Birch Sap

[dunlin]

Hi all,
I was reading about birch sap,it apparently starts to rise from the root sometime in spring. And was hoping someone had tried it and could give me some advice.
1, when is the best time to do it

2, how much can you safely take without causing the tree any harm

3, what does it taste like

4, has anyone tried making wine from it

any advise would be appreciated as im a complete novice. I believe its still done in sweden and canada but i dont know of anyone doing it over here.

.........cheers mark n.............

ps:- its supposed to be very good for people who suffer from hay fever...

[Stewy]

Plenty of people do it Mark, have a peek here.

River Cottage :: View topic - March Masterclass

[Stewy]

More info here.

Birch tapping? about now?

[dunlin]

Hi stewy,
Thanks for the reply,wine recipe and information. I didnt realise people where starting tapping so soon in the year thought it was around the end of feb beginning of march.
Might try norway maple as well as birch as there is a norway maple next to where i work.
Have you tried it yourself and if so what does it taste like and how long will it keep if refridgerated.
Once again many thanks stewy for replying i wasnt sure if anyone would know what i was talking about.
........cheers mark n........

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by dunlin

Hi stewy,
Thanks for the reply,wine recipe and information. I didnt realise people where starting tapping so soon in the year thought it was around the end of feb beginning of march.
Might try norway maple as well as birch as there is a norway maple next to where i work.
Have you tried it yourself and if so what does it taste like and how long will it keep if refridgerated.
Once again many thanks stewy for replying i wasnt sure if anyone would know what i was talking about.
........cheers mark n........

Sorry to confuse Mark, these are old threads if you check the dates, I think you are correct in the March sort of time.

[Stewy]

No, not had a go myself but would be willing to give it a try, sorry that I can't give you any first hand knowledge on the subject.

[dunlin]

Thanks for the info stewy,
I will write another thread in the next month or two and let you know what its like to taste.
........cheers mark n.........

[Highland Damsel]

Moniack winery in Muir of Ord near Inverness make birch sap wine, can't remember if i'v tried it sorry, you should find it on the Internet.

[outdoorguy]

done it a few times.. tastes very pure.. and i remember even on a warm day it came out cold.. most refreshing.. u can just cut a v low down on the tree and it will trickle out.. better still put a small twig in the point of the v.. this will help it run into any container that u use.. most eco way is to drill it and put a wooden peg the same size as the hole with a channel cut into it.. wont waist any that way and then make another peg and hammer it into the hole to stop the tree 'bleeding'.. difficult to explain.. easy to do.. check out ray mears wild food dvd.. awesome.. hope this helps anyway.. james

[coasty]

I made some wine from it years ago,,, I am afraid the result was ,,,mmm how can I put it,,,Yes the result was dreadful,,,, It was what I rather imagine petrol to taste like,,,

However I was never much of a wine maker

Andy

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by coasty

I made some wine from it years ago,,, I am afraid the result was ,,,mmm how can I put it,,,Yes the result was dreadful,,,, It was what I rather imagine petrol to taste like,,,

However I was never much of a wine maker

Andy

Hi Coasty, my dad used to make wine from virtually anything - cabbage, carrots, elderberries, etc but don't think he ever tried birch sap. The strange thing was that he was teetotal and gave all the wine away.

[dommyracer]

It's been quoted that the best time to tap Birch is when the buds are the size of a squirel's toe, but it's quite a short window (2-4 weeks) so it's easier to test the tree from time to time. You can do this by lifting (not taking it off completely) a piece of bark with a sharp knife, and making a cut into the trunk, seeing if anything comes out.

How much to take really depends on the size of the tree, the size of the hole you drill in it and whether or not you plan to tap the tree every year.

Also, it's not so much about how much you take overall, more about how much you take a day - you can take a fair amount and still leave the tree enough to do it's stuff.

When I've done it in the past I made a hole about 15mm and got about 3 litres a day.

It tastes nice, like water but thicker and more fortifying and slightly sweet. Tastes lovely boiled up with some pine needles.

Here's a decent how-to...

Tap the sap - Song of the Paddle Forum : : The call of the Open Canadian Canoe

[hank]

I made some about 30 years ago. I used a Brace and bit to bore an upwards facing hole. Put a rubber bung in ( the type that winemakers use on demi johns ) put a tube in and left it overnight.
I followed some rules that recommended 1 gallon of sap for each 9 inches diameter of the tree. I used a Sauterenes yeast. It produced a very decent wine.

[The Woodman]

Here's some first hand experience!

