When is the best time to collect birch sap? How to collect birch sap? Where and when is the best time to do this? The benefits and harms of such a drink
Birch sap is a very useful natural drink, which is endowed with a mass of healing properties and has an extremely beneficial effect on the human body. This is the so-called elixir of beauty, health, vitality and strength. This is because it contains many useful substances, organic acids and trace elements. Today we will learn everything about birch sap, talk about its benefits, how, where and when to collect, as well as how to store the drink.
All about the benefits of birch sap
Birch sap contains fructose, glucose, sucrose, organic acids, enzymes and substances that have great antimicrobial activity (phytoncides), as well as potassium, iron, manganese, calcium, sodium, magnesium, copper, which are required by the body weakened by spring beriberi.
Birch sap is endowed with a huge amount useful properties:
- Perfectly strengthens the immune system.
- Normalizes the work of the heart.
- It has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.
- It improves metabolism and is very useful for brain function.
- Tones, invigorates and energizes the body.
- Just one glass of drink a day will relieve you of drowsiness, fatigue and depression.
- The drink is called one of the best dietary and restorative remedies.
- It is very useful for people with diseases of the urinary tract and kidneys - it stimulates kidney function, has a diuretic effect, promotes the release of uric acid and increases diuresis.
- Useful for lung diseases, bronchitis, tuberculosis, tonsillitis, cough.
- Relieves headaches and migraines.
- Useful for venereal diseases.
- It is recommended to take a drink for diseases of the liver, gallbladder, duodenum and with low acidity.
- Helps with high blood pressure and anemia.
- It has a therapeutic effect in arthritis, radiculitis and rheumatism.
- Able to purify the blood and remove toxic substances from the body.
- Taking birch sap, you can increase the body's resistance to allergic, infectious and colds.
- In chronic rhinitis, it is recommended to take one glass of fresh birch sap every morning.
- Endowed with anthelmintic, antitumor and diuretic action.
- It is useful to wipe the skin with acne, eczema, psoriasis, furunculosis, neurodermatitis, fungal diseases, poorly healing wounds,
Important!To preserve birch sap for a long time, it can be frozen in ice molds and used as cosmetic ice.
Birch sap is widely used in cosmetology:
- Perfectly cleanses and refreshes the skin, and for this it is enough just to wash it in the morning.
- Used to moisturize and cleanse dry skin.
- Used for washing the head - to strengthen the hair, their rapid growth, giving softness and shine to the hair; used to fight dandruff.
- You can also do anti-cellulite wraps.
Did you know?The Soviet poet Stepan Shchipachev wrote the story "Birch sap" in 1956.
How to determine collection time
The collection begins in the spring during the first thaws, and ends after bud break. The beginning of the collection is dictated by weather conditions. But often the juice begins to flow somewhere in the middle of March, when the snow melts and the buds begin to swell, and continues to run until the middle - end of April.
You can check whether the time has come to collect and harvest, using a thin awl. It is necessary to go out into the forest and make a puncture in a birch as thick as a hand with this awl. If the juice has already gone, then a drop will immediately come out at the puncture site. This will mean that you can start collecting and harvesting.
Important! The most intensive sap flow through the tree occurs during daylight hours.
Is it possible to collect birch sap in urban areas
Answering the question whether it is possible to collect juice in the city, we immediately warn you: no, don’t even think about it. It is necessary to collect away from large cities, from highways, from large factories and polluted places, since the tree can absorb all harmful substances and vehicle exhaust gases from the environment. The juice that will be collected from such trees will not only not bring any benefit, but can also be harmful to health.
The best places to collect
To get really healthy juice, the place of collection must be chosen very carefully. It is best collected in ecologically clean forests away from urban areas, industrial areas and highways.
Features of the collection, how to properly collect a healthy drink
Before you take birch sap, you need to know some simple, but very important rules and terms of collection:
- Young trees cannot be used for collection, only mature trees that have a diameter of 20 cm or more. If you collect sap from young trees, you can destroy them, because during the period of tree growth, he himself needs it.
- Use a drill with a 5-10 mm drill to collect. Such a hole overgrows in the trunk almost without a trace.
