Mold in Maple Syrup: What should you do?

You’ve spent weeks collecting, cooking, and preserving sap to make maple syrup. A few months later, you go to open one of your jars and you find mold floating in the maple syrup. What should you do? This post will dive deeper into this topic and answer that question (and more!).

Can maple syrup go bad?

Maple syrup that is sealed and packaged correctly can last for many, many years. In fact, some places will even go so far to say it will never spoil due to the high concentration of sugar! I know this is true from experience! When I was a kid, my whole family got together to make maple syrup. After completing the harvest, the syrup was stored in the family’s basement for years. About 15 years later, I opened up a jar of that old maple syrup to see what it would look and taste like. Low and behold, it was just as delicious as the day it was poured into the jar. We used that jar (and the rest of the jars) to create maple sugar to use on our homestead. We haven’t gotten sick, and haven’t worried about it either.

What is floating in my maple syrup?

More than likely the thing floating in your maple syrup is mold. A rare type of fungus, called xerophile, is happy to make its home in your maple syrup if it hasn’t been processed correctly. These xerophiles can only grow in dry places, which makes them different from many other types of molds. But wait- you say, isn’t maple syrup liquid? Well, yes, technically it is. But the high amount of sugar content within the syrup whisks away the water from the cells, making it the ideal home for unsealed, room temperature maple syrup.

What does maple syrup mold look like?

Oftentimes the mold on maple syrup looks like a cream/gray colored cloud floating towards the top of your syrup jar. Sometimes it’s really obvious that it’s mold and other times you might wonder if you accidentally just dropped a small little piece of something in the jar. Maple syrup should be clear, so if you see a cloud-like substance floating towards the top, you’ve probably just found mold.

Why does maple syrup mold?

In order for mold to grow, they will need food, some water, oxygen, and warmth. If you properly seal your jars after placing your harvested maple syrup into them, oxygen will not be able to get into the jars and mold will not be able to grow. However, if you do not have a proper seal, oxygen will be able to get into the jars allowing mold to start to form. If you store the unsealed jars on a pantry shelf, this also encourages the mold to grow as this mold loves dry, warm conditions.

This is what happened with us. When I got our finished maple syrup to the house, it had already began to cool. When I poured it into the jars, it didn’t get a good enough seal and oxygen leaked into the jars as they sat in the basement. The presence of oxygen and the dark warm basement where the syrup proved to be a great habitat for the mold to grow.

You should always store open/unsealed jars of maple syrup in the refrigerator. The cold temperatures helps to prevent and inhibit mold growth. The cold discourages the mold and can prevent it from growing.

How do I prevent mold from growing in my maple syrup?

The best preservation technique is to freeze the syrup. But, if you make large quantities to have for the whole year, like our family does, then waterbath canning the maple syrup is a great way to use heat and sealing to prevent mold spore growth. Processing the jars for 5-7 minutes should do the trick to keeping mold spores from living to make trouble in your finished maple syrup.

Is mold in maple syrup dangerous?

There are some mixed reviews about whether or not moldy maple syrup is dangerous. According to Epler’s Maple Syrup, the mold is non-toxic and can just be removed, cooked, and then used as normal. Other people disagree and warn against using maple syrup that had mold in it. They state that simply removing the floating mold does not remove enzymes and toxins that may have been released into the syrup. The choice is ultimately yours. We have skimmed mold off of maple syrup and then used it with no issues. Others online have reported stomach cramping and nausea. Now, it is now not recommended to skim the maple syrup mold and use it as usual. The new recommendation is to throw out the batch of maple syrup that has mold.

How do you remove mold from maple syrup?

If you do choose to remove maple syrup that has had mold growth on it, you’ll want to skim the mold out of the maple syrup, then boil the syrup for about 5 minutes. Return the maple syrup to a new, sterilized and clean jar and store it in the refrigerator. Use as usual. **Remember this does carry risks, so please use this method with caution and at your own discretion.

What happens if you eat “bad” maple syrup?

Odds are you’d probably be ok if you removed the mold from the maple syrup, boiled it, and then consumed it. However, this is no longer the recommended course of action. You can find lots of detailed information about why this is no longer recommended advice and more information on mold growth at cooksinfo.com.

Interested in making maple syrup?

Learn how to start small batch maple syrup making in this post here!.

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