OTTAWA, Ont.—Buddy Sap is a mystery to many maple producers.

You can’t see it, and you often can’t smell or taste it at the sap stage.

Only after investing considerable effort and energy into boiling it down to syrup does the off flavor become apparent. Sometimes it takes on a burnt “Tootsie Roll” flavor. 

Now an Ontario research team from Carlton University in Ottawa is developing a test strip to detect buddy sap.

Shahad Abdulmawjood, a Carlton University PhD candidate in chemistry, working with more than a dozen Ontario maple producers, conducted a trial this season of the first prototype buddy sap test kit. 

The test uses a solution and a test strip.  

These kits have the capability to detect characteristic amino acids unique to late season sap.   

The strip is placed in the sap sample and left for two minutes, after which one or two lines will appear. 

One line indicates it's buddy and can’t be turned into maple syrup.

Two lines indicate the sap sample is clear. 

All sugarmakers participating in the trials received several sample tests during this past 2024 maple season to detect when maple sap becomes buddy.

This could help prevent thousands of gallons of maple sap and maple syrup from going down the drain.

In the past, the legend for maple syrup producers was to rely on tricks like watching for bud development on the trees, listening for the peeper frogs in the swamps or watching the pussywillows. 

These homespun methods or tales have provided some direction, but the introduction of the new test strip kits offers a more scientific and reliable approach.

The strips were developed by Abdulmawjood and her team at the Laboratory for Aptamer Discovery and Development of Emerging Research (LADDER) at Carleton.

The LADDER team has conducted studies in the field in the Ottawa Valley region along with a few in the Grey -Bruce region of Southern Ontario. 

Early data emerging from the ongoing trials showcases promising results, with the buddy test strips proving to be user-friendly for maple producers.

Moving forward, the Carleton researchers plan to conduct further experiments on the sampled sap to deepen their analysis and refine the test kits.

The research team aims to distribute the updated test kits more broadly in 2025. 

The North American Maple Syrup Council’s Research Fund awarded a $25,000 grant to Carleton University for the project.

Following the grant announcement, the Carlton University team diligently conducted robustness testing, focusing on ambient temperature, sugar content in preparation for the 2024 field trails.