- It is not necessary to make a hole too deep in the tree trunk, because the juice mainly goes in the surface layer between the bark and the wood. It will be enough 2-3 cm deep.
- The best time to collect is considered to be between 10:00 and 18:00, when the juice flows most intensively.
- Do not try to drain all the juice from one tree, otherwise you can destroy it. It would be better to go around five to ten trees and drain a liter a day from each.
- At the end of the collection, be sure to help the tree heal its wounds. Cover the hole with wax, garden pitch, or seal or hammer a wooden plug to keep bacteria out of the barrel.
As regards, in fact, how get birch sap:
- Choose a birch with a well-developed crown with a diameter of more than 20-30 cm.
- Make a hole carefully in the trunk at a distance of 20 cm from the ground.
- Attach a birch bark tray or some other semicircular device into the hole made or under it, along which the juice will flow.
- Place a jar, bottle or bag under the groove where the juice will run.
The number of holes made in the barrel depends on its diameter. With a tree diameter of 20-25 cm, only one hole can be made, and then one more hole for every ten centimeters. But the main thing is not to overdo it with holes, because the more the tree is injured, the more difficult it will be for it to heal its wounds.
Storage methods, studying recipes
It is best to use the juice fresh, when boiling some of its properties are lost. But how long can it be stored? If we talk about how long it can be stored in the refrigerator - no more than two days, and for long-term storage it is necessary to do some manipulations with it.
Storage methods (recipes) are known to be different. From it you can make kvass, syrup, balm, various drinks, or canned.
Canning. For one liter of birch sap, you need to take 125 g of sugar, add 5 g of citric acid, pour into jars, pasteurize and roll up with lids. 
Birch syrup. Evaporate the juice to a yellow-white color until it becomes viscous and resembles in consistency. The concentration of sugar in syrup is 60-70%.
Birch wine. For 10 liters of birch sap, you need to take 1 kg of sugar, two peels, two bottles of white grape wine, yeast. Boil the juice with sugar over high heat until about eight liters of liquid remain; then take it off the heat, add the rinds and white wine, mix everything well and let the mixture cool down. Add 0.5 tablespoon of yeast and leave for four days. After four days, bottle everything, cork the bottles and put in a dark, cold place for a month.
Kvass:
- For 10 liters of Syria you need 50 g of yeast. It must be boiled so that some water evaporates, cool, add yeast and let it ferment for several days, then pour kvass into bottles, close and put in a cold place for a couple of weeks.
- For 10 liters you will need the juice of four lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins. Mix all this, pour into bottles and leave in a cold dark place.
- Pour birch sap into an oak barrel, lower a canvas bag with burnt crusts of rye bread on a rope, and two days later put oak bark in a barrel, you can also leave or stems. In two weeks, kvass will be ready.
You can get a delicious drink not only from tropical fruits. Every spring, the beautiful birch pleases lovers of healthy liquids with its healthy liquid. The season starts in April, this is the most successful month in order to collect a sufficiently large amount of liquid. It is necessary to be able to properly extract birch sap, since a person harms the life of a tree with inability.
It should be noted that the procedure should be carried out in environmentally friendly places. This is the most correct solution. A pure drink will surprise you with magical taste, beneficial properties, and saturate you with vigor and energy for the whole day. Often, drinking is taken as a basis during the preparation of kvass, it turns out to be carbonated and incredibly tasty.
The housewives have learned how to combine birch sap with other fruits well. Often birch sap is mixed with apple, cherry and other types of drinking. The hostesses roll the culinary masterpiece into jars and put it in the cellar. You can enjoy a delicious and fortified drink all year long without leaving your home.
Our ancestors have long noticed that drinking carries a lot of useful properties. Modern doctors also recommend the drink as a preventive goal in the presence of certain diseases. Before use, consult your doctor and find out about possible negative consequences.
Useful properties donated by nature:
- Fights with low immunity.
- Actively removes excess fluid from the body.
- Drink number one for the prevention of urolithiasis.
- Fights low hemoglobin.
- Eliminates fatigue, gives cheerfulness and energy.
