Wisconsin’s Maple Syrup Trail: Sugar shacks where you can get Wisconsin-made maple syrup

You don’t need to travel to Canada to get maple syrup from the source; peruse the options from Wisconsin’s sugar shacks.

Whether it’s poured on top of a pile of pancakes or added to sweeten up a recipe, there is no denying that maple syrup is a delicious addition to a wide array of dishes. The syrup is made from tapping sugar maple trees early in the spring and boiling down the sap that comes out of the trees until it’s ready to be consumed as syrup.

While maple syrup is most prominently connected with parts of Canada, it’s possible to get Wisconsin-made syrup from several sugar shacks across the state, and some of them are even open for tours.

What is Wisconsin’s Maple Syrup Trail?

While maple syrup production is typically associated with places like Canada or New England, there are several sugar shacks, or cabins where sap is collected and made into syrup, throughout northern Wisconsin. There is no official Maple Syrup Trail yet, but maple aficionados can follow a route throughout the northern part of Wisconsin, stopping at several of the state’s sugar shacks to pick up some locally-produced syrup.

How is maple syrup made?

Every bottle of syrup starts as sap inside maple trees, which store sugar in their roots. Syrup producers have to tap into sugar maple trees by drilling an angled hole more than one inch deep into the tree, and placing bags or bins underneath the hole to collect all of the sap, a clear liquid that is typically between one and three percent sugar, which comes out of the drilled hole. Trees can be tapped every year, but they are tapped on different sides each year. Sap is typically collected from anywhere between four and six weeks, and then is moved to a sugar shack, or a cabin, where it goes through reverse osmosis, removing a majority of the water in the sap. It is then boiled down, leaving just the thickened, sugary liquid, to make maple syrup.

When is syrup season?

Sometimes, in Wisconsin, the months of March and April are known as fake spring, when the weather fluctuates between mild, springlike days and freezing reminders of winter. That time is also the peak period for syrup production in the state. During the period between winter and spring, Wisconsin’s maple trees start to let their sap run. After some effort, that sap ultimately results in maple syrup, perfect for any pancake breakfast.

What is Maple Month?

There are plenty of annual celebrations in Wisconsin, from Summerfest in Milwaukee to Oktoberfest in La Crosse each fall, but the most important one for maple lovers has to be Maple Month. The month-long commemoration runs from Mar. 15 until Apr. 15 each year, which correlates with the start of syrup season, and is declared by the Governor of Wisconsin each year. The Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association will hold an annual First Tree Tapping event on or around Mar. 15, at a different spot in Wisconsin each year to celebrate the start of the season.

Where are most of the sugar shacks in Wisconsin?

Sugar shacks can be found throughout the state, but, understandably, they are found where the highest number of sugar maple trees are. Sugar maple trees grow throughout Wisconsin, but a vast majority of them, 81 percent, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, are found in the northern part of the state.

1. Ski’s Sugar Shack

Location: W-3755 WI-64, Merrill

Five decades ago, two brothers in Merrill, Wisc., Marvin and Stanley, tapped some of the trees in their backyard and made sugar from the sap that came out of the sugar maple trees. In 2013, Marvin’s sons, Jon and Matt Pogdorski, decided to continue the family tradition of making syrup from the sap collected from their sugar maple trees and started Ski’s Sugar Shack, a sugar shack based in Merrill.

Ski’s Sugar Shack has a wide range of maple products available on its website, from maple lollipops to maple almonds, a whole assortment of different syrups, and even maple root beer, in a collaboration with Wisconsin-based Sprecher’s. For anyone who has already stocked up on Ski’s Sugar Shack’s syrup, the sugar shack has listed several recipes on its website that make maple syrup a standout ingredient.

2. Jorns’ Sugar Bush

Location: 4518 County Road T, Egg Harbor

Many of Wisconsin’s sugar shacks are located in the northern part of the state, but Jorns’ Sugar Bush has been producing syrup in Door County for more than six decades. Every year, Roland Jorns and his family collect sap from more than 8,000 trees on the family’s 200-acre property in Egg Harbor.

