Long before refined sugar filled supermarket shelves, resourceful pioneers and Native Americans relied on sugar and gums plants found in the wilderness to satisfy their need for sweetness and energy. These natural sources of sugar were more than treats, they were vital survival foods that provided quick calories during long journeys or harsh winters. From the towering sugar pine to the sweet-sapped maple and the fragrant sweet gum, the wild offered many ways to sweeten tea, preserve food, or simply sustain energy on the trail.
For modern-day preppers and outdoor survivalists, learning to identify and harvest sugar and gums plants remains an invaluable skill. Whether you’re living off-grid, lost in the wilderness, or simply exploring sustainable living practices, these plants can replace processed sugar and serve as an emergency carbohydrate source. They’re also part of a deeper connection with the land, understanding how nature provides nourishment without the aid of modern convenience.
Before you head out, equip yourself with a reliable field guide like the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees, which helps identify species safely and accurately. For more insights on edible and wild plant identification, the USDA offers excellent resources.
12 Sugar and Gums plants to exploit
1. Sugar Pine (Pinus Lambertiana)
The sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) is one of the most iconic and valuable sugar and gums plants found in the western mountains of North America. Known as the tallest and most massive pine species, its resin contains a naturally sweet substance called pinite. When the sap leaks from the bark and hardens in the sun, it crystallizes into amber-like nodules that early settlers and Native Americans used as a wilderness candy or quick source of carbohydrates.
To harvest pinite, look for trees with dried resin deposits on old wounds or broken branches. The hardened sap can be eaten raw, dissolved into warm water to make a sweet drink, or used as an emergency sugar substitute in field cooking. Its mild pine flavor pairs surprisingly well with tea or roasted roots, making it both a treat and an energy booster in survival scenarios.
For outdoor foragers, a reliable tapping knife like the Morakniv Companion Fixed Blade Outdoor Knife can make resin collection safer and cleaner.
2. Fir Tree (Abies balsamea)
The fir tree (Abies balsamea) is another remarkable contributor among sugar and gums plants, known for producing a fragrant resin that doubles as a natural chewing gum. This “balsam resin” is clear, sticky, and aromatic when fresh, but once dried, it hardens into brittle amber-like chunks. Early Native American tribes and early frontiersmen chewed these pieces both for their mild sweetness and for their refreshing pine flavor, which naturally freshened the breath.
Beyond its use as a wilderness treat, balsam resin was valued for its mild antiseptic and expectorant properties. In survival situations, a small amount can soothe a sore throat or help suppress a cough when no modern medicine is available. To collect it, look for blisters or sap pockets along the bark of mature trees—these can be punctured carefully to extract the resin without damaging the tree.
If you plan to harvest resin safely, consider using a reliable tool for delicate tapping work. Fir resin can also be stored in small airtight tins, making it an easy, natural sweetener or gum source during extended wilderness trips.
I am told that the pitch of the White Pine, Pinus Strobus, is sometimes substituted for that of the Balsam, but it is too sticky and generally has to be boiled before using. The taste is rather displeasing.
3. Red Grass (Phragmites communis)
Red grass (Phragmites communis), also known as the common reed, is one of the most abundant sugar and gums plants growing near ponds, rivers, and marshlands throughout North America. Standing tall and slender, this reed holds a surprisingly sweet secret, its hollow stems contain a natural sugary sap that becomes more concentrated during late summer and fall. When chewed raw, the inner pith delivers a pleasant, molasses-like sweetness that has sustained travelers and indigenous communities for centuries.
In addition to its sweet stems, the plant’s rhizomes (underground roots) can be dried, roasted, and ground into a nutrient-rich flour substitute. This flour contains starch and mild sugars, making it useful for baking or thickening soups when conventional ingredients aren’t available. In survival situations, Phragmites can serve as both a food source and a quick energy boost, particularly in wetlands where other edible plants are scarce.
When foraging, use the Fiskars 7-Inch Bypass Pruning Shears to cut stems cleanly without crushing the fibers. Always harvest away from polluted water sources since reeds absorb contaminants easily.
A former practice of the Indians, who cut the reeds after the sugar had hardened and placed them on blankets. After they had their fill, the sugar was shaken off and dissolved in water, forming a sweet, nourishing drink.
4. Sweet Gum (Liquidambar Styraciflua)
The sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) is one of the best-known sugar and gums plants native to the eastern and southern United States. Its distinctive star-shaped leaves and spiky seed pods make it easy to identify, but its real value lies in the resin that seeps from the bark. When this sap hardens, it forms small, amber-like chunks that can be chewed like gum or melted for use as a natural sweetener.
