Tapping Birch: Collecting birch sap for mineral water, wine, beer, vinegar and syrup | Fergus The

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Tapping Birch: Collecting birch sap for mineral water, wine, beer,
vinegar and syrup
Written by Fergus Drennan on March 23, 2013 8 Comments
The Sap is Rising

Collecting birch sap for mineral water, wine, beer, vinegar and syrup

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Tapping Birch: Collecting birch sap for mineral water, wine, beer, vinegar and syrup | Fergus The Forager

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23rd March 2012. 6.30am, 0 C brrrrrrr!

Ive a confession: although my long-standing interest in wild food cookery does add incredibly wild and nutritious versatility to my daily menu with
respect to rich soups, unique salad combinations and intriguing side vegetables all very health promoting and worthy; truth be told, Im actually
somewhat of a sugar addict. Yet, for the most part, sweet wild foods are associated with the abundant fruitfulness of summer and autumn apples,
pears, cherries, blackberries, bilberries, mulberries etc, and as delicious as such fruits are in their unprocessed state or as fruit leathers, their
sweetness is invariably counterbalanced by varying degrees of acidity. Hardcore, unadulterated and non-toxic sweetness is actually quite hard to
come by in the natural world, at least where I live.
Yet, from as early as the final week of February (Southern England) until as late as the end of April (Scotland), and with a similar early to later
coming of the spring across the different states of the US, that hardcore sweetness lies quite literally in untapped abundance, residing in diluted form
within the trunks of some of our commonest trees: Birch (Betula species), Lime (Tilia species), Sycamore (Acer species), Walnut and various
others. All, in theory, can be successfully tapped for their sap, the first two providing the best results in my experience. Birch, especially, is fail
safe!. Indeed, on the basis of research and reports of success in this regard, Ive tried to tap both walnut and sycamore for sap from February to
April for the past 7 years, but without success. This year I intend to try our only UK native maple for the first time: The Field Maple (Acer
campestre). For the purpose of this article then, sap refers to birch sap only.
But why bother doing this? This is a question Im frequently asked, quite often by people who have tried and have been disappointed that what drips
from the tree tastes pretty much like water, not the sweet ambrosial nectar they had expected. Well, its a reasonable question I suppose. There are
many answers. In the Ukraine and parts of Russia the sap is collected and sold as a type of mineral water, so they clearly value it. A fantastic, easy
to make and reliable white wine can be made with a very distinct and pleasant taste, as well as beer, vinegar (see recipe at the end) and a rich
caramel and molasses-like syrup. But, above all else, as with all foraging, it provides an excuse and opportunity to arrange your life according to
the cycles of nature rather than the oppressive dictates of work routines and the terrible tick-tock tyranny of clock time or even traditional calendars.
Each year I try to refine my understanding of when the sap flow begins and when its in full swing. This year it begun a day before the spring
equinox, 5 days after reports that frogspawn was appearing in local ponds, and two days before the wood ants began to awake from winter slumber
as they amassed to form new colonies. This is the realm of magic, awareness, and attunement, connecting with life, poetry and mystery and clocks
serve no purpose!
The sap then, which is actually about 95% + water, minerals and a little sugar, can be evapourated off to make a sublimely delicious if somewhat
energy intensive syrup it is the absolutely perfect accompaniment to elderflower fritters. In fact, the only near equivalent you can buy in this
country is maple syrup. That is commercially viable because the ratio of sap required for a litre of syrup is 30:1, whereas for birch it is between 80
and 120:1 (I usually find that a 95:1 ratio is perfect). But dont let that put you off. Once youve tasted birch sap syrup, the effort required to make it
will seem more than worthwhile. For those who are unconvinced there are several other excellent uses for the sap once collected as I shall explain
below, as well as various birch-related bushcraft skills to practice while the sap is simmering. First, though, how exactly is it obtained?
There are several possible collection methods; here are just a couple. Between the end of Feb and mid-April when temperatures are usually between
0 and 15 C but especially in the second half of March, take a metre length of 0.5-1cm diametre plastic tubing, a 2 or 4 litre plastic bottle (keep
spare tops to put on the bottles when returning to pick up the sap or just return with a large container), a drill with drill bit the same diametre as the
plastic tubing, a piece of tissue or cotton wool, a lump of plasticine (modeling clay) or natural clay, a wooden bung and a hammer. Select a suitably
sized and well-established tree at least 8-10 inches across. Also, especially if in a woodland with lots of birch competing for space and light, go
for the trees with the largest crown of branches. These will have the best sap flow. Mark a spot 2-3 feet up from the trees base. (In fact, you can
tape a collecting vessel to the main trunk 15 foot up the tree if you dont want it to be disturbed useful if the trees are in an urban environment
where your collection set-up might be tampered with lower down).