First find a suitable birch tree, one where the bottom metre or so is fissured and the trunk becomes smooth at chest height. I use an adjustable auger in a hand brace and drill a hole just big enough to push a rubber demi john bung into, the one with the hole running through it. Don't drill too deep, it is not neccessary to get into the wood. Push a length of clear plastic wine making tubing into the hole and other end into the demi john. If you do this in the evening, there'll be a full gallon for you in the morning. Use it with whatever recipe you want, there's a good one using lemons and raisins, but use it immediately as the liquor goes cloudy after a couple of days and you'll NEVER get rid of the cloudiness, whatever substance / equipment you use. As stated, it is pretty tasteless stuff straight out of the tree, save you energies for birch alone, the maples and sycamore are a waste of time in my opinion.

It is some of the best wine I have ever made and freeze distillation makes a liqueur hard to beat.

dommyracers "squirrels toe" is a new one on me, I just snap the end of a twig and sap just drops from it when the time has come.

Do it enjoy the results.

[Siluri]

I tried it last year, used a piece of clear wine making tube to extract the sap after drilling about 2 thirds of an inch into a mature tree. It took about a day to fill a 2 liter bottle. Then I bunged up the hole with a piece of hazel whittled to shape and the trees fine to this day. (I read somewhere not to use copper pipe as it damages the tree)
As The Woodman mentioned the sap has a pretty bland taste. Its more a refreshing drink of water than a syrup. Although I have heard people say that a syrup can be made by boiling off the excess water.

Woodman do you have a recipe for the wine you mentioned?

[The Woodman]

Hi Siluri and fellow birch sappers
The recipe I use comes from the Shooting Times, Feb 18th 1999

1 gallon birch sap
2 lemons and 2 oranges
1/2 lb raisins or sultanas, minced or chopped
3 lbs sugar or 1 quart honey
all purpose yeast

Briefly;
Peel and slice the citrus fruits, discarding pith and peel. Put fruit into sap and bring to boil and simmer for 10 -20 minutes. Pour into fermentation vessel with sugar and stir until dissolved. Add yeast when cooled and leave for three days, stirring regularly. Put liquor into demi john and ferment.

When kept for a year it will be ready to drink or rack it off and keep for further twelve months. (if you can keep your hands off it!)

I use honey as we have a beekeeper in the family.

Have a go, it's really easy and the results are worthwhile. Good luck.

[Siluri]

Thanks for that Woodman.

Its perfect timing really as the birch are just about ready.

Originally Posted by The Woodman

When kept for a year it will be ready to drink or rack it off and keep for further twelve months. (if you can keep your hands off it!)

Laughing at that, the last load of wine I made got drank as it was still fermenting (yeast and all) I sat on the sette burping and farting for days. This year I got a plan to keep my hands off it by drinking some nettle and dandilion beers instead.

[fergus]

The birch sap is rising fast here in the South East. For the current issue of Eat Sussex magazine I wrote specifically about tree tapping. The article appears below. Having reread it I've discovered a fundamental error or, rather, omission - can you spot it? I've corrected it at the end.

