Mack Gunnlaugsson and his refrigerator full of maple syrup. – Photo by Melissa Walker
Washington Island has a large number of sugar maple trees. In the late winter the sap in those trees “runs,” and ambitious Islanders spend weeks collecting that sap and reducing it to make maple syrup.
The process is hard work, but as all say “the results can be sweet.”
One Islander who spends late February and March making maple syrup is Mack Gunnlaugsson. In a good year Mack and his maple trees can produce over 200 quarts of maple syrup.
“In mid-February I put taps on about 200 trees,” explains Mack. “Some big maples can produce five gallons of sap a day.” Of course, the sap runs depend entirely on the weather, which cannot be too hot or too cold.
“A daytime temperature of 40 degrees is perfect; a nighttime temperature of 20 degrees is perfect,” states Mack. “If I am going to spend two days putting the taps in the trees, I want the weather to be perfect.”
In good years the sap will run for three to four weeks. Because it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, Mack always hopes for a good year and a long run.
“Several years ago the sap only ran for five days. That year was a disaster,” comments Mack. “This year the warm weather in March in Sturgeon Bay was a disaster for all those down there intending to make syrup.”
Mack has been collecting sap and making syrup for over 50 years: “When I was a kid, my parents made maple syrup. My brothers and I were the ‘muscles’ of the operation. We toted the buckets and the wood. My parents also owned the sawmill, so there was always plenty of wood for the fire.”
In fact, at least one person in Mack’s family has been making maple syrup for over 100 years. That’s five generations of Gunnlaugssons perfecting the syrup-making process.
“We arrived on the Island around 1883 and started making syrup,” explains Mack. “Some of our trees are over 100 years old and have been producing sap all that time.”
Today Mack’s operation is almost fully automated. Instead of wood, he uses propane gas for reducing the sap to syrup. He collects the sap in two stainless steel pans. He simmers the sap. “You never boil it,” cautions Mack. “Boiling creates impurities.”
But he still has to collect the sap from the buckets hanging on the trees. “If the Island were more hilly, I could use a vacuum pump,” Mack explains, his mind always looking for an easier method.
The way he sees it, tubes would be attached to the taps on the trees. The sap would run downhill through the tubes to the stainless steel pans. “Collecting sap could be just like milking a cow!”
Look for Mack’s Maple Syrup at Brothers Too on Town Line Road. He sells his syrup in eight-ounce jars as well as in pint and quart containers.
By Melissa Walker
Click here for Washington Island Observer subscription info.
