ALASKA BIRCH SYRUP COMPANY

(Talkeetna Birch Syrup Company)

Call or e-mail your order 907-357-4892 or 907-355-5721

Located in Wasilla, Alaska and  Talkeetna Alaska

                                                     Kevin and William in 2010                                                                   

We are located across the street from the Historic Iditarod Headquarter in Wasilla Alaska and this is where we make our syrup.

  Our sons school Iditarod came here for a field trip today April 27, 2011. 

 The syrup  making process is in full production this spring 2011 and all 50 kids saw our syrup come off the evaporator this morning and some children tasted it for the first time.   We do a few tours each year for the schools in the Wasilla area. 

We just acquired land for Alaska Birch Syrup Company in Talkeetna Alaska this year.  This parcel  has the most outstanding views of Mt. Mc kinley with lake views too.   We have been tapping this land for the last three years. We plan on building a bunk house at this new location and may even add some rental cabins to the site. Were slowly making a transition to the Talkeetna area and making some long term plans for our seasonal stays there where we collect the sap to make the syrup.  We may build a new sugar house there as well.  We had to relocated due to the whether changes because there was a lack of moisture here in Wasilla.   In order for birch Sap to flow heavily from birch trees you must have adequate moisture.  Our production has increased significantly by moving to Talkeetna.  We also added a brand new supplier of sap to the crew too.  Kevin taught him how we run the lines and tap the trees and helped him sett his property up with tubing and taps.  He also helped us on our property this year too.   Pastor Jerry is now one of the crew and a brand new sap producer, producing sap from his own land.

Thank you,

Jerry

Former Governor Sarah Palin lives here in our ever growing little town of Wasilla just down the road on Lake Lucille.

                                     Our family of three Kevin, Kim and William  live and work at the same location on the front corner of Knik Goose Bay Road on Endeavor Street in Wasilla, Alaska. We have been manufacturing  birch syrup from birch trees at this location since 2000.  We live in a log cabin we built our selves that was once a gift shop.   We  rent out log cabins nightly in the summer in Wasilla and you can see them by visiting our site www.alaskalogcabins.com  The sugar house where we make our birch syrup is just outside our back door.  We also have a second location we have been developing in Talkeetna Alaska called (Talkeetna Birch Syrup Company) where birch sap is more available due to the climate changes we have been experiencing over the years. 

We are located across the street from the Iditarod Trail Headquarters.  We offer tours by appointment only.

You can buy our birch syrup and birch jelly in just about any major retail store here in Alaska.

Look for it in the Alaska gift section. 

                                                 Sugar House here in Wasilla                                                        Jean, Phil and Kevin working the Sap line in Talkeetna

 Kim, Kevin and William with Uncle Gary in the Sugar House last March         William at his School Concert looking for us in the crowd         

Environmentally Friendly Sap Collection Method

Leaving a Low Carbon Footprint in our Sap Gathering Technique

We don't use snow machines or four wheelers to gather sap from the birch forest.  We use lines of tubing and collection tanks.    We walk through the forest with snowshoes to set our lines and tap the trees. It's very quiet work and a calm way to celebrate spring harvest.  It's a spiritual spring event for our family who get together once a year to work together, laugh together and to renew our long distance relationship.  This is much more than just making and producing birch syrup for us. I feel the product reflects this special time.

The picture shown above shows Kevin, Jean and Phil working the sap line in snowshoes in Talkeetna Alaska. Kevin's brother Gary and his wife Jean and friend Phil from Ohio have been coming here to help us make birch syrup for the last three years since Kevin's recovery from surgery.   Kevin had major shoulder surgery along with wrist surgery with  physical therapy to follow in 2008/2009.  We were lucky enough to sell  our home (fast )and move to our commercial location to start Kevin's long recovery.  We eventually remodeled  what was once our gift shop into a cozy log cabin home as he recovered.

   Gary, Jean and Phil tell me coming here to tap our trees and help with the harvest is a  wonderful vacation for them. They come here after working on their own harvest of maple syrup which they make in Kevin's home town in Kinsmen Ohio.  Kevin learned the skills of Syrup making on a fifth generation farm of maple syrup producers starting his first maple syrup business at the age of 14 . Both maple and birch syrup are made in the same way. They taste nothing alike and we use them differently.  We use birch syrup as a spice to cook with but it caramels as well and makes excellent glazes and is great in stir fry's.  I mix soy sauce and birch syrup for excellent teriyaki flavor.  It enhances natural flavors with it unique flavor and has endless possibilities in cooking or just straight from the bottle .  It's wonderful over vanilla ice cream too. We use maple syrup for pancakes and waffles, but that's just how we prefer to use both syrups.  I sometimes use a little light birch syrup on pancakes because a little goes a long way which is great when your counting calories. There are many that use it in their marinade recipes for wild game and fish brine for smoked salmon. We have a company in Alaska that uses it in a mustard they make and sell.  Many new products are being created each year with birch syrup.  Now many breweries are using it in and out of Alaska to make birch beer.  The popularity increases outside this state each and every year as it makes its way around the world. I call it Alaska's Secret Ingredient. 

You can only make maple syrup or birch syrup just once a year during spring time.  We have about three to four weeks each year to make syrup for the whole year depending on mother natures plans. Last year this small group of four people quietly put up tubing and gathered sap for the entire season making close to 500 gallons of pure birch syrup with their small quiet crew. Each year we expand a little more as our financing and contracts permit.  This method of birch sap gathering is both environmentally friendly as well as cost effective. 

Thank you, Gary, Jean and Phil

       CALL 907-355-5721 TO ORDER SYRUP