Tree Saps, Not Syrups ?? ! Maple, etc

My question is, since sugar is so cheap, and honey is more easy to harvest, etc........
Why not just harvest Maple Sap or other trees Sap, to drink. Not to boil down to Maple Syrup?

I don't live up north, So have no experience with any of these. Just curious in case I try tapping trees on some cold winter in North East Texas some time in the future.

Can 'raw' sap be drunk as a health drink, mineral water, nutrient rich fluid? Or must it be boiled down? IS something enzymatic or chemical going on that necessitates the cooking process?

Obviously NO ONE will be selling tree sap for transport, but for personal use, close to the source. Seems like the better option unless you NEED the income, or have a system already in place that makes it very efficient and profitable.

Thanks

Ce Rice : Yes it can be drunk as a health drink, simple refrigeration will allow it to be kept for long times! Your kidneys could never process this liquid to allow you
to use it in a survival mode, as night time temperatures need to fall to or below freezing at night to get a 'run of sap' lasting a few days !

You have a Maple down there called the Big _____ Maple? Uvalde maybe? I have heard anecdotal reports that it is tasty with good maple flavor, but i have no
personal experience with it !

So Your local conditions will be your local conditions, weeks of freezing temps leading up to Freezing nights and Bright Sunny days! Google maple tree tapping
spouts have been made from many different types of wood plastic is ubiquitous these days ! Big AL

Ce Rice wrote:My question is, since sugar is so cheap, and honey is more easy to harvest, etc........
Why not just harvest Maple Sap or other trees Sap, to drink. Not to boil down to Maple Syrup?

Sugar may be cheap, but it's not Maple syrup! I'm not sure if honey is easier to harvest or not since people loose so many hives. I haven't harvested honey yet - next year I hope.

People do drink the sap but it's only slightly sweet. It will spoil, unlike Maple Syrup. I had some Maple sap soda a few weeks ago but it wasn't great.

I like honey in tea, but Maple syrup in coffee is the way to go.

Lastly, Maple syrup is much easier to make on a homescale than sugar. If you make it yourself, you know you haven't done harm to the environment to get your sweetener - just like Northerners used to use Maple as a sweetener because they didn't approve of slavery.

I believe that in South India, "toddy" is simply coconut sap tapped from the trees just like maple syrup, left to ferment briefly.Appraently a popular traditional drink. Since I don't live in South India I haven't actually seen or tried it.

The main reason syrup has been made is to preserve the sugar for the longer term. Seriously important in most maple growing areas where sources of sugars have been historically limited. Modern transport and agriculture has reduced that need for seasonal storage as you can go down to the shops and buy sugar trucked in from the tropics.

Syrpu does, obviously, have much more flavour than sugar but in many circumstances that is actually a disadvantage. Imagine replacing sugar with syrup in every cake recipe.

We tap our birch trees every year and just drink the sap. It is a wonderful, slightly sweet, mineral rich, health drink. Preservation is tricky though, as it is very prone to fermentation. Even kept in the fridge it will start to go sour within a week. If you leave it out in 50F temps it will start turning within hours. I imagine it could be pasteurized and bottled for long term storage, or maybe frozen, but that may lessen the health benefits.