Historically, early settlers and Native American tribes used sweet gum resin not only as a natural candy but also for its therapeutic properties. The resin contains compounds similar to styrax and was used as a mild antiseptic and expectorant to ease coughs or sore throats. In modern wilderness survival, the resin can be chewed to relieve thirst and hunger temporarily, while providing trace calories and a refreshing taste.
To collect the resin safely, a lightweight, durable knife is ideal for gently scraping hardened gum from bark without damaging the tree. Once gathered, the resin can be stored in wax paper or small tins for long-term use as a portable, natural chewing gum.
When the tree is injured, a pleasantly scented balsamic sap follows, which, when it hardens, forms a resin or gum. This gum, copal-balsam or copalm, is sometimes used as a substitute for storax. The commercial storax comes from two other species of Liquidambar growing in southeastern Asia. The resinous gum that our species in North America produces is sometimes used as chewing gum.
5. Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
The Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) is a large forest tree with upright branches, the lateral ones often wide-spreading. The bark of old trees is dark gray or brownish, scaly, channeled, forming wide flat ridges. Young trees have bark that is brownish gray and nearly smooth. This is one of the most popular sugar and gums plants you can encounter.
The leaves have long stalks, or petioles. The blades are dark green above, paler beneath, about as wide as long, with five or occasionally three long-pointed irregular or coarse-toothed lobes. The yellow flowers appear just as the leaves are beginning to unfold, or often a few days earlier. They are long-stalked and drooping, making the tree conspicuous in bloom. The winged seeds, or samaras, are about an inch and a half long, and ripen in the autumn.
The Sugar Maple can be found in rich woods, often on hillsides, from Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Florida and Texas. The wood is very valuable, and many people consider the Sugar Maple to be the most valuable hardwood species in America.
The autumn foliage is probably the most beautiful of all our trees, turning to bright yellow, orange, or even scarlet, so that it is especially desirable for roadside planting. From the latter part of February to early April, depending on the latitude and season, holes are bored in maple trees into which spiles are driven.
The cool, clear sweet sap drips into pails or troughs and is then taken to the “sugarhouse” and boiled down into syrup or maple sugar, as the owner desires. On average, about fifteen quarts of the sap is required to make one pound of sugar. The amount varies greatly; however, the sap of some trees being much sweeter than that of others.
Five or six pounds to a tree is about an average. Some people manage to make twenty-three pounds of sugar from one tree in a season without reboring (making additional holes), and thirty pounds from one tree has been recorded. I knew a very large tree on my father’s farm that dripped eighteen gallons of sap in twenty-four hours.
Clear days after frosty nights are best for sugar making. The mere mention of maple sugar or maple syrup will call forth a chain of recollections to those who have lived in the country where this tree abounds.
Some of the most pleasant recollections are connected with the making of these sweets “tapping” the trees, gathering the sap, and boiling it down in the great pan in the sugarhouse in the woods. There was always enough weirdness about the whole process to excite our imaginations.
Another pleasing pastime was making maple sugar taffy and “sugaring off,” pouring the melted candy on snow and eating it with a fork, a pastime often indulged in by older folks.
These two activities are now being sold to tourists with great success in Canada, and it shows that they haven’t lost their charm throughout the years.
It is believed that the white people learned to make sugar from the maple tree from the Indians. Probably the earliest account was written about 1700. It tells how the Indians gathered the sap in bark or skin vessels and boiled it down in a crude way.
The report says that the sugar lacks the pleasing, delicate taste of cane sugar and almost always has a burnt flavor. Now, our modern society considers it the finest of all sweets.
6. Black Sugar Maple (Acer nigrum)
The black sugar maple (Acer nigrum) is a lesser-known cousin of the sugar maple but just as valuable among North America’s sugar and gums plants. Found primarily in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions, this hardy tree produces sap that’s slightly darker and richer in flavor than its eastern relative. Its syrup has a deep caramel note prized by homesteaders and backwoods syrup makers for both taste and long shelf life.
For those learning to tap trees, the process mirrors that of the sugar maple, drill a small hole on the sunny side of the trunk and insert a spout to guide the sap into a clean container. Tools such as a taper and a filter make it easy to collect and strain the sap in the field. Boil the liquid slowly over a fire or stove until it thickens into syrup or evaporates completely to form crystalline sugar.
