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Raw Maple Sap - The Health Benefits of Drinking Maple Water

When you are making your preparations for a more self-sufficient lifestyle, don’t forget about the things you have available in your own yard.  You can plant a garden, of course, but there are also greens, not-so-fondly known as weeds, that provide natural nutrition and health benefits.  What about something to drink, though?  If you have maple trees, you have a source of “water.”

The raw sap in maple trees is primarily water with a small percentage of natural sugars.  Rather than being the sticky substance one normally imagines when they think of sap, it is actually quite thin with just a hint of a yellowish hue to it.  It can be consumed straight from the tree, if handled properly, as it is sterile when inside the tree.  It’s only when it is harvested that it becomes susceptible to all of the exterior bacteria.  For this reason, to be safe, it’s best to boil the sap before drinking. 

 

Research is being done on the health benefits of maple water, and it seems there are some to be found.  Although the largest point of nutrition seems to be manganese, this is not the most important since it is not often the body is missing this particular mineral.  There are, however, a variety of vitamins and minerals being identified, along with an antioxidant value that rivals tomatoes.  One method of drinking the maple sap is to mix it with seltzer water to make a carbonated beverage.  For those who are hoping to kick their soda habit, this might be a possible solution.  Maple sap has just 45 calories per 500mL, and there’s no fear of that high sodium content found in bottled soda beverages.

 

 

The largest problem, at this time, with drinking maple sap is preserving it.  Once it has been collected, it must be stored at no more than 38 degrees and used within 7 days.  This seriously lessens the value of its usefulness.  However, we are looking into methods of preservation and storage and will be bringing further information about our findings in later articles.

Most people will first be unsure about consuming maple sap rather than waiting for its thicker, sweeter pancake topping counterpart, but the refreshing taste may surprise you.





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Danielle Reid

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