- It is recommended to use to improve the functioning of the central nervous system.
- Eliminates unpleasant syndromes after alcohol hangover.
In the case when you have a tree growing and you want it to bring a drink every year, you need to perform the right actions that do not harm the tree. Ecologists signal that every fifth tree perishes every year from pumping out drinking water. Protecting nature is the main task of every person. Let's move on to the next block and find out how to start collecting tasty and healthy liquid in the right way.
We carry out the procedure without harm to the birch
The right technology will allow you to collect at least 15 liters of drink and not harm the birch itself. This collection, which is gentle for the tree, excludes the death or infection of the tree with some kind of infection.
After the last snow has come down from the ground, there is not a layer of white veil left on the ground, it is necessary to start collecting healing drink. Take with you the necessary auxiliary tools:
- Take a small but sharp axe.
- Hand drill with a drill.
- Children's plasticine.
- Capacity. You can cut a plastic bottle.
- Funnel for direct collection of drinking.
Choose the desired birch. The tree must have a width of more than 40 centimeters. Take an ax and carefully remove the top ball of bark. Be careful, because your goal is not to damage the integral structure of the tree.
Roll out the plasticine and attach below the intended hole. Plasticine must be pressed well so that it evens out and penetrates the bark. The procedure is done in order to create good contact, and you can attach the container.
Let's move on to one of the most important points. Attach the tray to plasticine. Note that the plasticine should not be wet, otherwise the structure will simply fall down and will not bring a positive result. It is necessary to install a bottle in the ground to collect our liquid. To do this, you can dig a small hole and dig the selected container. The juice will flow first into the tray and then into the selected bowl, keeping it clean and hygienic.
Let's start drilling holes. Take a drill and make a hole up to 6 centimeters deep. If you overdo it and make the hole bigger, you will hurt the tree a lot. Correctly collect birch sap and then the annual collection is guaranteed to you.
The action plan is ready. As it was written above, the tree will bring about 15 liters of drink. Remember that the collection vessel must be at least three liters. Remember to harvest every eight hours.
Is the procedure completed? Help the tree, do not leave it in trouble. The affected area must be securely closed. It can be a cork drilled on its own or other types of improvised means. You will protect the tree from possible infection with infections, which often lead to the death of the tree.
Every year my family and I collect birch sap. The tradition passed from generation to generation. We collect the juice correctly, then we preserve it in jars. For a whole year, it pleases us with a pleasant taste and useful properties. By completely abandoning store-bought counterparts, we maintain our health and support the immune system. Olesya, 45 years old.
Rules everyone should know:
- Choose old birches. By choosing a young tree, you will destroy it.
- Do not use an ax to drill a hole. This will damage the entire structure of the tree.
- Give preference to a hand drill.
- There is also a time for a good harvest. Give preference to 12-18 hours.
- Collect no more than 15 liters of liquid from one birch, otherwise this will lead to the death of the beauty.
- After the end of the procedure, close the affected area with a stopper.
Nature gives us healing properties. We need to learn how to properly harvest the fruits. Analyzing the text written above, I would like to appeal to all lovers of collecting birch sap in the spring, and say that the correct consequence of the procedures will provide a good “harvest” not only for you, but also give life to the tree. There is no need to harm nature, because jokes with her are always bad. Good health and excellent well-being.
It is difficult to establish the exact period for collecting birch sap. As a rule, birch sap begins to run when the snow melts, and swollen buds are the first sign that it is time to collect birch sap. The collection of birch sap stops when the leaves are already blooming. So how to collect birch sap correctly, and how to store birch sap. Birch sap, birch tree is a drink that has a beneficial effect on the entire human body. The benefits of birch sap were noticed by our ancestors, and the secrets of birch sap treatment are passed down from generation to generation. Birch sap has a healing composition, because birch is one of the most medicinal trees in our country.
When to collect birch sap
The beginning of the collection of birch sap depends on weather conditions and in different regions of Russia begins at the right time. Somewhere in the middle of March, and somewhere at the end of April... Buds swollen on birch trees can serve as a reference point for collecting birch sap. To determine the beginning of sap flow, it is enough to go into the forest after March 20-25 and make an injection with a thin awl on a birch as thick as your arm. If the juice has gone, a drop of juice will immediately come out at the puncture point. So it's time to collect the gray juice.
