Just off a twisting two-lane highway slightly west of Crawfordsville, the Sugar Shack hid its inner beauty from passersby with the disguise of a broke down old shed. In terms of outward appearance, the rickety wooden structure had seen its better days. But, with respect for functionality, the Sugar Shack was still as viable as the day it was built over 100 years ago.
“The Sugar Shack is timeless. We’ve done very little to change it since our family began making maple syrup here 25 years ago,” Mark Bickel said.
Mark, along with his father Don, and numerous other members of the Bickel family enjoyed making maple syrup at the Sugar Shack with the Kochert family for three decades. The families formed a deep bond through their craft and consider their time together each winter a highlight of the year. Don has since passed on, and the Shack has been sold, but the memories remain vibrant and always will.
Charlie Kochert said, “Making maple syrup is just another way to bring family and friends closer through the use of nature’s gifts.”
Maple syrup for most is that thick brown liquid that comes from the plastic bottle inside the refrigerator. Most likely, not too much thought goes into the origin of the substance before it’s squeezed over the top of a pile of light and fluffy flap jacks. The true story of how syrup originates is one of natural simplicity. The sweet sap inside maple trees is the lone ingredient.
The process of collecting maple sap and turning it into syrup is one most anyone can completed. Essentially, the sap ― a combination of water and sugar ― is collected from trees and then boiled between 200 and 230 degrees Fahrenheit until the water is evaporated, leaving concentrated sugar, or syrup.
“Good sap is about 2 percent sugar. Most of it though is closer to 1.5 percent,” Don Bickel said. “That 1.5 to 2 percent is all we want, so we have to boil off all the water, which is actually about 98 percent of the sap.”
Native Americans are recognized as the first people to produce maple syrup.
Writer Ken Asselin said, “One of the most popular stories about the history of maple syrup involves a Native American chief who discovered the clear liquid sap leaking from a tree he had stuck his knife into. As the day warmed up the sap dripped into a pan on the ground. The chief’s wife, after tasting it and discovering it tasted very good, cooked his meat in it.”
The word of this sweet liquid spread, and soon, all across the range of maple trees, Native Americans were digging their knives into the flesh of trees allowing sap to ooze out.
Birch bark funnels were used for collecting the sap into pots, which was then boiled over a fire. The tradition has continued for centuries.
Today’s collection process is not much more complicated. Maple trees are tapped with a spout, called a spile, and buckets are hung underneath to collect the sap as it drains. The buckets are collected, the sap is boiled and syrup is produced.
At the Sugar Shack, a big red tractor pulled a trailer full of plastic 55-gallon drums. On the rear of the trailer was a bench for riders to rest on while the tractor steamed through the woods to the collection destinations.
“The reason we’re out here in the cold like this is because this is when the sap flows. Your best days are when the nighttime temperature drops below freezing and the daytime temperature climbs into the 40s,” Charlie Kochert said.
This day has turned out to be a jackpot. Bucket after bucket of clear sugar water was plucked from spiles and returned to the awaiting drums on the trailer. The sap poured from the buckets into the drums, passing through a filtering screen to remove any debris.
Once a drum was full, it’s covered with a lid to minimize spillage while bouncing along the path on its way back to the Sugar Shack.
Maple syrup. Who would have thought it so simple to obtain? An Indian sticks his knife in a tree, draws sap, heats it and discovers sweetness. The next time you go to the grocery store, look at all the choices of maple syrup. Buy the real thing if you want to taste what is offered by our earth. Or simply tap a maple tree, collect the sap, and boil it at 219 degrees until it becomes thick. That’s all it takes to make all-natural maple syrup.
“Making maple syrup is a timeless process. All you’re really doing is reducing water with heat. There isn’t much you can do to change it,” Mark Bickel said.
See you down the trail.
Brandon Butler writes an outdoors column for The Republic. Send comments to [email protected]. For more Driftwood Outdoors, check out the podcast on www.driftwoodoutdoors.com or anywhere podcasts are streamed.
