Birch Sap

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Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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Its the sort of skill i'd like to perfect for when i'm travelling by foot, stopping near a Birch, i can tap it and on waking have a good drink for breakfast to get me started for the day then moving on to the next beautiful spot... i wouldn't see it as stealing, but a gift from a tree. I'd certainly respect and thank the tree...

If you like the flavour of the sap. Have you tried it?

It is a little bit like coconut water. The “Free From” brigade love it, without realizing they are drinking a highly processed, usually sweetened, diluted cincentrate....
When they have a green coconut opened for them, they take a dip and throw it away.
 

boubindica

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Mar 13, 2018
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London
If you like the flavour of the sap. Have you tried it?

It is a little bit like coconut water. The “Free From” brigade love it, without realizing they are drinking a highly processed, usually sweetened, diluted cincentrate....
When they have a green coconut opened for them, they take a dip and throw it away.
yes i love it... in Deptford market, there's a stall where you can get a whole coconut... he hacks the top off and puts a straw in... i even like the jelly which i scrap out with a long spoon...

i did manage to taste a little Birch sap when i tapped that tree a few days ago... not the sap that went into my pot, that got contaminated with the thick inner bitter bark, but where i made my first attempt, where the bark was thinner and even, and got a few drops on my finger... very mildly sweet water... love it... :cat2:
 
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C_Claycomb

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Oct 6, 2003
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I think that every thread about tapping birch trees should come with a standard warning and links to the threads here that detail how drilling holes in birch trees in the UK is very likely to kill the tree.
https://bushcraftuk.com/community/i...ruth-about-birch-tapping.122230/#post-1522087

https://bushcraftuk.com/community/index.php?threads/augers.149067/#post-1854953

What is more important; You getting to feel all woodsy drilling holes in trees to collect some watery sap that you don't need, or the continuing life of the tree that makes up part of the countryside that we all profess to care about.

Plenty of people have shown safer ways to tap trees, there are pictures in those threads above, but there are still people out there cheerfully running around with augers who haven't thought through what it will do to the tree. :(
 
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JonathanD

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Sep 3, 2004
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Stourton,UK
Since I posted that thread about the death of all the birch I tapped with a auger, I’ve probably only tapped three trees in the years since. And I have only tapped large trees with thick bark. I also plugged them using freshly cut birch wands stripped of outer bark. Those trees are thriving. Augers certainly aren't the way to go when tapping trees and selection is also important.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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Just don't. The Russian birch syrup is a little sweeter than the stuff cooked up in my region.
It's a thriving business. Flitting about in the woods, poking holes in trees ( the Sap-Sucker birds are bad enough),
isn't useful.
 

Robson Valley

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I do! I use maple syrup in wet mop recipes as a smoker BBQ marinade to keep the cooking meat moist.
Butterflied leg of lamb, for example.

There's a smokey flavor (and nose) to good birch syrups. I really prefer that. Bunch of really weird sugars
in the sap and they carmalize very easily when heated. So when you see real Canadian Birch syrup,
don't let the toasty brown color put you off = it isn't burnt.

You all need to visit the sugar bush so you can get some hot syrup that's been poured in clean snow.
It sets up almost like a soft toffee.

In Canada, the birch syrup & candy business appears to be centered in Quesnel, British Columbia.
That's really Aspen Parkland Biome, just on the southern edge of the Boreal Forest Biome (aka taiga).
 

C_Claycomb

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Sorry about my turn of phrase in that earlier post. It was getting late, I hadn't got all I needed done in the day and had just ODed on several threads across several forums where people were either tapping birches or doing something else that was far from "leave no trace".

The area that I get to go for my woods time is public access National Trust land. It is beautiful but was mostly planted, so there are areas which are almost exclusively sweet chestnut, or ash, or beech, or oak or fir. The birch sort of fill in and are probably the most naturally occurring species. It is always sad to see the beech with initials carved into the bark, ring barked birch, trail-side hazel that have had rods hacked off with dull knives leaving splintered stumps. So many things that people want to do as part of "bushcraft" leave a mark, or cause wear and tear. Not only can this detract from other peoples' enjoyment of of the place, but wear and tear can soon add up.

It has been pointed out to me that some people are aware of birch that have been tapped for a decade (in Scotland) and still look healthy. Maybe there are different pathogens up there, maybe the trees are more resilient, maybe they picked just the right trees. It can't be discounted any JonathanD's observations.

I reckon it is better for people to be as fully informed as possible before making the choice to go auger tapping or not. If there is a risk of killing the tree it is the sort of thing I would think should be cleared with a land owner.
 
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C_Claycomb

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Someone mentioned fermented birch. I bought a couple of bottles of birch wine years ago from a specialist store in Market Harborough. I rather liked it. Still have one bottle saved for a special occasion.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
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I never had Birch Syrup but will order son to find it and bring it to daddy!

The ‘sensitivity’ of British Birch trees, can it be that they are on their southern limit and not 100% happy and healthy? Plus as mentioned before, other, stronger tree pathogens?
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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People here and in the Russian Far East (Kabarovsk Krai) are not about to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
They've got whole groves, acreages, square miles of birch to tap. It's business.
Best Betula papyrifera is 4" - 6" diameter, older & bigger stems are much slower.

Best not to be known for ignorant attempts at collecting. Sap is silly.
Render the stuff down on a simmer to see the viscosity of #1A Canadian Maple syrup.

Birch wine is skull crusher, not just skull cramps. Never again. No. Not.
 

Wayne

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Dec 7, 2003
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I’m not convinced that sensible tapping results in 100% mortality. If birch and other woody species can cope with a tractor flail then a small hole carefully plugged should not kill off a healthy tree.

I have tapped the tree next to my shelter for the past 10 years. It is still vigorous and healthy.
 
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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
It isn't possible to sustain a birch syrup commercial business if your ham-fisted tapping efforts kill a swath of your trees every year.
That does not happen in business here. Those business people know what to do. BC of Russia = same thing.
Sensible tapping, as you put it, does no harm, short term or long term. Learn what to do.

You ought to watch my grape vines bleed when I prune them. Even the humming birds figure out what's happening.
I ignore it every spring. Because it is considered normal. Ain't dead yet from planting in 2001.
 

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