[Sca-cooks] Tree Saps: Was New World Food

[Mike C. Baker]

> The comment was made regarding maple syrup as New World:
> >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.
>  
> Well, consider how time-consuming the production of maple 
> syrup is and the process that it takes to produce it. The 
> tree has to be tapped at a specific time of year with 
> specific weather fluctuations. The sap needs to be gathered 
> and then laboriously boiled down. I don't recall how many 
> gallons of sap it takes to make one gallon of syrup, but it's 
> a large ratio. 
>  
> Now, let us ask ourselves... Have we ever seen depictions of 
> tapping trees in medieval illustrations? Can we recall any 
> mention of using a tree syrup for sweetener? Honey, yes. 
> Sugar, yes. Are there any references to people doing this as 
> a seasonal job? If using a tree sap for some type of syrup or 
> sweetener had been done, would there not be some visual or 
> written reference? Can anyone think of any such? That might 
> be a confirmation more than extrapolating that if we do it 
> now, it could have been done prior to 1600.
>  
> Alys K.
> 
> Elise Fleming
> alysk at ix.netcom.com
> http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/

Also of probable note:  my (sometimes flawed!) memory is that the
European colonists learned about creating maple syrup / sugar from the
tribes already present in New England.  Even if they did not,
naturally-distilled "stump sumps" and sap crystals formed where the bark
has been bruised or broken would have eventually led to the discovery.
Beyond that, I have a vague recollection of somewhat analogous treatment
of birch sap

AND Beyond even that, note that the harvest of tree saps / gums was
already WELL established elsewhere - gum arabic and the inferior
substitute derived from the hog-plum (amrah) come specifically to mind,
in addition to use of various saps or other distillates for adhesive
purposes.

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe

Mike C. Baker
SCA: (al-Sayyid) Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
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