Our History
We are into the 5th generation of Wood’s making pure maple syrup in west central Wisconsin.
Our grandfather’s family moved to the area in the late 1840′s from northwestern New York via southern Wisconsin. Making fine pure maple syrup is a family tradition. From winning state titles in the 1950′s to receiving the Grand Champion award at the 2007 North American Maple Syrup Council/International Maple Syrup Institute, is a tradition that is currently being handed down to the 5th generation. The fact that every year or season is different makes it an on-going challenge.
Something very exciting in 2007, is our new berry flavored pure maple syrup. The flavor is a real unique taste treat. The combination of maple syrup with either blueberry, cherry, raspberry or strawberry is a new taste sensation. The fruit is 100% natural. There are no additives or preservatives, so refrigeration is important after opening.
Our motto is to make our maple syrup “as good as the best and better than the rest!”
We specialize in mail order and orders are shipped UPS. If you have any questions, give us a call at 1-800-551-6367. We are always happy to talk maple.
Frequently Asked Questions
The season for syrup making in our area runs from March 15 to April 25. The length of the season varies between two and six weeks.
The duration of the sap flow in any year is dependent upon the weather. Freezing nights and warm days are essential to the flow of sap.
1/4″ in diameter and 1 1/2 ” deep.
No, at the end of the season the spile is pulled out of the hole in the tree. This allows the tree to heal and the hole will grow shut . Most holes will grow shut by the 4th of July the same year that they were tapped.
It takes 35 to 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup.
Where the color comes from is an interesting phenomena .Every season is different and it changes during the season. In general early season syrup is lighter in color and softer and milder in flavor.The end of the season is darker in color and very strong in flavor. In the early part of the season the temperatures are cooler That slows any bacteria reactions on the sap, as the temperatures rise bacteria works on the sucrose sugar in the sap ( maple sap is very high in sucrose) changing it into fructose and glucose. The inverted sugars react to the heat and help make a darker color and stronger flavor.
No, there are no preservatives in maple syrup. Water is the only thing that is removed from the sap. 66.5 to 68 brix is the final sugar concentration of pure maple syrup. Granular maple sugar is what comes from the tree with all of the water removed.
Granular Maple sugar is made by continuing the boiling process until the water is removed. What remains is sugar with texture and color similar to brown sugar, but has an excellent light maple taste. Use it in baking, cooking or sprinkling on pancakes, French Toast, waffles or cereals.
Over the years, the grading system for maple syrup has changed periodically and varies between the United States and Canada and from state to state. Our syrup is graded using the U.S.D.A. grading system. Grade A syrup is assigned to the more delicately flavored syrups.
- Grade A light amber (sometimes called fancy) has a very mild, sweet maple flavor.
- Grade A medium amber is our most popular grade – it has a smooth maple flavor that will enhance the taste of your breakfast entrees.
- Grade A dark amber is darker in color and has a more prominent maple flavor.
- Grade B has a strong maple flavor and mild caramel taste.
- Grade C has a very strong maple flavor and a more prominent caramel taste.
Making Pure Maple Syrup
Our flavored Maple Syrup’s started in 2007. It’s a long story how it came about, that we can share when there is more time.
What we have done is to use a very nice Pure Maple Syrup and infused some pure fruit concentrate. Each concentrate that we use has only ONE ingredient. Blueberries in Blueberry, Raspberries in Raspberry, Cherries in Cherry, Cranberries in Cranberry, Strawberries in Strawberry. Absolutely No Additives or Preservatives of any kind are in any of our products.
In our Cinnamon flavored Maple Syrup we use only the highest quality cinnamon that we can find.
Pure Granular Maple Sugar is both new and very old. It’s new in that, it hasn’t been used in a very long time. A long time ago people had to make the syrup into sugar so they could store it. Now people are starting to rediscover it. Pure Maple Sugar is one of the healthiest and least processed of all sugars. Only water being removed. Pure Maple Sugar is 90 to 95% sucrose sugar. It behaves a little different when used in cooking. Sugar made from lighter colored grades of syrup have less of a maple flavor, while sugar made from darker syrup carries a little more maple flavor. We also have Granular Maple Sugar infused with Cinnamon.