The black sugar maple thrives in slightly drier soils and can withstand more temperature fluctuation, making it a reliable sugar source even when weather conditions shift. For preppers and off-gridders, it’s a steady producer of natural sweetness and energy when refined sugar is unavailable.
7. Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
The red maple (Acer rubrum), with its fiery fall leaves and wide range across North America, is another excellent member of the sugar and gums plants family. Though its sap contains slightly less sugar than that of the sugar maple, it can still be boiled down into a delicious syrup or concentrated to form natural maple sugar. Early settlers often tapped red maples in regions where sugar maples were scarce, using its syrup as a versatile sweetener for cornbread, tea, and dried fruit preserves.
In survival or homesteading situations, red maple sap can serve as a reliable sugar source when harvested correctly. Using a tapping kit so you can collect sap without damaging the tree’s internal structure. While the yield may be lower, the process is nearly identical: tap the trunk, collect the sap, and gently simmer it to remove water until it thickens into syrup.
According to guidance from University of Minnesota Extension, the sugar concentration of red maple sap averages about 1.5%, a bit less than sugar maple but still worth the effort for those who value natural, sustainable sweetness. With a little patience, this hardy tree provides a taste of wilderness sugar that connects you to a centuries-old tradition.
8. Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
The silver maple (Acer saccharinum) is a fast-growing, water-loving species that plays a key role among North America’s sugar and gums plants. Commonly found near rivers and floodplains, this tree is easy to recognize by its deeply lobed, silvery-backed leaves that shimmer in the wind. Although its sap contains slightly less sugar than other maples, it can still be boiled into syrup or reduced into a light, delicate sugar substitute ideal for everyday use in tea or baking.
Because the silver maple grows rapidly and thrives in damp soil, it’s a dependable choice for sustainable sugar tapping. In the early spring, as the snow melts, sap flows freely for several weeks. Its syrup tends to have a mild, buttery flavor and a lighter color than sugar or black maple syrup, making it ideal for those who prefer subtle sweetness. For survivalists and off-gridders, the silver maple offers both an accessible sugar source and fast-growing firewood, an essential combination for long-term wilderness living.
9. Ash-leaved Maple (Acer negundo)
The ash-leaved maple (Acer negundo), commonly known as the box elder, is a hardy, fast-growing tree that belongs to the same family as its sweeter cousin, the sugar maple. Though often overlooked, it’s one of the most widely distributed sugar and gums plants across North America, thriving in both dry plains and river valleys. Its sap may be slightly thinner and less sweet, but when boiled down, it still produces a mild, golden syrup that’s surprisingly satisfying.
Because box elders are easier to find in the wild than true sugar maples, they make an excellent alternative for foragers and preppers. When tapped in late winter, these trees can yield a steady flow of sap, especially during freeze-thaw cycles.
According to the Oklahoma State University Extension box elder syrup can have a flavor ranging from delicate to slightly nutty, depending on local conditions. While it may not match sugar maple syrup’s depth, it remains a reliable and sustainable sweetener for homesteaders and outdoor survivalists seeking natural alternatives to processed sugar.
The sap produces sugar but is less sweet than that of the Sugar Maple. In Illinois and elsewhere, groves of this tree have been planted for making sugar and syrup. The tree is easily grown and requires little maintenance.
10. Skeleton Weed (Lygodesmia juncea)
Skeleton weed (Lygodesmia juncea) is one of the lesser-known but surprisingly useful sugar and gums plants native to the Great Plains and western prairies. This wiry, drought-tolerant plant produces slender stems topped with delicate pinkish-purple flowers, but its real value lies inside. When cut or broken, the plant releases a white, milky latex that dries into a sweet, chewable gum once exposed to air.
Native tribes and early pioneers often collected this dried sap to use as a simple, natural chewing gum or as a quick source of energy during travel. The flavor is mild, somewhat similar to sweet clover, and the dried latex can last for months if stored properly. Though it lacks the strong sweetness of maple or pine resin, it’s still a valuable survival food that demonstrates nature’s ability to provide sugar even in arid landscapes.
Harvesting the milky sap is easiest using a fine-point multitool like the Leatherman Wingman Multitool, which allows you to nick the stem gently and collect the latex without crushing the plant. Because skeleton weed thrives in sandy soils and open sun, it’s an excellent species to learn for those traveling through dry grasslands or semi-desert environments.
According to William Gilmore, this plant was used by the Indians of the Missouri River valley for producing chewing gum. He says: “The stems were gathered and cut into pieces to cause the juice to exude. When this hardened, it was collected and used for chewing.”
