[Sca-cooks] Syrup from Maple and other trees

[Stefan li Rous]

Eira said:
<<< maple syrup perhaps... but a lot of different trees have sap that  
i find hard to believe no one would have tried to do something with.   
Have to look at the trees across europe now.  ;c) >>>

Yes, maple syrup is definitely New World. In fact it comes from a  
specific type of Maple tree. Getting useable maple sap from the tree  
also depends upon having specific climatic conditions, of cold  
followed by a specific warming. Maple trees from the U.S. have been  
transplanted to Europe, but at least as of several years ago, none  
would produce useable (commercial?) quantities of sap.

In fact, Maple syrup wasn't common outside of its immediate local  
harvesting area until the middle of the 19th century when better  
transportation was developed. What was marketed before that time was  
maple sugar, which is what you get if you keep boiling the maple sap  
down until all of the moisture is gone.

This book has a good section on the history of Maple Syrup and on  
harvesting and processing it.
Sugartime: The Hidden Pleasures of Making Maples Syrup
Hauser, Susan Carol
ISBN: 1-55821-599-9
"Sugaring is the act of collecting maple sap to make maple syrup, an  
early-spring endeavor that takes place all around the country - in  
Vermont, most famously, but also throughout New England, as far south  
as Ohio, and as far west as Minnesota. It is a time-honored tradition  
that has changed little since the Native Americans sugared centuries  
ago. Sugartime is a beautifully rendered narrative about the act of  
sugaring, a soulful activity that, like the best of outdoor hobbies,  
slows time down. Interspersed with the book's lyrical account of a  
season in the sugarbush are separate sections that serve as a primer  
to guide the beginner through every stage of surgaring, from  
selecting trees and hanging sap buckets to finishing off maple syrup.  
For anyone with an interest in taking up sugaring, everyone who has a  
maple tree, and all those with a nostalgia for the rural landscape  
Sugartime will be a joy to discover. (43/4 X 73/4, 148 pages, b&w  
photos, illustrations)"002

Trying to do something and succeeding are two different things. :-) I  
believe there are some trees in Europe which provide a useable sap,  
but they don't have the high sugar content of Sugar? Maples. I think  
birch might be one of these that was tapped.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****