I was wondering if there were any ways in wich you can store or preserve birch sap for use throughout the year? Any ideas would be much appreciated! 
Birch sap
- Thread starter lord lurcher
- Start date
LL,
Freezing sounds like the way to go. You can also boil it down to make a thick syrup, but I have no idea if it could be re-thinned successfully.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Freezing sounds like the way to go. You can also boil it down to make a thick syrup, but I have no idea if it could be re-thinned successfully.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Just watched RM's last series last episode (Four Seasons) this afternoon, where he taps a birch tree and fills his billy overnight.
The sap can be used as the sap itself, made into wine or beer
or put into the freezer for icecubes ... The latter seems most logic to keep the sap it's most natural properties when melted back into it's liquid form ... Making wine or beer changes it completely.I reckon (no experience with it) that by putting it in a bottle it'll ferment in some way whatsoever.
Hope this helps untill the cavalry with more knowledgeable people arrives
EDIT: Ogri beat me to it ... must learn to type faster in english
There's a recipe for Birch sap wine in Hugh F-W's "Cook on the wild side"
Basically:
4 litres Birch sap
1/4 pint water
3 tbsp honey
yeast
juice of 1 lemon
Melt the honey in a little warm water and add the yeast when it cools to body temp. Leave it for a while to let the yeast get started. Then add the yeast mixture and lemon juice to the sap and put it all in a wine-making demijohn with an air-lock bung and leave to ferment.
But I've not actually made it, so don't know what it's like.
I tried tapping sap last weekend, but was surprised at how bitter it tasted - what's yours like? Is it sweet?
Basically:
4 litres Birch sap
1/4 pint water
3 tbsp honey
yeast
juice of 1 lemon
Melt the honey in a little warm water and add the yeast when it cools to body temp. Leave it for a while to let the yeast get started. Then add the yeast mixture and lemon juice to the sap and put it all in a wine-making demijohn with an air-lock bung and leave to ferment.
But I've not actually made it, so don't know what it's like.
I tried tapping sap last weekend, but was surprised at how bitter it tasted - what's yours like? Is it sweet?
lord lurcher said:I was wondering if there were any ways in wich you can store or preserve birch sap for use throughout the year? Any ideas would be much appreciated!
My grandfather preferred birch syrup to maple syrup. Ratio is 80 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Boiled down further, it makes a good mollasses, but unlike maple sap - never does really go to sugar.
Birch sap, like maple sap, goes rancid if left too long in its original state.
PG
rm reckons march to be the time for tapping the sap. maybe your tapping too early and thats affecting the taste???
Birch sap can be pasteurised, by heating up to boiling point and pouring straight in to seal able bottles or jars (sterilized before hand).
I dont know how long the sap will keep like this, but would presume if kept in a cool place will last several weeks.
Ive used this method for short periods while collecting small batches to make up a gallon for wine making.
Trev
I dont know how long the sap will keep like this, but would presume if kept in a cool place will last several weeks.
Ive used this method for short periods while collecting small batches to make up a gallon for wine making.
Trev
Birch sap just tastes like very slightly sweet water. Unless you're trying to gather several small quantities together to brew with or turn into syrup, I reckon it's better to just drink the stuff while it's fresh.
It's a nice wine and a better syrup.
Thanks PG I didn't know it wouldn't go to sugar, I've only made a rather runny syrup from it from boiling down.
Silver birch works fine; timing is everything though, try too soon and all you'll get is a dribble, take it too late and it tastes, well, sort of tree like and not sweet though it's still good 'water'.
Let us know how you get on?
Cheers,
Toddy
It's a nice wine and a better syrup.
Thanks PG I didn't know it wouldn't go to sugar, I've only made a rather runny syrup from it from boiling down.
Silver birch works fine; timing is everything though, try too soon and all you'll get is a dribble, take it too late and it tastes, well, sort of tree like and not sweet
though it's still good 'water'.Let us know how you get on?
Cheers,
Toddy
You can keep sap in the fridge for up to 2 weeks before it goes off - a better way to preserve it is to use campden tablets and potassium sorbate from a homebrew shop, but then this is kinda artificial
My personal preference is either to drink it straight away or to make it into wine which tastes very nice indeed - I wouldn't recommend trying to make syrup from it unless you can tap a lot of trees and have a lot of patience, since you need to reduce it down by 100:1 (maples are around 40, sycamores around 65) - which means that you need 10 litres for 100ml syrup.
Of course now I don't mind spending money on real maple syrup knowing what it takes to make it
My personal preference is either to drink it straight away or to make it into wine which tastes very nice indeed
- I wouldn't recommend trying to make syrup from it unless you can tap a lot of trees and have a lot of patience, since you need to reduce it down by 100:1 (maples are around 40, sycamores around 65) - which means that you need 10 litres for 100ml syrup.Of course now I don't mind spending money on real maple syrup knowing what it takes to make it
You can tell when it's the right time to harvest birch sap when the buds on hawthorn are about 2-4mm long. I think someone said in a thread ages ago that you collect it when the hawthorn buds are the same size as a squirrels toe, but I personally can't be bothered catching a squirrel every day, just to compare the size of it's toe to hawthorn buds, so I prefer my method......
capacious said:You can tell when it's the right time to harvest birch sap when the buds on hawthorn are about 2-4mm long. I think someone said in a thread ages ago that you collect it when the hawthorn buds are the same size as a squirrels toe, but I personally can't be bothered catching a squirrel every day, just to compare the size of it's toe to hawthorn buds, so I prefer my method......
and the trout start biting when the alder buds are the size of a mouse's ear.
PG
thanks for the advice guys, anyone got a good recipe for birch sap wine? sounds good, gotta have a go!!!
S
Siecroz
Guest
British Red said:
If I have got this right from watching RM. You drill into the tree.. but first you need to get some stuff together.
You need to make yourself some kind of tool to "Funnel" the sap out (RM uses a piece of wood that fits a hole your about to drill..he carves it in such a way that it angles down with a hollow for the sap to run.. like a water chute)
... you can then hang a billy can off it to collect the sap. He also used a piece of cloth tied loosly round the top of the tin to can the sap and allow it to filter through (stopping the flies from nicking your wears).
Once he had collected the sap.. he then calved another piece of wood into a "Stop" or "Bung" and tapped it firmly into the hole.. cutting it off to tidy it up.
This prevents the tree "Bleeding to death" or getting infected.
Another thread in this forum somewhere uses Piping, plastic bottles, a large cork and some "black nasty" (gaffer tape). But I much prefer RM's version as its more in keeping with using whats around you..
The four seasons episode is a perfect example of it and I will be trying it for the first time hopefully very soon before its too late. If I do, I will take some photo's and post them
Hope this helps
British Red said:
Haven`t collected birch sap since I was a kid, but then we just cut the tip of a branch and tread a bottle over it. Usually collected about 0.1-0.2 liters overnight.
We had several bottles hanging in the trees.
Tor
The method I use is just push the tip of your knife through the bark and into the wood. I push a small stick into the slit after I've trimmed one side flat and carved a V shaped gutter along it. This side of the stick is placed on the underside and then encourage the sap to flow along its length with your finger. The V gutter helps the sap to adhere to the stick and flow right to the end, something to do with surface tension. You can put 2 or 3 taps close together over the same container. When you have collected enough sap pull the twig out and push the bark down, the tree will heal itself very easily because it's only a small slit. Birch tapping is one of my favorite things about bushcraft and I look forward to it eagerly when the end of winter comes around. I'll just drink it as it comes or make pine needle tea with it...delish.
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