The main thing to remember if you decide to get healthy birch sap: collect birch sap only in ecologically clean forests, because the tree is able to absorb harmful substances and exhaust gases.
How to collect birch sap
Rules for collecting birch sap:
- You can not use a young tree to collect birch sap!
- Collecting birch sap - do not use an axe. It is better to use a drill with a 5-10 mm drill. Such a hole in a birch trunk overgrows almost without a trace.
- When collecting birch sap, it is important to know that, basically, the sap goes in the surface layer between the bark and the wood, so there is no need to make a deep hole at all.
- The best time to collect birch sap is between 12:00 and 18:00.
- Do not drain all the birch sap from one birch. It is better to go around 5-10 trees and take a liter of juice per day from each of them than to collect the whole from one birch, destroying it.
- After collecting birch sap, help the birch heal the wound. Coat the place where birch sap is collected with garden pitch or hammer a wooden cork into the hole.
Choose birches with a diameter of more than 20-30 cm with a well developed crown. In addition, as experts say, the juice from mature birches is sweeter. In the trunk of a birch, carefully make a hole at a distance of 20 cm from the ground. A birch bark tray or other semicircular device is attached to the hole made or under it, along which the juice will flow. The groove should be directed into the bottle, jar or bag.
The number of holes depends on the diameter of the birch, which can be done:
- if 20-25 cm - then only one,
- with a volume of 25-35 cm - two, with 35-40 - three,
- and if the diameter is more than 40 cm, it is permissible to make four holes.
Keep in mind that birch, as soon as you drill it, it will immediately begin to overgrow the wound inflicted on it. Therefore, the amount of birch sap will constantly fall. This is fine! Don't try to kill the tree by digging a hole or drilling a new one. Just change the birch tree when birch sap collection is no longer suitable for you.
How to store birch sap
You can store fresh birch sap in the refrigerator for a little over 2 days. To keep birch sap longer, kvass is made from it.
Recipes for kvass from birch sap:
- Heat up to 35 degrees, add 15-20 g of yeast and 3 raisins per 1 liter, you can add lemon zest to taste. After that, the jar or bottle is tightly closed and left for 1-2 weeks. It will turn out a very tasty, carbonated, invigorating drink!
- Kvass can be prepared in a slightly different way: juice of 4 lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins at the rate of 2-3 pieces per bottle are added to 10 liters of birch sap. Pour into bottles and keep 1-2 weeks in a dark cool place.
Our ancestors drank birch and fermented in barrels without adding sugar - this was a traditional low-alcohol drink at Russian feasts.
You can insist birch sap on dried fruits, in a jar covered with gauze, also for about 2 weeks. And you can also add berry juice to “birch tears”, insist them on herbs.
Recipes for harvesting birch sap for future use:
Canning. For 1 liter of birch sap - 125 g of sugar and 5 g of citric acid. Filter, pour into jars, pasteurize and screw on the lids. It is useful to insist the juice on the leaves of mint, lemon balm, thyme, St. John's wort, linden blossom, rose hips, lingonberries.
Birch kvass. The juice is heated to + 35 ° C, yeast is added to it at the rate of 15-20 g per 1 liter. The leaven is placed for 3-4 days in a cold place, then poured into containers and preserved.
Birch syrup. After evaporating the juice to a lemon-white color and the density of honey, the sugar concentration in the syrup reaches 60-70%.
The benefits of birch sap, treatment with birch sap
In the spring, for about three weeks, the birch shares its “tears” with us and helps a person heal the body. The secret and popularity of birch sap is that the forces accumulated during the winter in the birch trunk are given to humans with birch sap.
Composition of birch sap
Birch sap contains sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose), organic acids, enzymes and substances with high antimicrobial activity (phytoncides). There is also a lot in birch sap and mineral elements that the body weakened by spring hypovitaminosis needs. Having drunk birch sap, we replenish the body with a supply of potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper.
