Around 2 years ago, my husband had a fantastic idea. Well, we both thought so anyway.
It was around the time of year when maple sap started flowing from the trees (end of Winter/beginning of Spring), and we were at our friend’s farm to watch them make maple syrup to sell in their farm stand. This farm is over a 100 years old, which has been passed down from generation to generation, and they have always made the syrup from the maple trees on their property. Fair to say they are experts in the trade, as many farmers are in the Hudson Valley, upstate New York area where maple trees are in abundance.
My husband tapping one of our maple trees upstate NY
Maple water AKA sap, is very tricky to obtain, and I write that meaning there is an extremely short window of time to be able to tap maple trees to get the sap; the season generally lasts for between 4-6 weeks. Not just that, the day time temperature must rise above freezing and the night-time temperature must fall below freezing, or else no sap here!
Maple trees store food in the form of starch in their trunks and roots before the cold winter weather starts. Months later, with spring on the horizon, and the pressure of the rising temperatures the starch converts to sugar, and the sap starts flowing.
People tap maple trees by boring holes into the trunks and collecting the sap in buckets.
To make Maple Syrup, the sap is heated, evaporating the water which in turn leave the concentrated syrup behind. We saw this procedure done over a log fire which literally took days to produce maple syrup. As food for thought, astoundingly, it takes around 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 ounce of maple syrup!
We saw how maple syrup is made, and thought; why not just take the water from the tree instead of making it into syrup, bottle it raw & unpasteurized, and sell it? We saw it as a sustainable alternative to coconut water as it can be made local, rather than produced overseas and then shipped here to the United States. Alas though, somehow along the way we became distracted and it never came to fruit.
So good, I am easily able to drink this every day
So, I know that you are all very curious as to how it tastes? Well, to me, it tastes subtly sweet, with an earthy feel to it. You just feel healthy drinking it, and it is a nice nourishing alternative to just drinking plain water all the time. With my apothecary mind, I think that maple water will also be a wonderful addition to soaps, creams and scrubs, but that is a whole other article!
GIVEAWAY TIME
Want to win a delicious 3-pack sampling from DRINKmaple to try out for yourself? Well today is your lucky day! Enter below to win three 8.5 fl oz. tetra packs of pure maple water. If you are the winner, DRINKmaple will ship you the prize, direct from their warehouse, as soon as possible.
This giveaway ends at 12AM on Friday the 5th of September, and is open to USA residents only. Otherwise, you can buy a 3-pack direct (as well as other products) direct from the DRINKmaple website HERE for around $9 USD, plus shipping.
Good Luck, and thanks for stopping by Willy B Mum.
Peace, Love and Plants Make the World Go Around!
I would love a berry flavor…perhaps strawberry!
Great idea, I think strawberry will work really well!
Hmmm like a carmel maple latte would be cool, i used to drink something like that at Tully’s when i lived in japan… yum!!
Yeah, you win! That sounds amazing.
strawberry maple!
Strawberry maple is a good one too; agreed!
we had maple trees growing up. we tapped them to collect the maple but never thought to drink the water!
The same realization happened with my husband and I. It was like a light went off, it really is amazing stuff. I love the taste!
I think it would be so yummy if it came in an espresso flavor!
Very interesting idea; love it!
Sounds delicious! I love Maple Syrup, but we don’t have many Maples here in Australia!
You can try it next time you are here in New York. I am sure it will be everywhere by then, or maybe even straight from the tree!
I think an apple flavor would be good. Yum.
An apple a day keeps the Doctor away. Great idea.
Maybe a Maple Cream water…sounds yummy!
Interesting thought. You mean like a soda float kind of beverage?
This sounds yum! A passion fruit type flavor would be interesting.
I love passion fruit, ate it a lot in Australia growing up. It just does not seem to be so readily available where I am in the USA though.
I think I would prefer it plain! Not a fan of flavored waters. I like squeezing my own fresh citrus in water!
Yes, I can see that. Why mess with it when it is already perfect and pure.
I imagine that something not too sweet would taste good! And seriously, I’ve caught my son on many occasions licking a tree to try to get maple (the horror!). Great giveaway.
Ha, that is hilarious. Love it.