Springtime Tonic-time

Reading both old and modern herbals as well as more recent books on wild food, it is fairly common to come across various plants referred to as spring tonics and blood purifiers – nettles, cleavers, watercress and chickweed are good examples. The underlying assumption here was that, living with the seasons, our body required the restorative nutrients specific to leafy greens, these where essential for maintaining good health following a long winter diet of predominantly preserved foods and root vegetables. If we chose to make this as relevant now as in former times it would be both fantastic for us, and beneficial for the planet! And, yet, being synonymous with hope and new beginnings spring, in essence, is a powerful tonic itself in so many ways, a tonic that sets ones blood pumping with excitement and eager anticipation of the coming months of light, energy and abundance. As our pulse quickens to the rhythmic beat of the dawning season, so too it is with the trees – their sap rising, pumping forth life-giving water and nutrients to send the young leaf buds bursting forth. For me, spring begins in earnest with the yearly ritual of tapping trees for sap, capturing this essence of spring, to be savoured in the months ahead. Birch (Betula species), Lime (Tilia species), Sycamore (Acer species), Walnut and various other trees can all be successfully tapped for their sap, the first two providing the best results in my experience.
There are several methods for doing this; here is one simple way. Any time between the end of Feb and the first week in April, take a metre length of 0.5-1cm diametre plastic tubing, a 2 litre plastic bottle (keep the tops to put on the bottles when returning to pick up the sap), a drill with drill bit the same diametre as the plastic tubing, a piece of tissue or cotton wool, a lump of plasticine, a wooden bung and a hammer. Select a suitably sized and well-established tree – at least 8-10 inches across. Mark a spot 2-3 feet up from the tree’s base. With the drill bit angled about 30 ˚ up from the horizontal, drill a clean hole about 5 cms deep into the tree. Blow out bits of debris. Liquid should drip from the hole within 10-20 seconds at the rate of 1-4 drops per second at the peak of sap flow. If not, hammer in a wooden bung and try another tree (note: the sap collecting season may have ended, in 2007 it fell between the dates given above, but often there is just a two-week window of opportunity around mid-March). Push one end of the plastic tubing 1-2 cms into the hole so that it is held firmly in place. Place the other end into the collecting bottle, far enough in so that it can’t slip out. Gently pack tissue or cotton wool around the tube at the neck end of the bottle, allowing the air to escape as the bottle fills with sap and to prevent insects from getting in. Scoop out a handful or two of soil at the base of the tree and place the bottle in the shallow hole created to prevent it falling over. As a precaution, to prevent any leakage, you can roll out and press a small piece of plasticine around the tube to make a perfect seal with the tree trunk. Leave for 12 hours, after which time the bottle will most likely be brimming with sap. Finally, plug up the hole to prevent infection.
The sap (actually about 95+% water) can be evapourated to make a sublimely delicious if somewhat energy intensive syrup (fantastic with elderflower fritters). Also, speaking of elderflower, you could freeze a couple of litres and use it for making elderflower Champaign in May. Better still, in my opinion is to make a lovely refreshing wine right now. It’s easy! Make a high alcohol tolerant wine yeast starter culture. For this, simply follow the instructions on a packet of wine yeast – usually this involves adding a teaspoon of yeast and sugar to about 3 fl oz of boiled and cooled water that is then shaking in a clean sterilized bottle. The top is loosely fitted on and the bottle left in a warm place for about four hours or until the yeast becomes active – you’ll notice bubbles rising and a little froth at the top (note: you don’t have to buy yeast. I actually produce my own cultures from the yeast blooms on wild bullace plums). Next, sterilize 2 demijohns, 2 rubber bungs, 2 air-locks and 1 plastic funnel – the products used for cleaning babies bottles are fine for this purpose. Put 8 pints of sap and 1kg of sugar into a large pan and bring to the boil stirring in all the sugar. Add the juice of 1 lemon and 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient. Empty and rinse the sterilized demijohns with boiled (but cooled slightly) water. Divide the sap equally between the 2 demijohns, pouring in using the sterilized plastic funnel. Add yeast starter culture and fit bungs and air-locks. Leave in an airing cupboard for 5 days before transferring all the sap into just one of the demijohns. Ferment until no bubbles appear in the air-lock (1-3 months). The wine may just be ready in time for some seriously heady and debauched Beltane revelries!

The error is that I ought to have mentioned that the boiled sap should be allowed to cool to blood heat or room temperature before adding the yeast culture!

[Stewy]

Hello Fergus, welcome to WAB, Is this Fergus the roadkill chef?

[fergus]

Yes, just arrived here via your link (Badgers) from the River cottage forum.
PS I HATE!!!!!!!!!!the title 'roadkill chef'. It's my own fault of course! I originally only did a screen test for Jamie Oliver's TV company Fresh One because I thought no one would be interested AND I'd probably get a free meal at Fifteen. I was right about the latter, wrong about the former!

[Stewy]

Just Fergus then.

I'm sure you'll like it here and have lot's to contribute, especially in this section amongst others and make sure you have a nose around the fungi forums.

[Siluri]

Does anyone know if the Birch sap fluctuates in its sugar concentration throughout the period when it rises? I read a post on another site that said as April approaches it is at its strongest and wondered if there was any truth in this. Could the weather also effect it I.e., would it be more concentrated in a hot sunny spring than a wet cold one ?

Regardless, I got my first wine in the bin now, taken on March the 1st. I'm also hoping to get another 5L at the end of the month. Using a slightly different recipe.

[The Woodman]

Don't know the answer to that one, I'm afraid. I've never been able to detect any sweetness in the sap. Good luck with it anyway.

[dommyracer]

Sugar concentration can vary, but there are so many variables that affect it (temperature, soil conditions, humidity, available moisture, size of tree, amount of foliage) it's not easy to predict.

[dunlin]

tried it for the first time the other day and it tasted quite good.only took a small amount. I will get some more and attempt to make some wine.Thanks for all the replies
...regards mark.........