Near the end of every maple syrup harvest season, the syrup can acquire an unpalatable off-flavour called ?buddy?. Buddy flavor cannot be detected in the maple sap prior to processing into syrup, often resulting in loss of income, and unnecessary cost in materials to produce the syrup. This proposal seeks to develop a low-cost field test to be used by maple syrup producers for the detection of compounds that are linked to the development of the buddy flavor. This will be accomplished by developing special receptors, known as aptamers, for these compounds.