On a cold Monday morning in early March, Jesse Wagner had just returned from walking his woods, checking on his trees. It was the middle of Inthewoods Sugar Bush’s eight-week sap harvest, and this morning the temperatures were not cooperating.
“To get the sap running we need cooperating temps,” says Wagner, owner of Inthewoods. “Above freezing during the day, below freezing overnight. But the days are going to warm up later this week and I’m anticipating a good sap run.”
Wagner collects sap from 1,000 maple trees on his 20-acre sugar bush just outside Manitowoc. His modern setup starts with the taps, which feed into an intricate network of tubes throughout the woods — all running to his state-of-the art sugar shack. Once his large sap tanks are filled, Wagner gets to work boiling the sap to evaporate the water.
Maple sap is 98% water. It is the other 2% sugar that he wants. That’s the syrup, he says, and when it comes off the evaporator he checks the density to ensure it is correct, then filters the syrup and either bottles it right away or stores it in 55-gallon sealed barrels. Wagner and his wife, Margo, bottle the reserved syrup once or twice per month year-round.
In addition to tapping his own trees, Wagner acquires sap from 2,500 additional trees — adding up to 75,000 gallons of sap per season. The result is 1,600 gallons of pure maple syrup.
Like wine, the flavor of syrup is specific to a region. Wagner describes his syrup as an artisan product made better because he processes his sap within 12 hours and meticulously cleans his tubing, tanks and evaporation system daily.
“We are very proud of the product we make,” he says. “Throughout our entire process we have no influence on the flavor. It’s all coming right from Mother Nature.”
At the end of each year, Wagner says he is left with zero inventory. That’s no surprise, seeing as just last October Inthewoods’ dark robust syrup was awarded third place at the North American Maple Syrup Council’s annual competition featuring the best maple syrup producers in the world.
Wagner has had a lifetime to perfect his syrup production given that he’s been making syrup since he was a kid, cooking in a pan in the driveway.
“My grandpa would make it. My dad would make it. I’m a third-generation producer,” he says. “I got really excited about syrup-making in high school and continued to upgrade my equipment to get to where I am now.”
The sugar shack produces all four grades of syrup: golden delicate, amber rich, robust and very dark. According to Wagner, the grade changes through the season, generally producing darker syrup in warmer weather. Inthewoods syrup is sold online and in more than 30 retail locations, including Meijer stores.
While 2023 is shaping up to be a good year for Wagner, he cautions that he can never predict the season.
“We tapped early this year and were making syrup in February,” he explains. “We have half our crop made already, so it’s setting up to be an above-average season.”
