Not a hint of smoke, but burp smoke rings taste. Got it from a friend who started making it a couple years ago. Bad evaporator setup, green wood, something else?

cooked over an open fire?

Wood fire for sure. Haven't seen his set up though.

Wouldn't think open fire would cause it unless ventilation was poor.

I really don't know...it tastes like it was infused with liquid smoke. Another guy I was talking to thought it might have been a green wood fire that did it ???

We use an old oil tank as the burner base for ours and best using maple and oak, mostly maple. The open fire gives it a smokey flavor. The smoke flows all out and around it while it boils.

Growing up as a kid, all of our maple syrup was smoky. What I make now has no smoky flavor to it.

Dad boiled his in a large open pan, over an open fire. Smoke, ash, embers... anything and everything went into the pan.

I boil mine over an arch type boiler. My "arch" is my woodstove in the basement. The key is that the smoke is vented via a chimney out and away. Only thing that affects the boil is the heat.

Smoky flavor comes from a smoky fire.

Sounds like he burnt a batch.

No, it's not burnt. Just really smokey. Most of the syrup made by other friends is over a wood fire, so there's always a little smoke taste, which is fine by me. I've helped collect and boil a few times and smoke and ashes and all that are part of the deal. Strain it thru milk bags and its fine. Maybe like RKG said all it is is from a really smokey fire. Not the best on vanilla ice cream, but it's going to make a great BBQ sauce

I was told by an old timer who made 100's of gallons a year over wood it is from overheating while boiling. Sugar in solution burns even though it doesn't show. Severe overheating will darken color as well.

Yep that's what can happen.

In the South, we cook Brunswick Stew outside in an iron kettle over an open fire. Sometimes it is smokey, and sometimes it is not. I like a little smoke flavor in my stew.

No experience with maple syrup. A small college in my county makes a batch of walnut syrup. I’d like to get on their list this year.

I fell asleep once while finishing off a batch of syrup out in the maple woods. Acess to this maple woods was tricky as you had to cross lowlands to get to the woods. I found it was easier to haul firewood into the woods while the ground was still frozen than it was to try and haul the sap out when the trees where running and the ground was turned to mush. Well this particular year I had run low on dry wood and the ground had alreagy turned so i didnt have a good way to haul more in. I was trying to make due with what i had and this batch in particular seemed to be taking a lot longer...it got to be around 3:00 in the morning and i Thought it might be a good idea to rest my head just for a few minutes on the forest floor while it finished cooking down. Big mistake !!! I can still remember shooting up from a deep sleep to the sweet smell of burning syrup. One third of the pan had gone dry and started to burn, hence the strong burnt carmel smell that had awoken me from my slumber.

I remember my grandfather alwayss telling me that if you let a pan go dry you run the risk of ruining the pan to warpage and the whole batch would have to be thrown out as well from being burnt. So naturally after the all the work and time put in at this point I was pretty beside myself . There was dark chunks of black burnt sugar/ charcoal looking residue on the dry side of the pan. I thought for sure that the whole batch was ruined but couldnt bear to throw it out with at least trying to salvage it. Long story short after filtering it turned it just fine. It had a strong smoky undertone to it however it was none the less absolutely delicious!

Just a thought but perhaps they weren’t paying close enough attention ( or fell asleep!! ) but maybe they let the pan get a-little low and burn down too much l hence the smoky flavor?

LOL

Ya think???

If it aint burnt its scorched if it tastes smoky. I know firsthand

Black Walnut is similar to maple in sugar content and flavor. Of the several species of sap that I have made syrup from Birch is the only one that I can tell from maple but it doesn't run as much here and take 100 gl sap/ 1gl syrup.