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With the drill bit angled about 30 up from the horizontal (although straight in is fine too), drill a clean hole about 3-4 cms deep into the tree. Blow
out bits of debris (close your eyes!). Liquid should drip from the hole within 10-20 seconds at the rate of 4 or more drops per second at the peak of
sap flow. If not, hammer in a wooden bung or piece of clay and try another tree. 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 cant 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 (you can just cut or melt
holes into the top of plastic lids but make sure it isnt a completely tight fit as you need to allow air to escape from the bottle as it fills up). 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 or clay around the tube to make a perfect seal with the tree trunk. Leave
for 12-48 hours, after which time the bottle will most likely be brimming with sap. Alternatively, you can use a small length of tubing or a small
elder stick after clearing out the soft central pith, and allow the sap to drip freely into a collecting vessel such as a demijohn preferably using a
muslin covered funnel to direct the liquid and prevent insects falling in (or use a maple tap). In woods where there are wood ants, the ants will
amass around any exposed sap. Finally, plug up the hole to prevent infection of the tree, particularly from fungal spores. Hammer in a hard wood
bung, firm piece of cork cut to size, some clay or, as a temporary measure, a piece of plasticine. Whatever I use, I always line it with fresh cherry
resin. Resin production is a trees healing response to mechanical damage so is worth using. It also makes for a really good seal. I take no more than
about 4 litres per tree, and only tap the same tree on alternate years. Nevertheless, some people will tap continuously from one tree throughout its
entire period of sap flow, but only return to that tree every 4-5 years; others take 2 litres and return every year to the same trees.

A great drill, but often hard to see when I put it down among the forest floor leaves!
Unless you intend to use the sap for cooking or drinking immediately, refrigerate and use within 2-3 days. If you decide to tap one tree throughout
its sap rise, empty out the collecting bottle within 48 hours (at the latest after 24 hrs if the temp is above 10 C) of tapping or when your collecting
bottle is full whichever occurs first. If you leave the container over 2 days before collecting, the natural yeasts present may already have stated to
ferment the sap, using up what little sugar there is, giving rise to off flavours these become intensified when reduced down during syrup
production and are to be avoided. Note: if you want to transport large quantities of sap, I recommend scrounging several of those large 18 L
capacity mineral water bottles seen in offices. These are also excellent for wine making.

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Boil the sap until it is thick and dark, barely simmering at the final stages to prevent the disaster of burning. Indeed, at the latter stages the pan
should be just on hot embers no direct flame). Indeed, once the volume of sap is reduced from 95 to about 5 litres, I usually transfer the syrup to
a new pan and place indoors on the hob at the lowest flame setting not even simmering. Also, unless you want to deep steam clean your kitchen or
make the wallpaper peel off, this is definitely a job to do most of outside. Alternatively, ask a friendly baker if you can place a large metal tray of
sap on top of his bread oven to slowly evaporate. Taste repeatedly as you concentrate the sap to reach your required degree of sweetness. It is
inevitable that the sugars will partially caramelize, that however is just an integral part of the flavour (in the absence of expensive industrial
machinery to produce the syrup using reverse osmosis). If concerned about burning there is no need to reduce 95 L sap to 1 L of syrup. The ratio of
50:1 also makes for a gorgeous but lighter and runnier golden brown syrup.

