The Taste of Sweet Success

He was about to attend the University of Manitoba, but a phone call altered Jose’s future.

As a young boy growing up in Colombia, Eloy Jose Torres Garcia’s (Honours Bachelor of Applied Technology Biotechnology 2019) curiosity about the world led him to pose the question of why.

I loved exploring and it was always my dream to do cool science research that could help people,” Jose says.

After moving to Canada, he had his sights set on studying at the University of Manitoba, but a friend suggested Jose look at what Fanshawe College had to offer.

Fanshawe’s Biotechnology degree program offers a blend of different science disciplines, which piqued Jose’s interest. After speaking with Cheryl Ketola, coordinator of the program, he applied and was accepted.

Jose was selected by Professor Ketola to be a research fellow with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Maple Syrup Association to help solve a centuries-long problem called buddy off-flavour.

Eloy Jose Torres Garcia

Buddy off-flavour is an annual, natural occurrence at the end of the maple sap harvest, where syrup produced acquires an unpleasant aroma and flavour that has a lingering aftertaste. It is difficult to predict when the buddy off-flavour will occur.

“It takes nearly 40 or 50 litres to make just one litre of maple syrup,” Jose explains. “Collecting and boiling the sap is hard work and producers have no idea the sap will be buddy until it’s boiled. That costs a lot of work and money, especially if you’re a small producer—and that matters.”

In early spring, the amount of sugar in the sap is higher and takes a shorter amount of time to boil. But by the end of the syrup season, the trees are awakening from their winter dormancy. The awakening produces an increase of active molecules that contain nitrogen and sulphur. Then, the low amount of sugar increases the boil time to produce the syrup and the spike in the chemical reaction causes the buddy off-flavour.

We are trying to establish a chemical profile of maple sap so producers can use a field test to give a signal for buddy—similar to a pregnancy test,” Jose says.

While balancing his biotechnology studies and research was challenging, Jose believes the hands on aspect of the program gives graduates a huge advantage. “When you get into the field, you already know the kinds of chemical and microbiology exercises you need to do,” he explains. “So you know the theoretical knowledge and how to apply it.”

The research was funded by the Ontario Maple Syrup Association and Mitacs, a national, not-for-profit organization that supports industrial and social innovation in Canada.