Sappy Story
Posted by chris fairbank on April 2, 2006
Q: Do any other trees produce a sap that can be used for edible purposes?
A: Yes they do. Since all trees have sap, it's just a matter of taste which ones are used for making syrup - over time people have preferred the taste of the maple sap. However, since the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)has the highest sugar content of the maples, this is the one that is typically used. Other maples can be used but you'd have to remove even more water to get the sap down to the consistency you would want for syrup. It would be interesting to tap some diffeent species of trees for their sap and then make syrup to see what flavors you could come up with - some would be tasty and some would probably not be. Birch Beer, a rootbeer-like flavor, is regulary made from the Black Birch (Betula lenta) but I'm unaware of any other products made from tree sap. Thanks for asking.
John Wiessinger ( April 3, 2006)