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In article >,
(Peanut-Butter) wrote:

> I've found a few sugar maple trees in the woods behind my house and
> about to cut'em down. But i'm not sure it's the right time of year. I
> know the sap is higher in sugar in December & January. Right now the
> sap is kind of bitter. Would i be better off waiting for the higher
> sugar content before cutting or does it matter?

Maybe it's just my plebe palate, but I can't really tell any diff
(smoking-wise) between any of the maples, much less from sugar maple
from month-to-month. It makes all meat (salmon , too)all taste like
bacon or ham to me. That said-I do think that the main goodies in smoke
arise from burning the sugars in the wood (vascular cambium?) sooo
maybe going for the higher sugar might be the thing to do.
I DO know that the Jack Daniel distill'ry uses sugar maple for their
filtration charcoal - might be worth a call to Lynchburg to get their
take on when to properly harvest sugar maple.

monroe(FWIW maple smoked salmon is pretty hammy bacony good)