Trees for Foraging

When it comes to foraging, people mainly think about picking berries and fruit, and harvesting mushrooms. But the trees in your area can also provide a bounty and can be a highly nutritional food source. Trees provide us with sap, syrups, and spices!

Maple Tapping

Tapping maple sap is one of the earliest harvests of the year and its arrival is an indicator that spring has sprung or will soon be on its way!  For me, maple season is the real start of the new year.

Maple tapping for syrup can begin during late winter or early spring. What triggers the sap to run are the first few days of temperatures in the plus with the nights still below freezing. This change triggers the sap that is stored in the tap root to be pumped out to the tips of the branches as the tree wakes up from winter.

Once sap is flowing, you drill a small hole in the trunk of the tree and drive in a tap or spile to collect the sap, with a bucket or bottle hung below to catch the dripping sap. This sap is then boiled down to make syrup.

Traditionally in Quebec or Ontario, maple syrup is made from sugar maples. That sap is boiled down at a ratio of approximately 40 to 1. This means a lot of boiling down. Here in Newfoundland we don't have access to sugar maples unless they have been planted on a property. But we do have native red maples and there are also many Norway maples planted throughout the island. Those species require a bit more boiling to reduce water and make syrup (often at the rate of 65:1, depending on variety), but I promise it is worth the extra effort.

If this seems like too much work or too time-consuming, you can still tap a tree for the sap or maple water. This slightly sweet water is very high in minerals. It is a healthy spring drink that you can also use for making teas.

Birch Tapping

Birch tapping can be done in the same way as maple, but birch sap requires a lot more reducing. The ratio of sap to syrup is about 100:1 for birch syrup and in my opinion nowhere as good as maple syrup. The syrup is slightly bitter, but don't let that turn you off from tapping birch trees because birch water (sap) is very refreshing and has even more healthy minerals than maple sap. When I drink birch sap, I can immediately feel that it is doing something good for me. Aside from hydration, it gives a natural boost of energy. Birch sap usually starts running towards the end of maple tapping season.

Alder

Alder trees are considered an invasive shrub. It's a small tree that can be used for smoking meat and the catkins can also be collected, dried, and powdered to make a spice that has a similar taste to pepper.

The male catkins can be found throughout the winter and into the spring hanging from the branches; they resemble elongated pepper corns. These can be harvested until they open and release their pollen later in the spring.

The catkins, once dried and powdered, have a complex peppery flavour with floral notes of citrus, pine, and slight bitterness. I use them mostly as a pepper substitute, but they also make a great ingredient when mixed with mustard seed to make your own Dijon mustard or can be added to bread or dough recipes.

Spruce Tips

In late spring, and into early summer, spruce trees are covered with tender green tips at the end of the branches. These are the new growth of the spruce tree and are referred to as spruce tips. The tender tips will quickly become woody and turn into extensions of the existing branch of the tree, so you want to catch them fast while they are still tender. At this stage they will taste more of citrus than pine.

They can be used as a beautiful herb for food preparation. I like to use them as a replacement for rosemary in anything I am cooking. They freeze really well and within the matter of minutes you can have a seasons worth in the freezer. They also are a great flavouring for drinks, ice cream, vinaigrettes, and spruce tip sugar cookies. Spruce tips contain more vitamin C than oranges, so it's a really health addition that's easy to find.

Tamarack Tips

Tamarack or Larch trees also produce new growth or 'tips' that can be used as a spice or flavouring in the same way as spruce tips. Here in Newfoundland these trees are sometimes (incorrectly) called juniper.

They are lemony in flavour. I really enjoy sprinkling them (fresh or dried) on fish or trout. They make a great blend or rub when combined with other spices and mixing them with sea salt is other great way to store and use them.

Juniper

Juniper is a low growing tree or bush that can also provide a great additive to your spice shelf. Junipers produce small round seed cones that are often referred to as juniper “berries.” They are the key ingredient for flavouring gin and can also be a versatile spice for cooking. I use them for all my pickles in place of peppercorns and as a flavouring for meats and sauces.