this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
552 points (98.8% liked)

Memes

45159 readers
4065 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 46 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] notjvb@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Other hardwoods can be tapped and their sap made into syrup, it’s just that maple is the tastiest, with the Sugar Maple being what we think of when it comes to making syrup. Birch and Walnut are probably the most common alternatives.

[–] messem10@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Just be careful with burch sap. You might find that you’re allergic to it and it’s pollen. The hives from the pollen is no joke.

[–] casino@feddit.nu 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Funny thing, in my family we're all allergic to birch pollen. So before the pollen season we often tap some birch sap and drink to bolster our immune system in advance. Dunno if there's any science behind it, but in my experience it's done wonders.

[–] Ferris@discuss.online 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think in context, I think you are desensitizing rather than bolstering. 👆 You may have meant that, 👈 but in case you didn't.

[–] casino@feddit.nu 4 points 1 year ago

Yes! That's exactly what I meant 😁, thank you.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've heard that eating local honey similarly lowers your allergy response to local pollen, and I believed that, so I'll believe this too.

[–] charlytune@mander.xyz 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a myth. For a start most people's hayfever isn't anything to do with flower pollen, it's grass and tree pollen and fungal spores. Pollen and spores can be carried by air currents and travel long distances. The flowers your local honey comes from are unlikely to be causing your hayfever. You should buy local honey over commercial honey though because it supports small producers.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you just need to find grass, tree, and fungal honey then to make it work. Easy peasy.

[–] charlytune@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Someone, somewhere, is definitely making fungal honey. But I think it might be an STD.

[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, there is scientific basis for that. It's immunotherapy

[–] NotAGuyInAHat@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Some thrillseeker just read "Watch out the syrup might be SPICY" lol

[–] neontetra@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting — is the birch sap/syrup more allergenic than maple? I’m allergic to birch to some extent maybe more than other trees. But also I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to maple also (and many other trees) but eat maple syrup no problem.

[–] somethingsnappy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Hard to say and there probably isn't much research on it. Just stick to maple syrup or the fake stuff.

[–] AapoL@sopuli.xyz 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know about other countries but in Finland people sometimes extract and drink birch sap. We call it mahla.

[–] Andrej-Zulanov139@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In Russia as well. And it's called simply "birch juice"

[–] Chadus_Maximus@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 year ago

We call it trussy juice.

[–] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting! TIL. I have only tried “birch beer” — birch flavored root beer

[–] Indi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My aunt used to live in Pennsylvania and when I'd visit her, she'd buy me this birch beer that was to die for. It was clear and I think local to the area. I've never been able to remember the brand. I should ask her!

[–] dingus182@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Indi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Hnng I can almost taste it lol

[–] Knusper@feddit.de 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You wouldn't think of it as traditionally delicious, but gum arabic is in lots of foods as a stabilizer.

[–] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I think that’s one of the main ingredients in Cola flavoring

[–] AstralWeekends@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

Birch sap is also tasty!

[–] yo_carny_bob_eye@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Russia we used to drink the blood of birches. It’s pretty good actually.

[–] phar@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

In the US they turn it into soda called Birch Beer. It's delicious

[–] MyDogLovesMe@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s the best of the best!

So, …it’s what the Canadian Tree Vampires crave!

[–] MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] peanut_boy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But what are electrolytes?

[–] No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago

What plants crave!

[–] menemen@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mastic resin us very popular in Turkey and (I think) also Greece. Used as a natural additive in stuff like ice cream or puddings, bit also as a natural bubble gum.

[–] 0101010001110100@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To add to this, it's a coniferous tree so mastic resin tastes delicious if you also enjoy coniferous flavours like juniper, rosemary, pine nuts, etc. They also put it in wine and you can get mastic honey. Tastes like a pine forest, in a good way.

[–] CulturedLout@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago

We used to grab globs of spruce gum off the trees to chew. Pain in the ass to get off your fingers though.

[–] sepiroth154@feddit.nl 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can also get pine sap.

[–] SmilingSkeleton@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

The pine needles make an excellent tea.

[–] squidman64@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sugar cane juice is delicious but I don’t think it’s a tree

[–] bamboo@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

It's a grass technically

[–] tal@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicle

Chicle (/ˈtʃɪkəl/) is a natural gum traditionally used in making chewing gum and other products. It is collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the genus Manilkara, including M. zapota, M. chicle, M. staminodella, and M. bidentata.

[–] BananaPeal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf 3 points 1 year ago

Exactly like that. Idk if it’s still the same, but a couple decades ago I went to a chiclet farm kinda deal in Mexico, and got to try the (cleaned) raw tree gum. Its pretty much a chiclet straight out of the tree, it just doesn’t have much flavor until after processing.

[–] BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I didn’t realize Guatemala was such an integral part of Chiclet originally. I wonder if William Wrigley Corp lobbied the government for what became the 1954 coup like United Fruit did.

[–] AverageJoe42@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Black Walnut and Hickory are both fantastic!

[–] Thteven@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Try it with some bark

[–] lemonadebunny@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

delicious blood

Do we have a cursed_comments or brandnewsentence community on here yet?

[–] Lamy@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I prefer human trees

[–] LSlowmotion@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sugar cane, Arenga pinnata

[–] VulKendov@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

Just here to point out that sugar is not a tree, it's a grass

load more comments
view more: next ›