Birch Syrup

[PaulO in MA]

Yeah! A friend is going to send me some birch syrup from Alaska!

I've wanted to try birch syrup ever since I went to K. E. farm in Sturbridge, MA during sugaring season while they were boiling sap several years ago. They had a small (very ) bottle of birch syrup, and I inquired about it.

I was told that it is from Alaska. There aren't enough maple trees in Alaska to make maple syrup, so they make birch syrup.

Maple syrup is a 40:1 reduction. That is about 40 gallons of sap are boiled down to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Birch syrup is a 90:1 reduction.

Birch syrup is more expensive, and I didn't want to buy it and pay for shipping from Alaska.

We know the girls of Red Molly, a bluegrass / Americana trio. I asked if they could get me some birch syrup when theyare on their Alaska tour.

They are in Alaska now, and they found it! They e-mailed asking for my home adddress, as they might just mail it down, rather than travel with it and have to fly back with it.

Yeah!

[Rita~]

OK You have me totally envious of you! Let me know what you think of it! Enjoy!

[PaulO in MA]

The birch syrup is in the refrigerator. We also have apple syrup that we've never tried.

We'll do a taste test with babka French toast comparing maple, birch, and apple syrup after my wife gets back from Portugal.

[Rita~]

well is she back? Did you taste and enjoy?

[PaulO in MA]

haven't used it yet.

I just used up the maple syrup that was open. Wanted to do that before I opened the birch syrup.

I may try it this weekend.

I also bought a quart of grade B maple syrup at an apple festival this wekend.

[PaulO in MA]

Finally had it last weekend on babka French toast.

It's very good. Very different taste from maple syrup. Not nearly as sweet. One web site described it as "spicy sweet," and that does describe it.

I want to ask the members of Bearfoot, a bluegrass/Americana group from Alaska if they think maple syrup is overly sweet.

[duonyte]

Just saw this. My parents grew up in Lithuania and birch sap was an important part of country life - tapped every spring, it was not cooked down into a syrup but drunk as a beverage. Called "sula", the fresh sap was preferred, although you could also permit it to ferment into a beer.

It's still recommended as an energy or tonic drink - drink it first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. Supposedly has additional medicinal benefits.

I understand it was also done with maple trees, but my parents only ever referred to birch.

I wonder why they never cooked it down to a syrup? I've done some searching, have not seen a single reference to that.

[PaulO in MA]

That's interesting.

It's a fantastic table syrup. Very different taste than maple syrup. We're using the birch syrup sparingly.

I just bought 4 quarts of Vermont Grade C cooking syrup.

http://www.food.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=363329

[Rita~]

duonyte wrote:
Just saw this. My parents grew up in Lithuania and birch sap was an important part of country life - tapped every spring, it was not cooked down into a syrup but drunk as a beverage. Called "sula", the fresh sap was preferred, although you could also permit it to ferment into a beer.

It's still recommended as an energy or tonic drink - drink it first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. Supposedly has additional medicinal benefits.

I understand it was also done with maple trees, but my parents only ever referred to birch.

I wonder why they never cooked it down to a syrup? I've done some searching, have not seen a single reference to that.

very interesting
Birch sap is the sap extracted from a birch tree, such as a North American Sweet Birch or a Silver Birch. The sap is often a slightly sweet, thin syrupy-watery liquid. The tree sap contains sugars (namely xylitol), proteins, amino acids, and enzymes.

Birch sap must be collected during a specific time of the year, depending on the species and geography, at the break of winter and spring when the sap moves intensively, typically between the first thaws and the start of bud development. The collected sap can be drunk as a tonic and it is a traditional beverage in Russia (Russian: Берёзовый сок / byeryozovy sok), Latvia (Latvian: Bērzu sula), Estonia (Estonian: kasemahl), Finland, Lithuania (Lithuanian: Beržų Sula), Belarus (Belarusian: Бярозавы сок / biarozavy sok, Byarozavik), Poland (Polish: Sok z Brzozy), Ukraine (Ukrainian: Березовий сік / berezovyi sik) and elsewhere in Northern Europe as well as parts of northern China.

Birch sap collection is done by tying a bottle to the tree, drilling a hole into its trunk and leading the sap to the bottle by a plastic tube. A small birch (trunk diameter about 15 cm) can produce up to 5 liters of sap per day, a larger tree (diameter 30 cm) up to 15 liters per day. Birch sap has to be collected in early Spring before any green leaves have appeared, as in late Spring it becomes bitter. The collection period is only about a month per year. The price of birch sap is correspondingly high in some countries, e.g. in Japan reaching up to 50 Euro per liter.

Birch sap may be consumed both fresh and naturally fermented.

Birch sap can also be used as an ingredient in food or drinks, such as birch beer or wintergreen flavored candy.

Concentrated birch sap is used to make birch syrup, a very expensive type of syrup mainly made from paper birch in Alaska, and from several species in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. In Russia this tonic is used as a traditional herbal medicine functioning as antiseptic, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-itching treatment.

Fresh birch sap is highly perishable; even if refrigerated, it is stable for only up to 2-5 days. Shelf life can be prolonged by freezing or pasteurization. However pasteurization destroys some ingredients and can alter the taste of the product. Frozen birch sap is fairly stable. In Russia and Belarus commercial birch sap is usually preserved with food-grade acids, mainly phosphoric or citric one, as if some sugar is added to mask acidity, it affects the flavor less than pasteurization.

[amclauchlan]

Our family produces Birch Syrup in Manitoba Canada. we usually need 110-120 L to produce one L of syrup. Birch syrup has a unique taste and is great for a glaze on pork or chicken. We use it in all of our cooking! LINK REMOVED BY MODERATOR.