Indiana Maple Syrup
Love fall weather? How about the rich breakfast goodness of maple syrup, too? If you’re a fan of a little food history from America’s farming heartland, check out these fun facts about maple syrup made in Indiana. Hear from the stories of actual syrup farmers, and how maple syrup makes it from tree to table.
From Tree to Table
By Joanie Stiers, featured in My Indiana Home Magazine
Though rich maple syrup is a breakfast must, you’d be quite disappointed if you tried to drench a plate of piping hot pancakes with the liquid that comes straight from the maple tree itself.
The deliciously sweet syrup requires about 45 gallons of tree sap to cook up one gallon of pancake-worthy goodness, according to the Indiana Maple Syrup Association.
“During the Maple Syrup Festival on our farm, we take groups of people out into the woods and explain the manufacturing process,” says Emily Blackman of LM Sugarbush, a maple syrup farm in Salem that she owns with her sister and their respective husbands.
The trip from tree to table mesmerizes most, and a bit of explanation helps consumers further appreciate the price paid for a bottle of real maple syrup. Indiana syrup-maker Tim Burton recalls his first exposure to maple sap harvest with a former co-worker, which inspired him to go home and start a syrup business.
“I was enamored by the whole process, and it was so primitive,” says Burton, who owns Burton’s Maplewood Farm in Medora. “You’re taking sap from a tree, and boiling it and boiling it. The water evaporates and the sugar content is left in the pan, and you have maple syrup.”
Making Maple Syrup
Every January, Blackman’s family drills small holes to install nearly 4,000 plastic spiles (a small spigot) in about 2,500 maple trees. The second-generation syrup-makers “milk” the trees by attaching food-grade tubing to the spiles and using a vacuum pump to draw sap into holding tanks. The family then transports raw sap to the sugar house for processing.
Harvest takes about five to eight weeks, beginning in January.
“We still make syrup the old-fashioned way with a wood-fired evaporator,” says Blackman. “We manually tend to the fire and make sure it’s the right temperature, and we cut all the wood. So, it’s a very labor-intensive process.”
After the sap boils down to syrup, the family filters the product to remove impurities and then bottles it.
Marketing Maple Goodness
From the sugar house on their farm, Burton and wife Angie sell more than 3,000 gallons of maple syrup annually to hotels, restaurants, gourmet chefs, and more throughout the U.S.
“The biggest thing I hear is, ‘Oh, I thought maple syrup was only made in Vermont,’” says Burton, who founded the National Maple Syrup Festival held annually in Brown County of Southern Indiana.
While Indiana’s maple syrup production (12,000 gallons in 2016) represents only a fraction of Vermont’s nearly 2 million gallons, Indiana farmers maintain a loyal customer base.
Quality syrup and innovative syrup products allow the Burtons to successfully tap into a market dominated by northeastern states and Canada. In particular, the farm’s unique barrel-aged maple syrups flavor anything from main courses to desserts.
He pours maple syrup into used bourbon, brandy, whiskey, and rum barrels and heats them by wood fire to release the flavor of the spirits embedded in the wood.
The novel process and resulting flavors prompted a signature syrup line for Virgin Hotels in Chicago and a place at Oprah Winfrey’s farewell brunch, he says. His syrups also sell at about 35 big-city farmers markets throughout the U.S. as well as online at burtonsmaplewoodfarm.com.
LM Sugarbush sells much of its 800 to 1,000 gallons of annual syrup production at its farm festival. They also serve a following of loyal mail-order customers, online patrons at lmsugarbush.com and regional retailers.
“I think the demand for maple syrup is going to continue to increase as people are looking for healthy alternatives for sweetener products,” Blackman says. “I don’t think we will be slowing down anytime soon.”
Want to try some Midwestern Maple Syrup Goodness? Check out Burton’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup here – makes for a great gift for foodies!
Save the Date – Indiana Maple Syrup events
Maple Syrup Festival at LM Sugarbush in Salem, IN
Feb. 25 & 26 and March 4 & 5, 2017
Lmsugarbush.com
National Maple Syrup Festival in Brown County
March 4 & 5, 2017
Nationalmaplesyrupfestival.com
What is your favorite food to put maple syrup on? Tell us your recipes in the comments below!
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Original article and pictures take www.eupterrafoundation.com site
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