Birch product entrepreneur touts products in and outside Valley

June 19, 2005

CHRIS CRUTHERS/Frontiersman staff

MAT-SU - Did you know it takes approximately 110 gallons of raw birch sap to create one gallon of birch syrup?

Or that the birch syrup season lasts, at most, only three weeks in the beginning of spring?

Those two facts are among the reasons customers at Alaska Birch Syrup Co. can expect to pay just shy of $12 for a bottle filled with eight ounces of the pale gold or russet-colored substance, and among the facts visitors can learn during 30-minute guided tours the company began offering earlier this month.

Birch syrup comes from birch sap that has to be dehydrated, concentrated, cooked and bottled. This process can be very expensive, due to the cost of fuel needed to cook off the excess water.

The raw sap must be strained, undergo a process known as reverse osmosis, boiled and finally cooked to different lengths of time in order to pinpoint one of the variety of flavors birch syrup can assume.

These flavors range from the plant's Harvest Gold, an ultralight syrup that can be used as a decorative dessert topping, to Mystic Birch cooking syrup, which is dark and can be used to marinade wild game and as an additive when smoking salmon.

The plant's owner and operator, Kevin Alfonsi, is a fifth-generation maple-syrup maker who shifted his focus to birch syrup. He has run his company for more than five years.

Alfonsi also owns several other businesses, including a tourist gift shop and building cabins, for his main income.

"There wasn't enough being done," Alfonsi said about why he tapped into the business of birch syrup to begin with.

With the skills of his youth from growing up in Ohio "doing maple," Alfonsi saw a market with a need not being met.

From its start in 2001, the Alaska Birch Syrup Co. has expanded from a small-scale project into its very own building with a full kitchen and state-of-the-art equipment that can churn out more than 400 gallons of birch syrup in a good season.

The Alaska Birch Syrup Co. uses a reverse-osmosis machine that extracts 80 percent of the water in raw sap by using high pressure and a series of membranes to separate the sap's fructose from water.

Though the initial cost of the reverse-osmosis machine set Alfonsi back considerably, he says the long-term cost of cooking the sap in the traditional way will make the reverse-osmosis machine pay for itself in as little as five years.

What cost his competition $20 in fuel cost him one dollar in fuel, Alfonsi said.

Alfonsi envisions his company expanding from a tourist delicacy to a full-scale producer of gourmet birch syrup. From being used at the five-star restaurant The Forge in Miami Florida to the Viking Culinary Arts school, the Alaska Birch Syrup Co.'s products have put a firm foot in the doorway of creating birch syrup as a culinary accessory.

"They've never seen something that has reacted so well to food," Alfonsi said, describing how chefs and students at the Viking Culinary Arts school have reacted to his syrup.

Aside from national product expansion, some major changes have happened to the actual place in which the syrup is produced. A new expansion last year increased the kitchen's floor space from 300 to 700 square feet along with other general kitchen improvements, including marble counters. The newest addition is a tour for tourists and anyone interested in seeing the grounds and facility in which the syrup is made.

Alfonsi attributes this idea and nearly all of the promotional items to his wife, Kim Elgee. In addition to running promotions, Elgee created the labels in the bottles in which the syrup is sold.

The company's 30-minute guided tours at its production facility take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults; children under the age of 12 get in free, but must be accompanied by an adult.

People should call ahead to schedule an appointment for the guided tours, which include a sample of birch syrup products.

Self-guided walking tours are also available, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and are free.

Chris Cruthers may be reached at 352-2250.