Maple Syrup Taste of Place

OVERVIEW

Terroir (French for "the taste of place") implies that a food product is intimately linked to the place where it is produced. Our overall goal in this project is to determine if the chemistry and taste of maple syrup is impacted by where the maple trees are growing (bedrock type, soil composition, weather, elevation, latitude) and how the maple syrup is produced. Work on this project began in 2005, when I was an undergraduate student at Middlebury College.

During the last year of my undergraduate degree, my advisor Jeff Munroe and I had the opportunity to go to Washington DC and present our research to members of Congress, including Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (April 2007).

Volunteers participate in a "double-blind" maple syrup taste test at the Middlebury College Student Research Symposium (April 2007). We were testing whether tasters could distinguish between maple syrups produced from different geological environments.

Amy Trubek's 2008 book explores the "taste of place" and chronicles our journey to understand the terroir of maple syrup.

CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

Corbett, L.B. 2007. Vermont terroir: investigating the relationship between maple syrup chemistry and bedrock lithology. Posters on the Hill, Washington DC. Council on Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill Abstracts, 11: 33.

Corbett, L.B., Almena-Aliste, M., Munroe, J.S., Elder, J.C., and Trubek, A.B. 2007. Vermont terroir: Investigating the relationship between the sensory properties of maple syrup and the bedrock type on which the maple trees grow. Institute of Food Technologists National Meeting, Chicago, IL. Institute of Food Technologists 2007 Annual Meeting Book of Abstracts.

Corbett, L.B. and Munroe, J.S. 2006. Vermont terroir: investigating the relationship between maple syrup chemistry and bedrock lithology. Geological Society of America National Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 38(7): 357.