It's official, according to the Wisconsin DNR website – the sap has begun to flow in maple trees, kicking off the maple syruping season for the year in our neighboring state and here in Minnesota as well. Daytime temps have been above freezing during the day, and nighttime temps are still falling below freezing during the night, setting up perfect conditions for sap to flow. The harvest typically begins around mid-March, although the dates can vary from year to year.

If you drive around near any of the maple woods or maple-covered hill-tops in the woodland areas of Minnesota or Wisconsin, you might see lines and lines of clear piping crisscrossing the forest, which carry the sap from the trees in an intricate system to collection tanks. You'll probably pass a truck or two with a huge sloshing container of freshly collected sap in the truck bed driving to the sugaring "shack". And you can probably spot some wood smoke rising, from a fire that burns for weeks boiling sap during the syrup – or sugaring – season.

Sap can be collected from any maple tree, including red maples and black maples, but sugar maples produce the sweetest sap for syrup. Maple syrup was an important food and medicine for Native people across North America, collected by tapping the trees and collecting the sap with birch bark before cooking or freezing the sap to remove the water and concentrate the syrup. (If you have a few maple trees in your backyard and are interested in a sweet family project, check out the MN DNR website for maple syrup-making classes now through the end of the month.)

It takes about 40 gallons of sap to boil down to 1 gallon of pure maple syrup, which makes real maple syrup a delicacy to enjoy over pancakes or french toast, drizzled on yogurt, oatmeal or fruit, or stirred into coffee or tea (even better with a little cream - yum!) long after the season for making it is over. Try it as a replacement for other sweeteners: far more healthful than sugar, it is a good alternative to use in smoothies, baked goods or as an ingredient in a glaze for roasting vegetables or meats. Maple syrup tastes rich, earthy and delicious – it adds flavor and character to sweet foods, while giving a less pronounced flavor than honey, and a more interesting flavor (plus a lot less processed) than agave nectar.

Maple syrup is full of minerals, and is an especially good source of the minerals manganese and zinc. Manganese is essential for the activation of enzymes that are important for the metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, and cholesterol in our bodies, while zinc keeps our immune systems healthy and helps with wound-healing, eye health and prostate health. Maple syrup is also medium low on the glycemic index – meaning how quickly it spikes our blood sugar after eating – making it a better choice once again than sugar or honey.

All that aside, I like to think of fresh maple syrup as the start of the local foods season in our part of the country. Maple syrup signals the very beginning of spring – and what a happy beginning it is.

"A sap run is the sweet good-bye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and the frosts." ~ John Burroughs, Signs and Seasons, 1886

Maple Flax Granola

1/4 cup flaxseeds

6 cups organic regular rolled oats

2 cups roughly chopped organic almonds

1 cup raw (green) pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut oil or olive oil

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup crystallized ginger (optional), finely chopped

2 cups organic dried fruit - mix to taste - raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, chopped apricots, mangos

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir flaxseeds together with oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, salt, oil, and maple syrup in a large bowl.

Spread mixture evenly in 2 large shallow baking pans (1 inch deep) and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, stirring and switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden brown, about 30 minutes total.

Cool granola completely in pans on racks, then stir in ginger (if using) and dried fruit.