Sugar Snow

Are you ready for maple syrup season? The trees are!

All winter long, the sap has been motionless - not frozen or stored in the roots, but just waiting. Once the daytime temperatures start to go above freezing, the sap starts moving in the outer layers of the tree.

Which makes it the perfect time to harness some of that sap for our own selfish sweet tooths. (Or is it sweet teeth?)

Maple trees have the highest concentration of sugar in their sap (about a 40:1 ratio in sugar maples - 40 gallons of sap will get you 1 gallon of syrup) but there are many kinds of trees that you can actually tap to make syrup.

Boxelder, birch, alder, walnut and many other species can be tapped, but their sugar content is often lower. Personally, I want to try tapping palm trees! Coconut palm syrup sounds heavenly…

For an excellent book pairing, try Sugar Snow by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is a short picture book drawn from the longer book Little House in the Big Woods. It’s a great read with small children, and may even hook them to read more of the Ingalls family stories!

Keep an eye out for those blue tapping bags, or better yet, head to Farm and Fleet to get some supplies and try tapping a tree of your own this spring!