-that-apply questions to characterize the sample, then later ranked purchase motivations for maple syrups. The most-liked products were two bigleaf maple syrups. Penalty analysis showed maple, caramel, brown sugar, sweet, and buttery were associated with increased liking and strong flavor with decreased liking. Consumers sought locally sourced/produced syrup and sensory appeal. Tap this article and other January publications by members of the Compusense Academic Consortium members here.