Tap Material Changing Birch Sap Colour

[TheLegendMaster]

I thought I would share a mildly interesting thing I encountered when collecting birch sap recently. I was trying a new tap style and made one out of damson wood, which is Prunus, and the bare wood of which turns orange in the air. The result of this was that the sap itself was absorbing some of the pigment and turning orange. I tasted it (what can I say, I'm a risk taker) and it had that distinct fresh wood taste to it so I made a new one from beech which did not have the same issue.

Apologies for the poor camera quality.

 

[Woody girl]

That looks a big hole. I make mine much smaller and don't use a drill which seems to be a popular choice nowadays. Makes the chance of infection in the tree much more likely.
Yes it takes a bit longer to fill the container, but it's easier to seal the wound on the tree. Think of the way they operate now with micro incisions and cameras nowadays. Reason, less trauma to the body and reduced chance of infection. Quicker recovery time. Smaller scars that heal faster.
Trees are living beings too. Let's give them the same chance. You only need a tiny hole realy. Mine are 4mm or less. Depending on the tree size and which part of the tapping season... beginning middle or end.

 

[Janne]

Interesting with the colouration and flavour!

When I harvested birch sap, I made a three 'push' incisions with the knife, in a triangular mode, one tip of the triangle pointing down. maybe each side 5-10mm? A small fresh twig (birch) in a small hole in the bottom.

I never bothered putting any protection on the cut.


Later I learned a technique where a low branch is cut off ( slightly thinner than the bottle neck), inserted in an empty bottle, and bottle fixed to the now hanging branch.

Birch water is nice. Makes you go to the Gent's /Powder room! ( These days 'Gent's Powderroom'??? )

 

[Woody girl]

Interesting with the colouration and flavour!

When I harvested birch sap, I made a three 'push' incisions with the knife, in a triangular mode, one tip of the triangle pointing down. maybe each side 5-10mm? A small fresh twig (birch) in a small hole in the bottom.

I never bothered putting any protection on the cut.


Later I learned a technique where a low branch is cut off ( slightly thinner than the bottle neck), inserted in an empty bottle, and bottle fixed to the now hanging branch.

Birch water is nice. Makes you go to the Gent's /Powder room! ( These days 'Gent's Powderroom'??? )

Yes that's a good technique using the triangle shaped cut. I'm going to try that this year as no bark is removed. If you do another triangular cut only as deep a the first layer of bark and pull it out a bit it makes a spout. Just put your container under that to collect the sap. Push each incision back and seal with some birch tar and you have a minimum interference with the tree.
Too many people drill dirty great holes and wonder why the tree doesn't last. That tree looks a bit borderline small too.
Gents powder room.... depends on whether you have had the snip

 

[Janne]

I am as the Gods intended.....
Less hair, added Beer belly, but still...

Good idea with the spout, I will try it out in a few weeks time.

Back when I was young, we just did not give a hoot about the tree, we did not know about the damage it caused. Ones we learned ( in Sweden) we started using the 'cut branch tech'.

As most of us used a Mil plastic canteen ( 'lost' during military service) those had a convenient belt attaching thingy that could be clipped to the branch.
Do it in the evening - refreshing drink the whole morning !

I personally benefitted from the 'stool softening' it gave, as the freeze dried 'food' I ate gave me problems.

 

[Broch]

The cut branch technique is now considered the most non-harming way to collect sap from trees. If you use the simple method of tying a 2L bottle from the branch end just make sure the branch is strong enough to hold 2kg of weight! A surprising large number of tree species will produce drinkable sap although, in the UK, Birch and Sycamore appear to be the best.

 

[Janne]

How does that one taste? I have only tried birch sap.

When the Americans invented large scale Maple sap tapping, I think they used something similar to what TLM did, but a longer 'tap'.

Today the tech is different, much smaller taps.
The Canucks I think have a larger tap sapping industry than the US today.

With the trans Atlantic (for you) technique you do not harm any trees.
Check out YouTube, a Canuck TV series called 'How It's Made' and look for 'Maple Syrup'

The branch technique has one large benefit over the trunk tapping technique, it is much easier to collect the sap, less insects and rubbish can get into the vessel.

 

[Robson Valley]

My grape vines weep like that when I prune in the spring. Cut branches, 1/4" and bigger, drip for a few days.
Tastes a bit sweet to me. The early humming birds know exactly what it is. Third Saturday in April
and the first Rufous males are back. Neat when they are in the vines along with me.

Can you recall the distinctive smell of smoke from a birch fire?
Birch syrup tastes like that. Reminds me of decades of wilderness family camping trips.
I have friends in the business near Quesnel, BC. Seasonal and very profitable.

 

[Broch]

How does that one taste? I have only tried birch sap.

Very similar to my taste to be honest; they're both very week in sugar compared to the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum). I usually reduce them a bit though I do like a drop of birch sap in my malt just for a change

 

[TheLegendMaster]

The hole was a bit smaller than a 2p coin which I agree is quite big and I'd go smaller in the future but I was specifically trying a design of tap that I had seen because I've never had much success with them before. I, of course, bunged the hole afterwards. In the past I have used the cut branch technique and also a small knife hole with a twig to guide the sap but I always had trouble with the sap finding its own route down the tree with the latter technique!

Regarding the age of the tree, you can't see in the picture but it actually has two main trunks and is a mature tree which has been tapped before but not for the last few years.