MAPLE



It isn't hard to recognize the maple tree. It's leaf is even on the Canadian flag. And in the fall when leaves change color, they can be quite spectacular.



The winged seed pods are also distinctive. The seeds are edible, but it takes nearly 400 of them to an ounce, so they're hardly worthwhile.

The sugar maple shown above is probably most famous, but all species of maple will produce syrup. The amount of sugar in the sap varies from species to species, and even from tree to tree, but they all produce syrup.

Getting to the syrup isn't easy. it's almost pure water as it comes out of the tree. In fact,in areas where water is polluted, the maple is a good source of pure drinking water. To get to the syrup, most of the water must be boiled away. You may have to boil away as much as forty gallons of water to get a gallon of syrup.

Are you looking for something legal to run through your still? Collect the distilled water as you boil down the syrup. you won't get as much for the distilled water as you would for the moonshine but, hey, it's legal.

If you keep boiling it, you will eventually get maple sugar, which has far more vitamin B, calcium, and phosphorus than commercial refined sugar. It seems hard to believe, but colonists used to apologize to their guests when they only had maple sugar, because they couldn't afford the more expensive and inferior refined sugar.

Don't have any maple trees in your area? Hickory and birch trees will also produce syrup.

UPDATE: A fellow who knows more about stills than I do, has just pointed out to me that my idea to capture the distilled water, probably isn't such a good idea. The temperature in the still will be higher because it's under pressure, and you run the risk of scorching the syrup.

Onward and upward,
airforce