Visitors enjoy Kalona Chamber’s maple syrup tour

By Emily Marner
Posted 3/22/22

Maple Syrup season has begun this March, and in Kalona Ida and John Mast are quick to begin their production. On March 17, 18, and 19 the Kalona Chamber hosted a tour with Ida and John to explain …

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Visitors enjoy Kalona Chamber’s maple syrup tour

Posted

Maple Syrup season has begun this March, and in Kalona Ida and John Mast are quick to begin their production. On March 17, 18, and 19 the Kalona Chamber hosted a tour with Ida and John to explain their process of harvesting maple sap and creating syrup.

The Masts started their journey of tapping maple trees over twelve years ago. Over the years they have refined their procedure to near perfection.

“We used to do it inside and the walls would be sticky from the steam,” said Ida.

When maple syrup is made, the sap must be boiled down for long periods of time. The immense heat given off from the hot syrup creates a steam that smells very sweet. Ida referred to how they used to boil all their syrup indoors, but the steam would leave a sticky residue on the walls. Now, the Masts have moved their craft outside.

This small production takes place behind Highway 1 Discount, in one large metal bin. Inside the bin is where the fire lays. The temperature of the syrup rises to over 200-230 degrees Fahrenheit. Occasionally, the heat will cause the syrup to boil over. In those cases, the couple will take a dipper to spoon some of the syrup out.  Throughout the day and night, both John and Ida keep the fire alive.

“Do you ever worry about bugs getting in it, or do they stay away from the heat?” asked the father of a family visiting from Colorado.

Despite the enticing scent of the boiling syrup, bugs tend to avoid the delicious sap.

“If they get in there, it’s all purified anyway,” John said.

Unlike most maple tappers, the Masts use a different technique to harvest their sap. Instead of using a metal tap, the Mast’s drill holes into the tree and feed clear tubes from the holes to a large bucket. Depending on the day, they can collect over twelve gallons of sap versus a bad day where they could get half of a bucket.

Sap will run faster when the ground is warm and unfrozen, so it becomes complicated when you combine maple tapping with Iowa’s fickle weather. Drastic weather changes greatly affect the Masts’ and other producers’ making of their maple syrup. Cold nights will keep the sap from flowing upwards in the tree, and despite it being a warm sunny day after, it takes time for the ground to thaw.

The Masts production of maple syrup is one to be admired. The couple dedicates long hours to keeping their syrup from boiling over to keeping it from cooling off. They work with the weather to keep their process running smoothly. If it takes all this work to create maple syrup, when they could purchase it from a local grocery store, then why do the Masts do it?

“That plate of pancakes with our syrup changes all that- our hard work and fresh syrup makes those pancakes worth every second of our time,” John said.