Properties of birch sap
- Since birch sap contains enzymes and biological stimulants, it strengthens the immune system.
- Potassium, calcium, magnesium, contained in birch sap - are necessary for the normal functioning of the heart.
- Tannins of birch sap - have an anti-inflammatory effect.
- Easily digestible sugars are good for brain function.
What are the benefits of birch sap
Spring birch sap can be considered one of the best dietary remedies. Systematic taking birch sap has a tonic effect. If you drink at least a glass of birch sap a day, you will feel more cheerful and energetic. Drowsiness, depression, fatigue will disappear.
The benefits of birch sap and that birch sap is a good tonic for a variety of diseases. Among other things, it has a diuretic effect, stimulates kidney function. Birch juice promotes the release of uric acid, increases diuresis. It is useful for people with kidney and urinary tract diseases. Birch juice strengthens the strength of those who have lung disease, arthritis or bronchitis. However, people with urolithiasis and stomach ulcers should consult a doctor before expecting benefits from drinking birch sap.
Birch sap is recommended to drink with skin problems - eczema, lichen, furunculosis. Rinse with birch sap throat with angina, proven benefits of birch sap in the complex treatment of headache, cough, joint diseases. birch sap the ability to purify the blood and remove toxic substances is inherent, therefore it is real benefits of birch sap with intoxication of the body. Also Birch juice alleviates the condition of infectious diseases.
Undoubtedly, the benefits of birch sap are obvious, but it is worth understanding: this juice is not a medicine, but a good supporting agent donated by nature, which should be used in complex treatment.
Harm of birch sap
Birch sap can be harmful if: collected near highways, collected in the city, in a place with unfavorable ecology. Also, birch sap can be harmful to those who are allergic to birch pollen!
The benefits of birch sap - folk recipes
What does birch sap treat, how to be treated with birch sap, what diseases does birch sap treat... Recipes for treatment with birch sap were collected and preserved by our ancestors. The people were often treated with birch sap.
Anemia - treatment with birch sap
Birch sap contains a large amount of vitamins, microelements, including iron and natural sugar, so it is indicated for low hemoglobin levels.
Mix fresh birch sap in equal proportions with apple, carrot or beetroot and you will get a remedy that effectively increases hemoglobin. Take 50 ml (this is about 1 stack) 15 minutes before meals 3 times a day, during the entire time of birch sap flow.
Reduced immunity - treatment with birch sap
A drink consisting of birch sap, milk (in equal proportions) and with the addition of a small amount of starch perfectly helps to raise immunity.
Tumors - treatment with birch sap
In the presence of various tumors, traditional medicine recommends mixing 2 parts of birch sap with 2 parts of yarrow grass juice, 2 parts of carrot juice, 1 part of hemlock grass juice, 1 part of St. John's battle grass juice and 1 part of meadowsweet grass juice. Take 1 tablespoon in the morning on an empty stomach with milk, and 1 tablespoon at night with milk.
Diseases of the digestive system - treatment with birch sap
With heartburn and gastritis with low acidity, biliary dyskinesia, exacerbation of peptic ulcer, with flatulence and chronic inflammation of the pancreas, birch sap is taken as follows: 50 ml in pure form or diluted with warm boiled water in a ratio of 2: 1 - drink in a day.
High blood pressure - treatment with birch sap
For hypertension with high blood pressure, accompanied by swelling, pain in the heart, headache and dizziness, drink 1/2 cup of birch sap 2 times a day. The juice acts as a mild diuretic, removing excess moisture from the body.
Diseases of blood vessels and joints - treatment with birch sap
The diuretic function of birch sap, coupled with an anti-inflammatory effect, makes it possible to consider it as a good remedy for arthritis, arthrosis, gout, rheumatism, varicose veins of the legs, and trophic ulcers. In this case, the juice should be drunk 50 ml in pure form or diluted with water in a ratio of 2:1 3 times a day, half an hour before meals. The effect of therapy will be enhanced if you drink a glass of warm milk on an empty stomach and before going to bed.
