Why Maple

Are you kidding? The answer is flavor, flavor, flavor. This has got to be one of the best-tasting wild edibles on the planet. I read once that colonial Europeans in New England looked upon maple sugar as a second-rate replacement for the crystal of cane sugar that they imported from the Caribbean. I’m not quite sure what was wrong with them. These days maple sugar and maple syrup are the gourmet stuff. Aunt Jemimah ain’t sitting on the fancy tablecloths at your local 5-star breakfast establishment. This is the reason that maple syrup is one of the only wild foods that is commercially available on a large scale.

If flavor isn’t enough of a reason to convince you to try your hand at sugaring here are

Three More Reason To Gather Maple Syrup

1. Calories—Unlike modern Americans, the forager is actually on the lookout for more calories. Foragers want to get enough energy from their food to keep their bodies going and make up for all the energy that they expend. And syrup is a high calorie food.

2. More Nutritious Sweetener—The only processing that happens to foraged maple syrup is boiling. According to whole foods zealot, Sally Fallon, maple syrup is “rich in trace minerals, brought up from below ground by the trees deep roots.” She goes on to say that,”Unfortunately, formaldehyde is used in the production of most commercial maple syrup.” Tap your own!

3. Company—Sugaring is a big job. You could always do small batches over your lonely stove and fog up all the windows in your house as the water evaporates from the sap. Or you could pitch in with friends and do the process in style, swapping stories as you all sit around and watch the sap boil.