Maple Sugar Sweetness Scale
Sucrose concentration in sap is usually about 2% by weight, although this varies from tree to tree and ranges from 1% to over 4%. Bascom Family Farms maple sugar is made by boiling the sap until it becomes increasingly more concentrated and sweeter right up to the point where the liquid has completely evaporated. When completely dry, maple sugar is microcrystalline material that is 90 – 95% sucrose, 3-8% invert sugar and 2% ash with a light brown color and characteristic maple flavor. In order of sweetness, sucrose is less sweet than fructose and sweeter than glucose. In comparison to white refined sugar, maple sugar is approximately twice as sweet. However, since the production of maple sugar is almost exclusively created by this process of boiling, it is one of the world’s least refined sweeteners.
