Tap Dancin'

Joe Weflen
March 22, 2011
Tap Dancin’

Spring is here; at least on the calendar it says that it is spring. So far spring has been birds chirping, standing ankle deep in mud on the driveway, perching precariously on chunks of ice that threaten to break away with just the right amount of encouragement, and overall looking to nice dry weather. As temperatures get above freezing during the day, and slip back below freezing at night it causes sap to really flow in trees, especially those of the Acer genus (maples to you non-foresters). Driving along out in the country you may see forests laden with buckets or plastic bags hanging from taps in Sugar Maples. Back where I live south of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, not too far from the border, we don’t have many sugar maples in our woods. On my drive home for Spring Break I couldn’t count how many sugar maples I observed.
But I digress. Sugar Maples aren’t the only thing that can be tapped. Technically you can tap birches, which would be something I would like to try someday. But the overlooked tree, and one that rolls of people’s tongues with disdain, is the good old Acer negundo, or the Boxelder. Some may not know of the boxelder tree, but know quite well the boxelder bug, a populous annoying insect that makes its way into your homes and I don’t know about you, but they black out the corners of windows when the sun starts warming things up. Last year I had been doing some reading and noticed that boxelder was one of the trees that could be tapped for syruping, so I thought why not give it a try?
The sap runs like sap should, so many parts water that for all intents and purposes it practically is. But when drank has a slight boxelder taste to it, and for those who do not know what boxelder tastes like, break a twig and give it a good sniff. That will give you a pretty good idea of what the taste is like. Last year I had collected just short of 20 gallons of sap, which boiled down to approximately one and a half quarts of syrup, which tasted just about like any other syrup.
People like to bad mouth the boxelder, referring to it as a junk tree. This is true when looking at trees as they get older, they are notorious for shedding branches when getting old. They are also fairly “weedy,” meaning that they can grow quite easily and colonize fairly readily. To me, this is just the first step in secession, these fast growing light loving trees pop up, and in the meanwhile shade loving trees can come up underneath. So I implore you, before bad mouthing the humble boxelder, give it a chance. Build a tree fort in one, or even go the extra step and tap a few for syrup, I know I’d tap it.