Other hardwoods can be tapped and their sap made into syrup, it’s just that maple is the tastiest, with the Sugar Maple being what we think of when it comes to making syrup. Birch and Walnut are probably the most common alternatives.
Just be careful with burch sap. You might find that you’re allergic to it and it’s pollen. The hives from the pollen is no joke.
Some thrillseeker just read “Watch out the syrup might be SPICY” lol
Interesting — is the birch sap/syrup more allergenic than maple? I’m allergic to birch to some extent maybe more than other trees. But also I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to maple also (and many other trees) but eat maple syrup no problem.
Hard to say and there probably isn’t much research on it. Just stick to maple syrup or the fake stuff.
I don’t know about other countries but in Finland people sometimes extract and drink birch sap. We call it mahla.
In Russia as well. And it’s called simply “birch juice”
We call it trussy juice.
Interesting! TIL. I have only tried “birch beer” — birch flavored root beer
My aunt used to live in Pennsylvania and when I’d visit her, she’d buy me this birch beer that was to die for. It was clear and I think local to the area. I’ve never been able to remember the brand. I should ask her!
Hnng I can almost taste it lol
It’s the best of the best!
So, …it’s what the Canadian Tree Vampires crave!
Its got electrolytes!
But what are electrolytes?
What plants crave!
In Russia we used to drink the blood of birches. It’s pretty good actually.
In the US they turn it into soda called Birch Beer. It’s delicious
Mastic resin is very popular in Turkey and (I think) also Greece. Used as a natural additive in stuff like ice cream or puddings, but also as a natural bubble gum.
To add to this, it’s a coniferous tree so mastic resin tastes delicious if you also enjoy coniferous flavours like juniper, rosemary, pine nuts, etc. They also put it in wine and you can get mastic honey. Tastes like a pine forest, in a good way.
We used to grab globs of spruce gum off the trees to chew. Pain in the ass to get off your fingers though.
Birch sap is also tasty!
Sugar cane juice is delicious but I don’t think it’s a tree
It’s a grass technically
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicle
Chicle (/ˈtʃɪkəl/) is a natural gum traditionally used in making chewing gum and other products. It is collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the genus Manilkara, including M. zapota, M. chicle, M. staminodella, and M. bidentata.
Like the gum Chiclets?
You can also get pine sap.
The pine needles make an excellent tea.
Black Walnut and Hickory are both fantastic!
Try it with some bark
delicious blood
Do we have a cursed_comments or brandnewsentence community on here yet?
Sugar cane, Arenga pinnata
Just here to point out that sugar is not a tree, it’s a grass