Late-season off-flavor impacts on consumer acceptance and perceived product value of maple syrup

Maple Syrup is an important agroforestry product in New York State (U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2017), produced from the sap of maple trees in late winter-early spring. Climate change has compressed the sap harvesting season due to increased average temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events, increasing tree stress and the potential for microbiological spoilage during sap collection and processing, that lead to off-flavor development. Our research objective was to determine consumer acceptance and perceived product value of maple syrup with a range of off-flavors. Twelve maple syrup products including those with common flavor defects, Grade A, "buddy", "sour," and "dark/acrid" types, produced in NY State across the maple sap collection season were evaluated by trained descriptive panel (n = 9) to produce detailed sensory profiles. Samples were also evaluated by 85 consumers in a two-session sequential monadic acceptance test to generate consumer perceptions and hedonic scores. We found the samples exhibited a broad range of descriptive sensory profiles. Overall liking was strongly correlated with Flavor Liking, Maple Flavor intensity and its Perceived Value. While certain off-flavor categories did have negative effects on consumer acceptance, there was a broad range of descriptive sensory profiles beyond the Grade A "gold standard" that were well received by consumers and could be a source of further value than is currently understood. Therefore, we conclude that some maple syrup products outside of the currently defined "gold standard" sensory profile may still be effectively marketed to consumers.