Birch Sap

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Harvest the sap when the leaves are the sie of a mouses ear ... that is the advice I was given - and it worked well for me!
 
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Ive never seen the point in this, its just sugar water isnt it?

Yes, to start with. It is refreshing as a drink but a drop of birch sap is nice in a malt (just a drop mind). But, if you reduce it, you can get it down to a sweet base that can be fermented. Reduce it further and you can get a syrup. I'm not sure boiling it for that long is environmentally friendly however :)
 
Yes, to start with. It is refreshing as a drink but a drop of birch sap is nice in a malt (just a drop mind). But, if you reduce it, you can get it down to a sweet base that can be fermented. Reduce it further and you can get a syrup. I'm not sure boiling it for that long is environmentally friendly however :)
It was also mentioned that it was 60 litres to reduce down to 1 litre of syrup! That must take some time!!
 
You can just buy birch syrup on Etsy, but it is very expensive. Very.

But, maybe that isn't surprising. Maple syrup manufacture is a full scale and relatively efficient industry. Though that doesn't explain why there isn't a birch syrup industry. Maybe the trees are too fragile to invest in. They canker up something chronic when they are tapped and aren't that long lived in the first place. The great big maples don't suffer the same.

 
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Does anyone have any advice on how best to tap birch trees, preferably with the least risk of harming the tree? I've seen some conflicting methods with people claiming the other is more likely to damage trees.
 
I dont like maple syrup at all.

If you lived in a place where sugar was rare and you had lots of birch trees, you might want it.
 

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