OCT NIBJ: Idaho Maple's sweet success

In 2019, while on a family vacation to New England, Carmel Abblitt spent less than $10 on two small, antique cast iron tree taps. Later in 2020, she lightly tapped them into the family maple tree in her backyard.

“I knew nothing about maple syrup and even less about the craft of making it.” she said.

Within a few days, gallons of maple sap had poured out of the tap. Abblitt used an old seafood pot and propane broiler to cook it down and made her first batch of Idaho Maple, maple syrup.

Now, after five years of sticky hands, thousands of glass bottles and countless hours, Abblitt has built a business from the ground up from what started as a backyard hobby, all while balancing a full-time career as an attorney and raising a family. That might sound difficult, but Abblitt said she doesn’t see her business, Idaho Maple, as a job or extra source of money.

“It has actually been an amazing creative outlet and a cure for cabin fever,” she said. 

Abblitt said that Maple Season begins in mid-February, depending on the weather, and lasts through March. She said that tapping, collecting and boiling requires her to spend time outdoors “daily” and “regardless of what Mother Nature is doing.”

After spending her first year learning the syrup-making basics, Abblitt started looking for ways to branch out but she ran into a problem, her maple trees could only produce so much sap. 

Instead of planting a bunch of trees and waiting for them to grow, Abblitt found a quicker solution, she went door to door in her Post Falls neighborhood asking if her neighbors had maples trees, and if they would let her tap them in exchange for syrup. 

Eventually, Abblitt began experimenting with what she could make while using her own maple syrup. She recognized that maple syrup is typically seen as a Northeastern or Canadian product and began brainstorming ways to make her Idaho-made maple syrup represent the place she fell in love with after moving from Tasmania, Australia, years ago. 

She couldn’t think of anything better to represent Idaho than the huckleberry, so she made her first batch of huckleberry maple syrup. Then added Idaho-distilled bourbon, elderberries and apples picked in Washington. 

“My neighbors loved the flavors,” she said. 

She also quickly learned that even the neighbors' trees couldn’t make enough sap. 

“I needed more syrup,” she said. 

She began moving further out, tapping more and more trees, collecting more and more sap. She also began to use organic, commercially produced maple syrup to begin making other maple products like maple sugar, candy, spices, granola, hot chocolate mixes and even maple lemonade. 

“My tree donors, my children, co-workers and friends became my taste testers and also became my first customers,” she said. 

Abblitt and Idaho Maple can now be found at an assortment of farmer’s markets across the area and operates a cottage license from the Panhandle Health District and sells her products direct-to-consumer. 

She will be at the New Leaf Nursery Fall Market on Oct. 9, 10 and 11, located near Lancaster Road and Government Way. She will also be at the 5th Street Harvest Market and Apple Palooza on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will also be at the Coeur d’ Alene High School Holiday Craft Fair on Saturday, Nov. 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Recently, Abblitt and her family made the move to Spirit Lake, Idaho. which has expanded her business capabilities. Sometime in the future, Abblitt will be able to operate a commercial kitchen from her property, allowing her to sell Idaho Maple products in local grocery stores and markets, a prospect she finds “exciting.” 

For now, she will continue to sharpen her spice line. She recently released a line of sweet spices, such as “Smore’s Please," “Be My Huckleberry” and “Apple of My Eye,” among others.

She is also looking to get into education on syrup-making, including lecturing at local schools, to show how fun it can be. She said that she receives questions from people all of the time and that they are impressed, and excited to learn that maple products are being made in their backyard. 

“Educating others on the process, helping others start their own little backyard maple syrup set up, has been just as fun as starting my own,” said Abblitt. 

She said that her favorite part is sharing it with her children. She said that they help tap trees, sell stuff at markets and “most importantly, taste test everything.” She also said that she is happy that they get to see someone run a business firsthand, both the “hard work” and the “fun sides” 

She also said that she has “loved” stepping out of her comfort zone and into something she knew “absolutely nothing” about. She said that it's been fun to learn as she went with no one to teach her. 

“I had no one to teach me, but also no one to tell me I couldn’t do it,” she said. 

    Carmel Abblitt sets up her cooking station that includes an open fire-evaporator and a reverse-osmosis water cleaning machine. A sap cook can typically last days and will have to be checked several times overnight.
  

    Abblitt pours one of her homemade syrups on a bowl of ice cream and peach cobbler she made for her family.