Evapourating off the water and removing scum.

It can take 4-5 hours or more to make a litre of syrup. That time, however, presents a real opportunity. You can collect birch bark for fire lighting,
collect birch polypores for making razor strops, paper, shoes or, best of all, you can make birch tar. I did this last year following talented bushcrafter
Jonathan Ridgeons excellent online tutorial:
http://www.bushcraft.ridgeonnet.com/birchtar.htm
Or how about collecting some bark and making a simple birch bark and spruce root basket: Perfect for collecting the stunningly impressive Scarlet
Elfcup fungi that are still in season now.

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Nevertheless, if syrup making still seems too much trouble use the sap to make a lovely refreshing wine instead. Its easy and is definitely not a
second best alternative. Start by making 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 youll notice
bubbles rising and a little froth forming on top. 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. Allow to become luke warm before adding the 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 (2-3 months).

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Birch sap wine in demijohn and glass.

Spoons showing commercially produced
maple syrup (left) and birch syrup (right).
If youre feeling both naughty and adventurous you could also get hold of an old-style basic pressure cooker, a siphoning tube, a bucket of cold
water and a demijohn to distill your birch sap wine to make birch sap moonshine. That could then be used for Russian-style preservation of
gorgeous chanterelle fungi, gathered from around the same birch trees you have tapped. Of course, it would be illegal so I must advise against it. I
just said you could, not you should.

Chanterelles preserved in alcohol

Finally, youve decided youd like to try out some of the suggestions above but, its 1st April, youve drilled a hole and are standing there feeling
like a true April fool because not a drop of sap is flowing out. Dont worry, the sap rise is over. The leaf buds are swollen and bursting into life.
Excellent! The young tender leaves are good for tea (would be a good experiment to ferment them in the way true tea leaves are) and excellent as a
mild bulk salad leaf. But dont miss this opportunity either as the leaves only stay tender for about 2 weeks!
Birch Sap Balsamic Vinegar Recipe

(Linfa di betulla aceto balsamico non tradizionale)

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2 litre capacity vinegar aging barrel

Ingredients (makes approx1.5 L)
190 L fresh birch sap
1 sachet high alcohol tolerant wine yeast
Method
Boil the birch sap down to 4 L. Place half of this i.e. 2 L into a sauce pan and carefully (on lowish heat) very gently simmer, reducing down to 1
litre. Pour half of this into a wooden barrel and leave for 4 months; pour the other half into a sterilized glass bottle and seal. Place the other 2 L in a
sterilized 1 gallon demijohn. When warm or cooled sprinkle on the yeast (or use wild yeast cultures if desired). Fit an air lock, place in a warm
cupboard, and ferment until no bubbles appear in the air lock (approx 4 months). Uncover and expose to the air and fruit flies for a few days. Then
cover with muslin and allow to turn to vinegar. This takes about 2 months. Pour vinegar into wooden barrel to add to the syrup already in there. Age
for 25 years, transferring the vinegar to a smaller barrel of a different and suitable wood variety every 5 years. Finally, ballance the sweetness and
acidity by adding some of the bottled and pasturised syrup..
Confession (you probably realize this already!): Ive not done this, at least not completely. I have followed this recipe and aged the vinegar for 3
years. Ive also experimented by just letting pure sap ferment (I say experiment, but actually it was a mistake as Id not sterilized the bottles well
enough. But, of course, there are no mistakes! It made me realize that it was worth exploring as vinegar and, in particular, a balsamic style vinegar).
The flavour of that spontaneously fermented sap is different from wine that has been turned to vinegar, hence the different stages in the recipe. This
recipe is the nearest Ive managed to get to something approximating balsamic vinegar using only wild ingredients. It tastes good, but would be fun
to age some for the length that Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale is aged
One final thought
Do keep your eyes peeled for Birch Polypore fungi, also known as Razor Strop Fungi, as you are bound to come across them when youre out
looking for suitable birch trees to tap. These can be found on dead standing trees or on toppled trunks and fallen branches. Of course you can make
razor or knife strops with these, but far more fun in my opinion is to use them to make paper. Be careful not to have the fungi knocking about in
your bag with your drill. It will get contaminated with spores and you may end up infecting previously healthy trees!

