Maple Syrup: Inside a family-owned sugar shack

Pictured: the “Sugar Shack” at Keim Farm

"Winter doesn't turn into summer without making maple syrup," said farmer Keim as we stood in front of the boiler.

He and his brother have been making maple syrup every spring for as long as they can remember.

At the end of winter, when the days are warm and the nights are cold… this is when the sap in the sugar maple trees starts running.

This winter has been a fantastic year for making maple syrup in Ohio. Thanks to responsible harvesting practices, Keim’s family has been tapping the same sugar maples for over 50 years. The trees are still healthy and will be producing for Keim's son, who plans to take over the business in the future.

Once the syrup is collected, they bring it up to the “sugar shack,” where it is boiled precisely with pressurized steam to temperatures above 500 degrees. Their goal is to evaporate enough water so the maple syrup is shelf-stable, but not too much that is crystalizes in storage.

All of this is done with a wood burning stove inside the sugar shack…

The sugar shack was built by the family in 1999. It was an upgrade from their little cabin in the woods, where they used to boil. Mr. Keim remembers being a boy and, after a hot day of working in the shack, his father would give him and his brothers a cup of syrup straight out of the tap. The brothers would run down to the creek to cool their cups in the winter waters before sipping it down.

Hearing these stories is one of the biggest treasures of working with family farms.

We, at Grace Brothers, happily support these family farms by selling their fresh Ohio maple syrup and much more in-store and through our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.