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.
You wouldn’t think of it as traditionally delicious, but gum arabic is in lots of foods as a stabilizer.
I think that’s one of the main ingredients in Cola flavoring
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.
It’s the best of the best!
So, …it’s what the Canadian Tree Vampires crave!
Black Walnut and Hickory are both fantastic!
Sugar cane juice is delicious but I don’t think it’s a tree
Try it with some bark
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.
