A team of researchers at Carleton University is hoping a test they’ve developed to detect “buddy” sap will stick, saving maple syrup producers from making products that can’t be sold.
Shahad Abdulmawjood, one of the PhD students on the team, helped develop the test, which is similar to a COVID test or a pregnancy test. One line indicates a negative, or in this case the presence of “buddiness,” and two lines indicate a positive, giving maple producers the all-clear to boil the sap.
Abdulmawjood said bad or “buddy” sap is hard to detect until it’s been harvested and boiled down – at which point, it’s too late.
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“Through my talks with the producers, this has been a long problem they’ve been facing. When the (buddy) sap has been boiled to syrup, it will produce this unpleasant taste and smell. It’s not commercial anymore,” Abdulmawjood said.
She said maple producers have been wasting time and money trying to guess whether a batch of maple sap will end up “buddy,” relying on their neighbours’ experiences and natural indicators such as the presence of snakes, frogs and birds.
“Many people rely on animals. A couple of them told me about the appearance of snakes, spring peepers and even the chirping of some birds. When they hear them, they’re like, ‘Oh, the season is getting too close to the end, maybe we should be careful with our syrup and not bother going through (harvesting and boiling).’ Some of them were looking for something scientific and that’s how we came in,” she said.
Once the tests are ready for market use, Abdulmawjood said the hope is that they will boost the maple syrup economy – one of Canada’s major assets.
In 2023, Canada produced 71 per cent of the world’s maple syrup, with nearly 91 per cent of that being made in Quebec, according to a report by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
“Especially with the (U.S.) tariffs, I would say that this will improve the economy for the maple (industry). If we produce more maple (syrup) and we make sure it’s good quality, I see it as an opportunity to increase Canada’s economy,” Abdulmawjood said.
It will also “ease the lifestyle of the producers,” she added.
“It will save (producers) so much time and effort by not having to go through all the steps (with no viable product at the end). A lot of them complained about how hard it is to clean out (the equipment) after sap has gone buddy. The smell will stick in the (sap) lines, their pipes, their system,” she said.
In the final year of her chemistry PhD, she’s been part of the team researching a solution to this issue for about a year, after chatting with Maria DeRosa, her supervisor and chemistry professor at Carleton.
“I wanted to do my PhD and this was one of the projects. The minute I heard it was a project related to maple syrup, I was like, ‘Can I have that one?’ It’s a good opportunity for me to learn something new and also get into food detection,” she said.
When Abdulmawjood immigrated to Canada 12 years ago from Iraq, she had never tasted maple syrup but fell in love with it as soon as she did, leading to her decision to take on the project.
The prototype kits are currently being tested by seven maple farms across Ontario. Abdulmawjood said she met the producers through the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association and North American Maple Syrup Council, the project’s funding agencies.
“(Four of the seven farms) were working with my collaborator (Justin Renaud) and the other three (we met when) we were invited by the same organization to give a talk at one of their events. I met so many producers that day,” she said.
Abdulmawjood said she hopes to optimize the test kits and have them market-ready in two to three years.
