SOUTH MADISON COUNTY — The maple syrup season has been shorter than usual this year because of a cold February, but that doesn’t mean less syrup will be the result.

Eric Lee, co-owner of maple syrup maker stix2brix, located at 3381 S. County Road 500W, Anderson, said the sugar content of sap this year is higher than usual.

“We can make more syrup with less sap,” said Lee, who runs the operation with his brother-in-law Gerald Riffey and nephew Grant Riffey, along with help from about a dozen friends and other family members.

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People can learn more about the sugarmaking process at stix2brix on Saturday, when the business will be open to visitors.

Indiana Maple Syrup Association — an organization of about 100 producers including stix2brix — celebrates Indiana Maple Syrup Weekend on March 13 and 14.

There are several members of the association in the South Madison County area, with a few small ones in the Pendleton and Markleville areas that produce only for personal use.

Stix2brix, however, is a business, located on an 80-acre farm that has been in the family for at least five generations, Lee said.

Corn and soybeans are grown on the farm, and they used to have chickens.

Syrup operations began in 2017. A former chicken house was remodeled and turned into a sugarhouse, where the syrup is made.

This year, stix2brix has tapped about 650 trees on 39 acres of sugar bush; it includes trees on site as well as ones leased at two other locations, one about a mile north, also in Stony Creek Township, and another about a mile south, in Fall Creek Township.

The trio and their helpers hang bags on trees that catch the sap that drips out as the sap flows; they empty the bags regularly, by hand, using five-gallon buckets and various vehicles with tanks, to get the sap to the sugarhouse; a wood-fired stainless steel evaporator is used to turn the sap into syrup.

Lee said it takes close to 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. This year, with higher sugar content, it’s taking less.

The total production this year is expected to be about 110 gallons. Last year, when the season was weeks longer, production was 122 gallons.

“We’re not disappointed,” Lee said.

Lee said Indiana is in the southwest part of the maple belt, an area that stretches from Missouri to New England.

The season here typically lasts from late January through mid-March. This year the season didn’t start until mid-February.

He said it takes nights of below-freezing temperatures combined with days of above-freezing temperatures “to make the sap flow up and down the tree,” which enables collection.

Production is very much “at the whim of Mother Nature,” who sends a clear message when the sugar season is over, he said.

“Once the trees bud, then you’re done.”

Stix2brix is participating in Indiana Maple Syrup Weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Visitors will be able to see the syrup-making process, from sap collection to syrup bottling.

Various products, including maple syrup, bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup, maple cotton candy, maple cream, maple-covered nuts and fresh maple-flavored baked goods will be available for sampling and purchase.

There will be door prizes.

For more information Indiana Maple Syrup Weekend, including other participating sugar camps, visit indianamaple weekend.com.

Stix2brix can be found on Facebook.

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stix2brix

• The name signifies the process for making maple syrup. Degrees Brix (°Bx) is a measurement of the sugar content of a liquid. Sap from a maple tree is 2 degrees Brix (2°Bx). The sap is boiled until the density reaches 66 degrees Brix (66°Bx), resulting in pure maple syrup.

• stix2brix products are available at several locations, with the closest locations Smith Family Farms in Pendleton, Jackrabbit Coffee and Collective Roots in Anderson, and Mercantile 37 in Noblesville

Source: stix2brix

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