Just like the maple trees that they pull sap from, the Jorns family’s roots run deep when it comes to syrup production in Door County. While Jorns’ Sugar Bush has only been operating as an established business for several decades, the Jorns family has been making syrup in Door County since the 1800s. Roland himself, now in his 90s, picked up the trade when he was 12 years old. Jorns’ Sugar Bush also operates a retail store, which is open from 10 am until 4 pm every day, where visitors can purchase the syrup that has been made on-site year-round, as well as jams and other locally-produced products.

3. Hansen’s Sugar Shack

Location: 9445 County Road V, Marshfield

Syrup wasn’t the first locally-produced food that the Hansen family made. Married couple, and Hansen’s Sugar Shack owners, Kirk and Brenda Hansen both got their start in cheese. Kirk first worked as a cheese maker, while Brenda grew up on a dairy farm. The two met while Brenda was working in the cheese store and the plant where Kirk helped to make cheese. The couple’s day jobs are still at the cheese plant, while producing syrup on the side.

That side business goes a long way, as the family-owned business makes enough product each year to sell to visitors, and is open to customers by appointment only. Hansen’s Sugar Shack also operates an online store, where customers can purchase quarts and pints of syrup, as well as maple-flavored treats, like cookies.

4. Glenna Farms

Location: 1333 120th St., Amery

Sitting on more than 80 acres, Glenna Farms has been a family-owned sugar shack since 1995. The farm is owned by Rick and Kristine Glenna, and had already been the site of a previous sugar shack for more than a century. Glenna Farms offers free tours of the farm and a year-round retail store, where visitors can purchase the farm’s organic maple syrup, as well as other products like cheese, honey, and ice cream. The farm is open to visitors on weekends from Jan. 1 through Memorial Day, and is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 am until 5 pm, and 11 am until 5 pm on Sundays from Memorial Day through the end of the year.

Glenna Farms regularly hosts events that highlight the best of all of the farm’s products, including wine tastings, cheese samplings, pick-you-own pumpkin patches, and, of course, MapleFest. The annual maple-themed event offers visitors a chance to tour the farm and check out what goes into Glenna Farms’ annual syrup production, and visitors can also enjoy free pancakes.

5. Helms Sugar Shack

Location: 1638 14½ St., Barron

When he was 14 years old, Mahlon Helms started tapping trees as a hobby. Years later, Mahlon, along with his wife Amber, formed Helms Sugar Shack in Barron, Wisc. Along with their two children, the family-owned operation produces hundreds of gallons of syrup a year.

Helms Sugar Shack offers two different types of syrup: amber, which is made with mid-season syrup and is a lighter color, and dark, which is made with a later-season syrup and is much darker in color. The farm’s store also sells maple-flavored foods like maple cream and maple sugar crumbles. If syrup-lovers can’t make it to the farm’s store in Barron, Helms Sugar Shack ships their products throughout the country, and the farm also ships supplies for anyone looking into tapping their own trees and trying out syrup production for themselves.

6. Hustad’s Sugar Bush

Location: 2165 11½ St., Cumberland

Since 1965, the Hustad family has been producing syrup at Hustad’s Sugar Bush in Cumberland, Wisc. The family-owned sugar bush was first opened by married couple Al and Linda Hustad, and produces maple products including maple syrup, maple cream, and maple candy each year.

Visitors can tour the farm year-round, including during March and April when syrup production is at its peak, for a glimpse into how the sticky, sweet condiment is made. While at the sugar bush, which is open from 8 am until 6 pm, visitors can also stop by Hustard’s Sugar Bush’s store and pick up all of the ingredients needed for a perfect breakfast: syrup, pancake mix, jam, and coffee. During the holiday season, Hustad’s Sugar Bush also sells specialty gift boxes containing several of the farm’s products.