Wintertime is not often the season we think of when craving an icy sweet treat, yet “sapsicles” during maple season are the equivalent to popsicles after a hot summer’s day at the beach.

These long, frozen icicles of maple sap are not only tasty, but could be the reason we have maple syrup today.

Theories vary on how Indigenous Americans first found maple sap to be a commodity, but it is believed that consuming “sapsicles” hanging from broken twigs of sugar maple trees may have provided the first unearthing of its sweetness. This discovery provided incentive to collect maple sap and boil off the water, leaving the syrupy goodness behind to be enjoyed.

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