Birch sap is cooked for 6-7 hours, of which cooking without boiling water is 15 minutes.
How to make birch sap
Products
Birch sap – 1 liter
Sugar – 50-125 grams (5 tablespoons with a slide)
Citric acid – 5 grams
How to brew birch sap
1. Pour the juice into a jar, add sugar.
2. Line a pot with a height of at least a jar with a towel.
3. Put a jar of juice on a towel and fill with water: the water level in the pan should be the same as in the jar (to avoid bursting).
4. Loosely cover the juice with a lid.
5. Boil water in a saucepan over low heat.
6. Keep the jar in boiling water for 15 minutes – the juice should steam, but not boil.
7. Close the jar tightly with a lid, cool and remove from the water.
Your birch sap is brewed!
How to brew birch sap
Products
Birch sap – 3 liters
How to cook birch sap
1. Pour 1 liter of birch sap into a saucepan and put on a quiet fire.
2. When the juice is reduced by two-thirds and acquires the consistency of liquid honey, pour in another liter of juice; boil the juice again, then add the last part of the juice and boil again.
3. When boiling birch sap, foam forms – it must be removed.
Note
When brewing birch sap, you can use a sugar meter. If the sugar meter determines the sugar content in boiled birch sap is 60-70%, then the birch syrup is ready. Before swirling, pass the syrup through a double cheesecloth and bottle. Store birch syrup in a cool place for up to 2 years. You can serve birch sap by diluting it with water, other juices or fruit drinks.
Tasty Facts
– The season for collecting birch sap is every spring, from the end of March to the end of April. An indicator of the readiness of birch trees to collect juice is swelling (but not blooming) of the kidneys. To make sure that you can prepare tools for collection, you can pierce the birch bark 5 centimeters deep – a drop of juice should appear.
– For tasty juice, you need to choose the right place for growing trees . Collecting birch sap is supposed to be in proven places, clean, far from cities and roads. Young trees are not suitable for collecting juice – they are too thin to drill and too “green” to saturate the drink with taste and nutrients.
– To collect birch sap, you need to make a hole of 5-10 mm in a birch 3-4 centimeters deep. The height of the hole is 30-40 centimeters from the ground. Ideally, drill through wood. As a last resort, use an ax, but keep in mind that the tree may die, but the drill will heal with little to no side effects. You can also use a long nail. Birch should be drilled either deep or slightly to the side in order to collect several juice “veins” at once.
– As a tube, you can use ordinary long tubes for drinks with a “corner” or rubber tubes from a dropper. It is important that the tubes are along the radius of the drill. All means of extracting juice must be disinfected in advance. After the holes are made, insert a tube into each and slightly press the tube. Direct the tube into the bottle and secure the bottle with tape or rope. To get juice faster, use trees with a diameter of 30 cm or more – then you can make 2-3 holes nearby and direct the tubes from all into 1 jar.
– To protect the juice from rain, debris and insects, you can make a hole in a plastic bottle and insert a straw directly into this hole, then screw the bottle with a loose cap so that air comes out. For glass jars, you can use nylon lids, they are also convenient to drill.
– A good birch will give 1 liter of juice in 10-15 minutes.
– If a nail is used as a hole tool, it is better to hammer it with pliers, and not with a hammer. Firstly, the nail can be removed with pliers, and secondly, pliers are easier. It is better to take plastic bottles.
– The best time to start collecting juice is during the day and early evening.
– You should note in advance the scheme of the trees from which the juice is collected. If you forget to remove the sap-collecting tools from the birch, it will inevitably die.
– To reduce the consequences of a wound on a birch, you can hammer a wooden plug into the hole or lay wax.
– You can store fresh birch sap for 1-2 days in the refrigerator.
– After collecting the juice, it must be strained to remove forest debris and insects.