Pulmonary diseases - treatment with birch sap
For bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, birch sap is drunk as follows: 75-100 ml 2 times a day. For colds (pharyngitis, laryngitis) and tonsillitis, birch sap, in pure form or diluted with warm water, is useful on an empty stomach and gargle after each meal. At high temperatures, birch sap can also be used as a local antipyretic - in pure form or with cold water (2: 1). Gauze or cotton rags are moistened in juice, slightly squeezed and applied to the elbows, armpits and in the groin, under the knees, wrapped around the ankles and wrists and changed as they dry until the patient's temperature subsides.
Skin diseases - treatment with birch sap
As an external remedy, birch sap is used for eczema, neurodermatitis, psoriasis, furunculosis, acne, fungal diseases and poorly healing wounds. In these cases, birch sap is used in the form of washings, rubbing, lotions, compresses on problem areas and places. The external action of the juice can be duplicated by ingestion in its pure form, 75-100 ml before meals and at night.
Diseases of the genitourinary system - treatment with birch sap
In diseases of the kidneys - chronic pyelonephritis, the presence of sand or small pebbles - birch sap should be drunk daily on an empty stomach, 1 cup undiluted.
With urolithiasis and cholelithiasis, birch sap should be taken with caution, first finding out the composition and size of the stones. Otherwise, being a strong "stone-cutting" agent, birch sap can drive a large stone into a narrow duct and provoke colic. However, this applies only to stones of oxalate and uric acid origin. But birch sap, on the contrary, dissolves phosphate and carbonate stones, only for this you need to drink it for at least 3 months, 1 glass on an empty stomach and an hour before bedtime.
Hair loss - treatment with birch sap
If you began to notice that your hair was weakened and began to fall out, then rubbing a mixture of birch sap with vodka and a decoction of burdock root in equal parts into the scalp will help stop this process. Birch sap also helps to fight dandruff, for this you need to wash your hair with birch sap.
When to harvest birch buds
Birch buds also have medicinal properties. This is a kind of concentrate of useful substances, loved by the people and often used in traditional medicine.
The greatest amount of useful substances in birch buds is contained in the period of active sap flow in the tree. That is, around the same period when you can collect birch sap, or rather a little later. Don't miss the moment when the buds swell but haven't opened yet. It is necessary to collect birch buds for further use for medicinal purposes when they are very swollen, but the scales have not yet dispersed. Of course, it is worth remembering the elementary rules: to collect birch buds, like birch sap, is far from highways, landfills, and industrial enterprises. Only the collection of birch buds in ecologically clean places will provide you with useful raw materials.
Spring has come, which means that soon it will be possible to collect birch sap. Previously, in Soviet times, it was sold in stores. And although there was little that was real and useful, now, especially residents of big cities, they don’t know what it is at all. How to collect birch sap with your own hands and why you need to try to describe it in as much detail as possible.
What is birch sap
We all know that there are fruit and vegetable juices. Well, yes, when we eat a tomato or if we press on the pulp of an orange, juice drips, so you can get the right one from them in a juicer. What is birch sap? Judging by the name, it is obtained from birch, just do not try to do it in the same juicer, placing pieces of birch there. That's right, stay without it.
Now imagine a water filter. In the spring, when heat comes, the birch begins to wake up from hibernation, in order for leaves to appear, moisture from the ground, through the root system, along the trunk, movement begins to the crown. This process is called sap flow and it is at this time that birch sap must be collected.
Birch sap is crystal clear, like a tear, white liquid, pleasant to the taste. The taste varies from tree to tree. The younger the tree, the sweeter the juice. This is a natural, unique healing drink.
What is useful birch sap
Moisture that has passed through a living, natural filter has unique and beneficial properties. It contains vitamins, macro and micro elements.
- This is a natural natural complex of vitamins. After winter, they are usually not enough. Birch sap strengthens our body and improves immunity.
- Rapidly absorbed into the blood. Promotes blood purification and regeneration
- Improves metabolism
- Good for removing toxins from the body
- Cleanses the kidneys of sand, dissolves struvite (infectious stones), consisting of phosphates and carbonates.
