Time For Tapping: Maple Syrup in Wisconsin

WAUSAU, Wis. (WXCO) – The sap is running, for a limited time in Spring and one unique entrepreneur producer is right here in our woods, making it big.

It’s the first harvest of the year! Wisconsin is the 4th largest producer of maple syrup in the country, behind Vermont, New York and New Hampshire. Our makers bring in around $14 million in revenue with over 1 million trees tapped across the state.

The sap only runs for a limited amount of time though and it’s all based on the weather. Early Spring is primetime, where the freeze-thaw cycle really gets the trees running.

“You need the ground to be thawed enough for the roots to give up their sap. Then the warm weather during the day and cold at night will keep the trees from budding out too quickly. Which gives you a 14 to 21 cook day here in Central Wisconsin.” says Mitch Hoyt, the owner of Skinny Sticks.

Some years the window to cook may be longer or shorter, like last year for example… With the warmest winter on record for Wisconsin, it actually gave them their best year, ever.

“I made 40, 55 gallon drums of maple syrup in February, 35 in March and I only got to go two weeks in April and in that time I made 25 additional barrels of maple syrup.”

He’s got about 6,000 trees on 70 acres and is using tubes threaded through the woods, connected to the tap on the tree. It’s a family owned business. Mitchell Hoyt, is the man that started it all and it began by an idea sparked at an expo show and meeting new people.

“I run into this guy who asked me if I drank… I said I don’t really like beer but I like a glass of wine or an old fashioned. He says oh I have something you’ll like. So I went over to his table, he pulls this jug out, pours me this glass of a little cup of maple wine… I’m like whoa, my marketing wheels started spinning. I’ve got maple trees in my backyard, I can make this! So I asked him to tell me how he made it. I said I think I can make this, I think I can sell this if I develop it. I just pictured this high end quality wine at all these fancy restaurants, dessert wine and stuff.”

That first year Mitch made 50 gallons of maple wine and he had extra sap left. So he asked a friend if he wanted it…

“Might as well cook that down on the stove. Boil water next to your sap and as water evaporates it becomes more dense and holds more heat. Once it gets 7 degrees above the boiling point of the water on the stove, you have perfect syrup.”

And that’s what he did, made his first batch and handed it out to neighbors and friends. Their response, don’t give this away, we will buy this from you. And it sure sold, right as he made it.

“Some people who bought it from us that year gave some away as gifts and one of those people who got a gift was Grebe’s, in Wausau.  It’s a little kitchen store that reached out to me and said hey, we’d like to sell your syrup in our store.”

What followed was a true business built from the ground, up… quite literally. Mitch got his license, insurance… the whole deal. After running product himself store to store and sales pitch after sales pitch… he ran into the right people at the right time. Distributors wanted to try his syrup and that’s what lead to him shipping product to Salt Lake City! Florida followed, Georgia, Illinois and country-wide. It’s all still made out of Wisconsin, only. 

“We are known for dairy but we should also be known for our maple syrup too. Ours has so much flavor compared to the east coast and Canadian products. I believe it’s because we don’t cook at such a high altitude. We cook at a higher air pressure which causes our syrup to be a little dark, cooks hotter and develops more flavor.”

But how does he keep up that demand now?

“We discovered there was over 200,000 gallons of maple syrup produced within 25 miles of our home that was being shipped out to Vermont and New Hampshire. It was being blended with east coast and Canadian products and losing its Wisconsin identity”.

Locals working together, keeping it Wisconsin. This is what it tastes like…

“In Central Wisconsin up by Marathon, it’s typically an undertone of either honey, butter, vanilla or caramel, naturally occurring underneath the maple. Those flavors are all based on your tree genetics and soil types.”

Maple syrup is not just for pancakes, either! Try it as a sweetener in coffee, tea, oatmeal, cereal and you can even use it in meat glazes.

You can find Skinny Sticks product right now at local grocery stores.