Sapsicle

Several degrees of frost this morning, and barely broke 0˚C all day. This is good news - for the sap anyway. Lo and behold, it is running again, and quickly, so we had quite a decent collection by this afternoon.

We also noticed a few sapsicles, like the one in the picture. These grow from points where the maple tree has been damaged - a small branch had been cut in this instance - and the leaking sap freezes as it trickles out of the wound. This sapsicle was seven or eight inches long and others were even bigger. The little drop of liquid at the end is very sweet because the sugar has been concentrated (yes, I tried it).

It has been suggested that native Americans learned to tap maple trees after finding naturally occurring sapsicles and eating them.