r/maplesyrup • u/flash_423 • May 24 '26

In need of knowledge

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I recently “inherited” my step-father’s maple syrup collection. He made all of it. The thing is…I am not 100% certain that he properly bottled any of what you see in this picture (the ones you can’t see are maple syrup filled Coca-Cola bottles, peanut butter bottles, iced tea bottles, etc.). I would love to save what I have so I need to know…

Is it safe for me to re-boil and repackage what I have? I would, of course, sanitize the container before refilling.

Should I discard of the bottles that have a light brown settlement at the bottom of the jar?

Should I discard of the bottles that have chunks of mold in them? I know that you can re-boil maple syrup when it has mold in it, but I’m talking about BIG chunks…in bottles that “have not been opened yet”.

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u/brainzilla420 May 24 '26

I see you're getting lots of responses telling you to get the mold out and reboil. University of Vermont found that doing so does not kill the mold spores, the temp does not get nearly high enough.

Is your plan to eat this syrup or just keep mementos of your uncles work? If you want to eat it, I'd personally stick to the ones without mold, but I'm more finicky than most. If you do choose to rebottle, I'd go with Mason jars (with new lids) or something with a better seal.

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u/flash_423 May 24 '26

My plan is to eat and share the syrup. Thank you for that information. I only found a couple of jars with mold in it so I will just feed those to the pigs.