There are several ways to do this. Traditionally, you'll need a spile/tap, a hammer, an appropriate drill bit, and a bucket with a lid. Alternatively, you can bushcraft these things using a knife to carve a spile, a rock as a hammer, or your canteen as a receptacle.
Tapping Into Trees As A New Water Source
Tapping into tree sap gives us the maple syrup we know and love, as well as a lesser-known product: pure, fresh, filtered water.
On average, a tapped maple will produce 10 to 20 gallons of sap per tap. And as long as a tree remains healthy, it should continue to produce sap for years if not decades. In fact, some trees have been producing sap for more than 100 years!
Some people enjoy drinking sap fresh from the tree, while others prefer to boil it for a brief period to kill any bacteria or yeast. Since it is certainly possible for harmful bacteria to be found in sap, the cautious solution is to pasteurize it before drinking.
Tapping a tree does create a wound, but it is a wound from which the tree can readily recover and does not endanger the health of the tree. Commercial syrup producers are able to tap trees for decades without adversely affecting the health of the tree. A vigorous tree will heal, or grow over, a tap hole in one year.
Trees that can be tapped include: sugar, black, red and silver maple and box elder trees. Of all the maples, the highest concentration of sugar is found in the sap of the sugar maple. Generally the ratio of sap to syrup for the sugar maple is 40 to 1 (40 gallons of sap yields one gallon of syrup).
While it's possible to tap a tree to collect pine sap, the process does damage the tree, making it inadvisable in all but the most unique of circumstances. A much easier method of collecting pine sap is to look for the golden pine sap crystals along the tree trunk or branches.
“Overall, tree waters are a great alternative to other sugar laden choices – helping you to keep hydrated while also keeping your sugar intake within the new current recommendations for which your short and long term health will greatly benefit.”
However, the sap that courses through a tree can be highly beneficial. Maple, birch, and walnut saps are regarded for their healthy properties that include minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, and nutrients to name a few.
The concentration of maple sugar in Maple water is approximately 2%, compared to 66% concentration in maple syrup. Though drinking maple water is considered to be beneficial, you need to make sure it is certified organic.
Insert the spile into the loop on the hook (hook facing outward), and then insert the spile into the tap hole. Gently tap the spile into the tree with a hammer (do not pound the spile into the tree, as this may cause the wood to split). If the sap is flowing, you should immediately see sap dripping from the spile.
Most trees are around 40 years old when they first get tapped for their sap. If sustainable harvest practices, such as only tapping fresh conductive wood and limiting taps per tree to no more than two, then UVM research suggests that this tree will be able to be harvested for the next 100 years or more!
How quickly the sap buckets fill is based on the weather and how the sap is flowing, but it usually takes about 2 to 3 days to fill a bucket. If it's a nice warm day, the syrup will keep flowing at a steady drip.
You cannot kill tree roots with boiling water. There is a theory that you can kill tree roots with boiling water, by exposing as much of them – and the stump if it's still intact – and drilling holes into them. Pour boiling water into the holes is said to cause heat-shock to the roots. This will not work.
Spiles (rhymes with smiles) are small wooden or metal spouts used to funnel the sap into collection buckets or bags. These hollow tubed spiles are tapped into small holes drilled a couple of inches deep into the trees. Multiple spiles can be supported by larger mature trees.
Essentially this is a laxative process in which the role of maple syrup is as a sweetener and energy source to maintain metabolism during the process. Organic Grade B Pure Maple is usually recommended.
What does maple sap look and taste like? Maple sap, as it drips from the tree, is a clear liquid containing about 2% dissolved sugar. It looks just like water, and has a very slight sweet taste. The true maple flavor comes out as part of the heating and boiling process.
While sap is unlikely to cause serious problems, avoiding sap ingestion removes any risk. Depending on the tree type, licking sap can lead to stomach upset, vomiting, lethargy, drooling, or lack of appetite.
Bacteria can grow in the stagnant water in Christmas tree stands, whether commercial or home-prepared Christmas tree preservative solutions are used. Drinking a contaminated solution could cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in children and pets.
Be sure to replace the water that is used each day and don't allow the stand to dry out. Do not add sugar, aspirin, bleach or floral preservatives to the water; plain tap water is all that is needed to keep your tree fresh.
Yes, slightly, because it contains some nutrients. In two tablespoons, you get quite a bit of the mineral manganese and the B vitamin riboflavin, plus small amounts of the minerals calcium, potassium, and zinc. In addition, pure maple syrup contains antioxidants.
As well as maples there are a few other trees that produce edible sap. The white walnut (Juglans cinerea), black walnut (Juglans nigra), heartnut (Juglans ailantifolia) and the English walnut (Juglans regia) will all yield tasty sap, with the heartnut boasting sugar levels comparable to the sugar and black maples.
It's naturally antibacterial, so pine resin has been chewed as a gum for mouth complaints as well as sore throats. A tea made from pine resin is supposedly good for arthritis as well. The resin or sap from pine trees has a variety of uses, most of which don't involve eating it.
Sap is edible, especially when you boil it down into syrup. Sap is that sticky substance you sometimes see oozing out of tree trunks. But is tree sap edible? The short answer is yes.