11. Pilotweed (Silphium laciniatum)
Pilotweed (Silphium laciniatum), commonly known as the compass plant, is another remarkable example among wild sugar and gums plants that thrive in North America’s prairies. Its tall, sunflower-like stalks can reach up to ten feet high, and its large leaves famously align north to south, a natural compass for travelers. When the stem is wounded, a sticky resin seeps out, hardens, and forms a pleasantly sweet, aromatic gum that has long been used by Indigenous peoples as a natural candy and breath freshener.
The resin not only offers mild sweetness but also carries soothing properties for sore throats and minor digestive discomforts. Collecting it is simple: gently score the stem with a sharp tool, then allow the sap to dry before peeling it off. According to the University of Wisconsin Extension, pilotweed resin was once traded by Native Americans and early settlers for its gum-like texture and therapeutic uses. It’s a perfect example of how even plants from harsh prairie environments can yield valuable sugars and natural gums essential for survival.
12. Sugar Bush (Rhus ovata)
The sugar bush (Rhus ovata) is a resilient desert shrub that stands out among sugar and gums plants for its versatility and distinctive flavor. Native to the arid canyons and foothills of the American Southwest, this evergreen plant produces leathery leaves that sometimes exude a sticky, sweet residue, especially during hot, dry weather. Its small red berries, however, are the true prize. When crushed and soaked in cool water, they create a naturally sweet-tart drink known to Native tribes as “Indian lemonade.”
Rich in vitamin C and minerals, sugar bush berries offer both nutrition and hydration in survival situations. The drink can be sweetened further using other natural sugars or syrups from maple or reed sap, creating a refreshing tonic that energizes and restores electrolytes in hot weather.
Because it thrives in dry, rocky soil, the sugar bush is an important source of sustenance in regions where few other edible plants survive. For preppers and wilderness enthusiasts, it represents both a dependable sugar source and a lesson in adaptability, proof that nature’s sweetness can be found even in the harshest landscapes.
Concluding
Long before modern conveniences made refined sugar widely available, sugar and gums plants provided a lifeline of sweetness and energy to those who lived off the land. From towering pines and maples to humble prairie herbs, these plants reveal how nature supplies what humans need with just a little knowledge and effort. For preppers, off-gridders, and outdoor enthusiasts, mastering the identification and use of these natural sugar sources isn’t just a nostalgic skill, it’s a core part of true self-reliance.
Knowing how to tap sap, collect resin, or extract sweetness from wild berries can mean the difference between hardship and comfort in long-term survival scenarios. Whether you’re storing resin candies, brewing sweet drinks, or boiling sap into syrup, every one of these plants offers a renewable, sustainable alternative to store-bought sugar. A good reference tool like the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants is indispensable for safely identifying edible species and avoiding look-alikes.
With this knowledge, modern preppers can continue a centuries-old tradition, living closer to nature while ensuring that even in the wild, sweetness is never out of reach.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Are sugar and gums plants safe to eat in the wild?
Most sugar and gums plants are safe if correctly identified, but misidentification can lead to consuming toxic species. Always use a reliable field guide and avoid plants that exude milky latex unless you’re certain of their safety.
2. Can you make sugar at home from wild plants?
Yes. You can boil down tree sap from maples or reeds to produce natural syrup and even crystalline sugar. Resins and gums can also be dried and used as natural sweeteners or chewing gum substitutes.
3. What time of year should I collect sap from trees like maple or box elder?
Late winter to early spring is ideal. During this time, temperatures fluctuate between freezing nights and mild days, causing sap to flow freely.
4. How long can natural resins and syrups be stored?
When kept in airtight containers away from sunlight, resins can last for months, while boiled-down syrups can remain safe to use for up to a year without refrigeration if properly sealed.
5. Which sugar and gums plants are best for beginners to harvest?
Sugar maple, red maple, and sweet gum are the easiest to identify and harvest safely. Their sap or resin yields consistent sweetness and requires minimal processing.
Author Bio
Dan Mowinski is a lifelong outdoorsman, hunter, and homesteader with Native American (Piqwacket), English, and Polish roots. With decades of off-grid survival and traditional land stewardship experience, he teaches sustainable living and works closely with the Prepper’s Will community to preserve practical wilderness skills.
🕓 Last updated on: October, 2025
Useful resources to check out:
The Healing Plants God left us on this Earth
Recommendations For Planting Fruit, Nut and Shade trees