At my last property I had one red maple tree. I had to trim a branch in the fall and it dripped sap the next spring. I did attempt to collect some sap as a practical demonstration for daughters about how maple syrup is produced, but middle daughter decided on day two decided to have a closer look and spilled the pail of sap on the ground and that was the end of the experiment for that year. We moved the next.
SLIDE.... Homestead/prepper ping...alternative sweetener. If you have land, do not live in the northern tier of state, and / or prefer not to tromp around in the snowy woods of late spring you can grow and extract your own sorghum sweetener and do it in your tee shirt.
Useful Knowledge Sorghum Syrup
Or you can buy it on the internet. (I do.) Note...it is shelf stable and does not require refrigeration. SLIDE Over
Beau was Elk hunting out west and brought home a bottle of Birch Syrup. It had nothing on Maple Syrup. Nothing.
Box Elder Trees can also be tapped, which beau does. They’re total scrap trees, so they may as well do ONE useful thing in their lives!
27 Trees To Tap For Syrup:
https://practicalselfreliance.com/trees-species-tap-syrup/
The whole site is full of great info. They have walked the walk in terms of homesteading and self-reliance.