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It’s maple syrup season in Wisconsin

Learn more about when and where to get locally-made maple syrup in southern Wisconsin.

Wagner's maple syrup next to a stack of pancakes

Find Wagner’s syrup at Capitol Centre Market. | Photo by 608today

It’s maple syrup season in Wisconsin, a long-standing tradition with Native American roots. Usually running from mid-March to mid-April, this year’s unseasonably warm winter threw a wrench in the expected timeline, though syrup is still flowing.

Events

Maple Sugar Time
Saturday, March 23 | 1-2:30 p.m. | Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee | $12-$18 | Learn how maple sap turns into syrup, how to identify a maple tree, and practice tapping a log with a hand drill.

Maple Sugar Days
Saturday, March 23-Sunday, March 24 | 12-4 p.m. | Wehr Nature Center, 9701 W. College Ave., Franklin | $10 | Register for this program which includes a short walk to the sugarbush, a visit to an old-time sugaring camp, a boil-down demonstration, and stories about the Native American origins of maple sugaring.

Maple Festival
Saturday, April 6 | 9 a.m.-2 p.m. | MacKenzie Environmental Center, W7303 County Highway CS, Poynette | Free | Drop-in activities, guided tours of the sugarbush, tapping demonstrations, and talks about the historical methods and cultural importance of maple sugaring in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin-made syrup near you

In-store:

Dane County Farmers’ Market vendors:

  • Cherokee Bison Farms
  • Driftless Gold Organic Maple Syrup
  • Engel’s Pure Maple Syrup
  • Hickory Hill Farm
  • Marquardt’s Tree Farm
  • McCluskey Brothers
  • Murph’s
  • Patterson Sugar Bush

Late Winter Market | Saturdays through April 6 | Garver Feed Mill, 3241 Garver Green

Saturdays on the Square | Saturdays, April 13-Nov. 9 | Capitol Square

Tree tapping

Maple tree with two tapping tubes draining into a white bucket

Have you seen tapping equipment set up in your neighborhood? | Photo by 608today

Equipment:

  • Drill and hammer
  • Collection container (think: large buckets or coffee containers)
  • Large boiling pan
  • Cheesecloth
  • Candy thermometer
  • Tapping spouts

Ideal conditions: When the temperature falls around or below freezing at night, and into the 40s during the day.

Ideal trees: Maple trees with a diameter larger than 10 inches.

We found this resource which lays out step-by-step written instructions as well as video tutorials for each step of the tapping process.

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