Of all the agricultural products to come out of Manitowoc County, one that often goes overlooked is maple syrup.
Sugaring season is in full swing for maple syrup producers including Jesse Wagner, owner and operator of Inthewoods Sugar Bush, located on Union Road in Manitowoc.
Wagner spoke with SeehaferNews.com and shared how he got a start in the maple syrup business.
“I am a third generation Maple Sirup producer,” he revealed. “My dad did it. My grandpa did it. I did it with my dad at a very small scale, and I just carried that tradition onward and we grew it into the size we are now.”
He also let us know, “We started tapping trees at the end of February. It started out very slowly because all the for us and was bought right now with the current weather conditions, it has been very good. South has been running very good and we’ve been making a lot of syrup here.”
As is the case with most agricultural businesses, weather conditions play a large factor in a season’s success.
Producing maple syrup requires freezing temperatures at night that warm up during the day in order to extract sap from trees.
Wagner explained, “When it freezes at night, it caused the sap to come out of the ground and go up the tree and creates a negative pressure and it pulls the sap up into the tree. During the day, when it gets warm out, it creates a positive pressure on the tree and it pushes it back down the tree. And then when you drill a hole in the tree, it’ll force that sap out of that hole under pressure.”
While Inthewoods Sugar Bush is locally owned and operated, the company sells its products across the state and country.
The large amount of the syrup they sell comes from land in Manitowoc County where those close to Wagner help to ensure the business is successful.
“We have friends and family that help us out during the season, help us tap the trees, help us do the boiling of the maple syrup,” he noted. “We tap on my property. I have 20 acres here. We have approximately a thousand trees.”
Inthewoods Sugar Bush sells various different varieties of maple syrup and other related products including pure maple cream, pure maple sugar, and more.
It also offers those interested in maple syrup and the process behind producing it the opportunity to see firsthand, just how it gets made.
They are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily during the mapling season and is located at 1040 South Union Street in Manitowoc.
More information on Inthewoods Sugar Bush and the products they offer can be found by visiting their Facebook page.
