Syrup from the Twin Cities

[TCtreeswinger]

Boxelder is often reported to have butterscotch tones for flavor. I dont know general ratios for boxelder. Lots of reports of high sugar content (4%) with our odd spring in the TC metro. Trees are flowered and still producing "clean" sap. Its a weird year for syrup

 

[flushcut]

That is weird but so has the weather.

 

[KTSmith]

I was surprised the list from @GregManning included Norway maple. That sap seems sticky and bitter - especially when you break a leaf off during the growing season...it looks like elmer's school glue.

The white stuff on a cut petiole of Norway maple is latex that is produced and carried by the symplast of the phloem. Not at all part of the xylem sap stream of the apoplast, which is what is collected for sap/syrup. of the stream of xylem sap.

One can tap any dang tree. Diffuse-porous hardwoods will give sap and as seen in the above, sugar content does vary among species and individuals. Keep in mind that what favors sugar maple here is that it is a good compartmentalizer that can handle repeated, systematic injury. Sure, birch sap is indeed a thing, but as a not-so-good compartmentalizer, the trees themselves won't tolerate the injury to the same degree.

 

[TCtreeswinger]

Ive got lots of birch at the hunting shack in various states of decline. Ive heard as high as 100:1 for birch syrup and has to be cooked at a simmer vs a rolling boil. I think ill just buy it

 

[surveyor]

Dad said that he used to chew on the hardened birch sap like a gum, when he was a boy.

 

[bobs yeruncle]

ive purchased black walnut syrup from tonoloway farm in virginia, which had a sort of butterscotch/brown sugar flavour, and once i saw a site for a place in ohio which had once sold sycamore syrup but it hadnt been updated for years. still want to try butternut syrup