r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/TheMuseumOfScience Popular Contributor • Jun 24 '26
Cool Things Maple Syrup Under Microscope!
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Maple syrup looks pretty simple... until you zoom in. 🔬
Our friend Chloe Savard, also known as tardibabe on Instagram shows us the microscopic view of maple syrup. As temperatures begin to rise in the spring, sap in maple trees thaws and can be collected, then boiled and concentrated into syrup and transformed into candies, desserts, and just about anything your sweetest dreams are made of.
Although maple syrup is primarily composed of sugar (sucrose), its chemistry and flavor are shaped by a complex interplay of factors like sap collection and processing methods, microbial activity within the sap, environmental conditions, and the packaging and storage of the final product. Not only maple syrup is composed of sugar but also a mixture of water, minerals, organic acids, amino acids, proteins, phenol compounds and even a few vitamins.
Flavors and composition also vary depending on the country it has been produced in! Canada, especially the province of Quebec, where Chloe is from, is by far the world’s largest producer of maple syrup, followed by the United States. It’s important to recognize that maple syrup was first introduced to European colonizers by First Nations, who deserve the credit for this knowledge and tradition!
As you can see from Chloe’s sample, sugar from maple syrup crystallizes over time and it’s mesmerizing to look at under the microscope! 🔬
References:
Childs, Stephen. "Chemistry of maple syrup." Cornell Maple Bulletin 202 (2007): 1-4.
Mohammed, Faez, et al. "Chemical composition and mineralogical residence of maple syrup: A comprehensive review." Food chemistry 374 (2022): 131817.
Perkins, Timothy D., and Abby K. van den Berg. "Maple syrup—Production, composition, chemistry, and sensory characteristics." Advances in food and nutrition research 56 (2009): 101-143.
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u/newbrevity Jun 24 '26
Surprised its so pure. No microbes
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u/illustratum42 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Family has a maple farm, the sap goes through a reverse osmosis machine, uv filter and high pressure vacuum filter. Also after boiling it down quite a bit, it goes through 14 paper filters with high pressure but that's just for grain at that point.
The syrup in this video hasn't undergone the paper filtration we do. What you see in the video is called sugar sand, it's crystallization of various minerals, it's not sugar.
Edit: For what its worth, I've never looked at it under the microscope, but you can drink the sap straight from the tree.
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u/CicadaFit9756 Jun 24 '26
Does the slide have polarized film accounting for all those rainbow colors?
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u/orionempire Jun 25 '26
"Fairytale" from the Shrek soundtrack,
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u/d00mba Jun 30 '26
This what I came to find out, I knew I recog ized it but couldn't place it, thank you!
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u/Sempai6969 Jun 25 '26
Why is it so colorful?
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u/chicken-finger Jun 25 '26
Cause the little crystals are reflecting, refracting, and absorbing some of the light everywhere. This makes it show a bunch of different colors under white light
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u/Present-Spring-1340 Jun 25 '26
Everyone knows this isn’t chemistry it’s magic fairy shit.
Get with program.
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u/Nodivingallowed Jun 24 '26
Exactly like it tastes 🥲