Jake’s Maple Syrup

It’s not just for pancakes.

Pure, Grade A Vermont maple syrup has found its way to Mammoth thanks to the ingenuity of business partners Andrew Soleman and Kristen Shelburg. The ‘Jake’ of Jake’s Family is a longtime friend of Soleman’s, Vermont native Jake Hutchins.

“Jake and I met each other in college in Prescott, Arizona,” said Soleman. “We’re old climbing partners. He grew up in Stowe making syrup with his family.”

Soleman said Hutchins used to make regular trips to the Eastern Sierra while in college. In 2012, Hutchins decided to develop his own maple farm in northern Vermont on Burke Mountain, a ski resort.

“His farm is right on the edge of the ski area boundary,” Soleman said.

Hutchins’ farm, like all maple farms, taps into maple trees during the spring freeze-thaw cycle. The sap runs from the tree into lines that collect at a central load point. Then sap is boiled down into syrup.

“It’s a sustainable process that doesn’t hurt the tree,” Soleman said. “You can do it for generations on the same tree.”

It takes about 40 gallons of sap boiled down to create one gallon of syrup. Hutchins’ farm currently produces 2,000 to 6,000 gallons of syrup per year, Soleman said.

One of Hutchins’ most surprising clients: Wal-Mart.

“He sells his syrup to Wal-Mart in one big lot,” Soleman said. “They cut it 90 to 95 percent with corn syrup to make more money off it. We always thought that was terrible to do with such a good product.”

Hutchins had sent Soleman and Shelburg gallons of syrup in the past, and the two were using it so much they sought other sources in bulk. “We couldn’t get the same quality,” Soleman said. Finally a light bulb went off. Why not sell pure, Grade A, Vermont maple syrup in Mammoth?

What the business partners were surprised to find in researching maple syrup is its nutritional value.

“It’s something of a super food because it contains iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, and magnesium,” said Shelburg. “It’s also a great fuel for anyone who’s athletic: as opposed to other energy supplements, it doesn’t have any fiber, so your body can take and instantly use it.”

“Extreme endurance athletes in Canada have been using it for a long time,” Soleman said. Although the use of maple syrup in athletics outside of Canada is young, Soleman said he thought Mammoth athletes could benefit from trying it.

“It’s a great alternative to energy drinks,” he said. “You can put some in your water if you’re skiing or snowboarding, and it gives you a good, clean boost.”

His favorite recipe: “basically maple Gatorade: water, maple syrup, lime juice, and salt. It’s simple, easy to do, and you can be really creative with it.”

“You can make soda water, or I like using it in tea, too,” said Shelburg.

“Our mission is to get people to think past the pancakes with maple syrup,” Soleman said. “Try it in your coffee; in a margarita; on ice cream.”

Soleman also noted that Grade A is considered top product in Vermont. He explained that Grade A is lighter, coming out earlier in the season, and is pure sugar. Grade B is darker, collected later in the season, and has more of a maple taste because of its bacteria content.

“Grade A is the best you can buy,” he said. “Old schoolers like the grade A. They say all their Grade B gets shipped to California … for the Master Cleanse.”

Soleman and Shelburg are distributing Jake’s Family Maple Syrup at Stellar Brew, Sierra Sundance, and Simply Massage. Stellar Brew uses the syrup in its food and drinks (try the maple latté). Toomey’s, Kitchen 53, and Lynn of Garden of Eat’n are also using Jake’s Family Maple Syrup, as well as Eastside Juice in Bishop.

“We’re pretty fresh, about six weeks into the business, but everyone seems very interested and excited about it,” Soleman said.

The duo agreed that getting the syrup from Vermont to Mammoth isn’t easy: syrup comes in 55 gallon drums, and “we had to hire an 18-wheeler to drive it,” Shelburg said. The two thanked Stu Need, owner of Lakanuki, for letting them use his commercial kitchen to bottle the syrup.

“The amount of local support has been really cool,” Soleman said. “It makes this fun.”

Shelburg, who works with potter Ken Willingham in June Lake, thanked Willingham for his help building the product displays.

Meanwhile Shelburg, the company’s marketing guru, has created unique porcelain pendants on leather cord hung around each bottle, as well as a wax seal on the back, “just to keep it old school,” she said. The bottles are glass, in eight, 17, and 34 ounces, as well as a half-gallon. Shelburg and Soleman also offer plastic for commercial use.

Shelburg and Soleman said they’re going to keep tinkering with uses for their product, and see who else takes it and runs—“Now our buddy is talking about making bourbon bacon maple jam,” said Soleman. “… We’re going to focus on what we have, try to get it out there at a fair price, and see what people do with it.”