Now Forage

Grape: Berries fully coloured and slightly soft. Stem where it joins the bunch turns woody and brown. Seeds easily visible inside. Sweet throughout when fully ripe — taste from different parts of the cluster as they ripen unevenly. Grapes do not continue ripening after harvest.

Sugar maple: Maple syrup season: tap trees in late winter when days are above freezing (4°C+) and nights still freeze. Sap runs clear and sweet; boil 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of syrup. Helicopters (seeds) and young leaves are also edible in spring.