Somerskogen Sugarbush is a family owned and operated maple syrup farm located in Minnetrista, Minnesota. We have been making 100% pure maple syrup on 17 acres of maple forest since 1994. We started out with 23 taps that dripped into plastic bags, but now have 800 taps connected to a high powered vacuum pump. Every year leads to new improvements and innovations in the sugarbush. We enjoy sharing what we have learned and hope that this website will be helpful to maple syrup makers and others interested in learning more about nature’s finest sweetener.

2010 Season Ends - Plenty of Delicious Syrup!

by Don 3/30/2010 9:37:00 AM

With the unusually warm temperatures in Minnesota for the month of March, our season has ended. It was short, but sweet. Other than a few technical problems, sryuping went well and we enjoyed watching the drops of sap accumulate and finish as delicious syrup.  The trees produced one gallon of syrup for every three taps.

Bottling will continue this weekend as well as the  process of cleaning all the lines and the evaporator.

We have syrup in various sizes and hopefully, by mid-May, we will have plastic jugs with our logo available in pints, quarts and gallons.

Recipes are being posted, so check back often.

 

Syruping update

by Don 3/27/2010 11:44:00 AM

The atypical weather continues with no snow during the month of March.  This is the first time in recorded weather history that this has occured. The weather outlook for the upcoming week is for highs in the 60's.

The sap flows have continued at brisk rates of up to 1.5 gallons per tap, per day! The quality and consistency of our syrup remains outstanding.  We have been fortunate to be able to process our sap quickly to achieve this.

Will this next week be the end of syruping? Check back!

Spring-like weather in March

by Don 3/20/2010 11:35:00 AM

We have been in high gear for the last 8 days in the sugarbush.  Record high sustained temperatures have resulted in slower "weeping" flows that have continued for several days.  The unusually warm weather has resulted in a darker, richer tasting syrup we usually only produce at the end of the season.  This robust "B" maple syrup has been popular for those who enjoy cooking or baking with this natural sweetener.

 A cold snap last night froze up the lines which gives us a day to clean up and rest for our next "run".  The weather forecast for the next week looks perfect for sap flow with below freezing at night and highs in the 40's and even one day of 60.

 

The 2010 Season Begins and We've Bottled Syrup

by Don 3/7/2010 1:03:00 PM

 With the recent warm days and cool nights, the sap started slowly running  on Wednesday, March 3rd. We anticipate having our first boil this coming Wednesday, March 10th and hope it is the first of many boils. This year we added a preheater for the sap to decrease the amount of time needed for boiling in the evaporator. A reverse-osmosis machine for increasing the sugar concentration in the sap will be ordered and installed summer of 2010.

We now have syrup for sale in most sizes, with a large quantity of quarts, the most requested size.