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A good crop of Piptoporus betulinus

Top side

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Underside showing the pores

The other day I collected a whole sac full of these. I dried them for future use in The Foraged Book Project for making paper for that book, scraping
off the brown outer layer once they were dry.

Dried, scaped and vacuum sealed Birch Polypore

Many other common rubbery textured fungi can be used to make paper too. Heres some basic information on how to do it:
http://www.theforagedbookproject.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Basic-Guide-to-mushroom-paper.pdf
Have fun out there!
Crowdfund: http://www.indiegogo.com/one-year-total-wild-food

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Website: http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/index.html
Blog: http://wildmanwildfood.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fergustheforage
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fergus.drennan

8 Comments on "Tapping Birch: Collecting birch sap for mineral water, wine, beer, vinegar and syrup"
1. mousiemarc says: March 24, 2013 at 4:42 am Reply
That is really cool. I live in oregon in the united states. Doubt Ill get to this anytime soon with two young ones. But it looks really fun.
2. velvetkatze says: March 24, 2013 at 3:03 pm Reply
Wow, this brings me back to my childhood it used to be very popular in Russia and was sold in 3L jars in the shops Loved it!
3. velvetkatze says: March 24, 2013 at 3:09 pm Reply
hi
I like your blog a lot, but I cannot find a way of following your new posts usually you can submit your email somewhere on the blog and it
sends you automatic updates when something new comes up, but I cannot find how to do it on yours can you give me a hint please? Thanks
Katja
4. Fergus says: March 25, 2013 at 12:32 pm Reply
@mousiemarc. Dont let two young ones stop you. I actuallu initially set up all the bottles on 17 trees with my friend. He had his 3 month old
baby on his back in a pouch and his 4 year old daughter helped me drill and seal the holes while asking lots of questions!
@velvetkatze. Was that 3L of sap or syrup?
I wish I knew how to set up automatic updates, unfortunately I only ever know how to do the most basic stuff on blogs and whatnot..
5. Ramona Ethier says: September 22, 2013 at 8:31 am Reply
Enjoyed your post, I will have to try this in the spring. I really like your basket. Perhaps you could do a video on how to make baskets,
including collection of materials for basket making. I also appreciate the tips on protecting the tree, and repairing redients the damage done
from drilling for sap. Looking forward to your book.
6. tom polinard says: June 24, 2014 at 3:08 am Reply
This June i visited Crystal Palace Park in London. There I discovered an
Australian with a basket of mushrooms he had harvested in the park.
His plan was to dry them and use them in a salad. He enjoys urban,
and wild foraging.
Appreciate your article on birch syrup. In North America the natives
taught the Europeans to tap maple trees in New England and Canada.
Maple syrup is very healthy and popular in North America.
There is some interest in N. America in harvesting birch sap.
7. Miles Davies says: August 21, 2014 at 9:24 pm Reply
Great Website BTW. Im definately trying this next year. Got plenty of containers at the ready. Your basket of Scarlet Elf Cups is for what?
Eating? I have been trying to find out if they are edible for years, but most books say not, or that no-one has tried. I found an article that
suggested they were eaten in Victorian times, but used more for table decoration. If they are edible please confirm. I tried to do a search on
your website for Scarlet Elf Cups but nothing showed up. Thanks.
8. oawritingspoemspaintings says: September 21, 2014 at 9:43 am Reply
Glad to have found such an educative blog!
Would you know how I follow it?
Keep up the good work, the world needs it.

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