- Has a diuretic effect
- Improves work and cleans the gastrointestinal tract
- Helps with acne, furunculosis, eczema and non-healing wounds
- Strengthens hair
- Good to drink when thirsty
Contraindications for the use of birch sap
You need to consult your doctor if:
- I am allergic to birch pollen.
- The presence of calcium and urate and kidney stones
- stomach ulcer
Birch sap collection time
In spring, depending on the area of residence, weather conditions, average daily air temperature, the place where the tree grows (southern or northern slope, lowland), sap flow begins in the trees. Here, in central Russia, in 2011, for example, it began in early April and continued until Victory Day. This year, now on April 10, it is not there yet, but I think it should start in a few days. Therefore, the time of the beginning of the collection of birch sap and the very period of collection is always different and it needs to be guarded.
Even when sap flow begins, the weather and time of day will affect it. In cold weather and at night it slows down. You can collect birch sap while it is crystal clear, as soon as the buds begin to bloom, it becomes cloudy and its collection is stopped. In our area, the period of collecting birch sap is from 2 to 3 weeks. The most useful juice is collected in the middle of sap flow.
How to correctly determine the start time of sap flow? Do not go out into the forest all the time. Find, closer to your home, a birch and look at its buds until they are dry, there is no juice,
but as soon as they begin to swell, it's time to collect birch sap.
Keep in mind that the city is warmer and here the sap flow begins several days earlier.
How to collect birch sap
If you find yourself in the forest, I urge you to treat it carefully and with love. For several years now, every spring, I have been collecting birch sap in the same forest with my own hands, and not a single tree has died from this. How to make sure that collecting birch sap does not become dangerous for trees? It is necessary to strictly follow the rules on how to collect birch sap.
It is impossible to collect birch sap from trees with a trunk diameter of less than 20 cm. They can die from this.
You can not make large notches with an ax, peel off the bark in a circle.
I think the most humane is the use of a drill with a drill. Therefore, going to an ecologically clean forest for birch sap, take with you:
- Drill
- Drill 6 - 10 mm
- Metal tubes 5 - 8 cm long
- Rubber tubing or cambric
- Plastic bottles
- Hammer
How to save birch sap
The shelf life of fresh birch sap in the refrigerator is 2-3 days, then it becomes cloudy and sour. Dirty dishes shorten this time.
Many people suggest heating and canning it to preserve it, but after that there is little that is useful in it.
How to make it so as to extend the use of birch sap. For example, I collect it in one and a half liter plastic bottles, freeze it and store it in the freezer. Then, as needed, I take it out, thaw it in the refrigerator and drink it. When frozen, birch sap retains its beneficial properties.
There is another way to preserve, this is the use of medical 96 degree alcohol and adding it to the juice in a ratio of one to ten, that is, 100 grams of alcohol per 1 liter of juice. Drinking such a birch term will not be pleasant, but it is suitable for external use.
How to use birch sap
I have no contraindications, and I drink birch sap to strengthen and cleanse the body, it replaces water well. It is only important, in order to be useful, to drink it for 15-20 days. For adults who do not have contraindications, 200 g half an hour before meals. For children, we reduce the dose by half. In the early days, the diuretic properties of the juice are very noticeable.
If there are problems with the skin, hair, or for a cosmetic effect, we additionally apply it externally.
In home cooking, you can make kvass from birch sap, mix it with other juices, knead dough on it, etc. I won’t repeat how to make it with my own hands, there are many recipes on the Internet. For me, it is interesting for its medicinal properties, and heat treatment negates these properties of it, so I will not give such recipes for preserving birch sap here. For those who are interested, find it yourself.
Now you know all the secrets how to collect birch sap and what it is for.
Good forest walks, you!
Choose a young tree, the trunk of which will be no more than 10 cm in diameter. Pierce with an awl (not too deep) and watch for a bit. If a drop of liquid has come out at the puncture site, then it is already possible to collect the juice.
Thin trees are not suitable for such a thing, we only injure them with deep punctures, and the juice will not be so tasty.
Pick up a few trees, do not try to squeeze all the juice from one. If you need 5 liters of juice, then it is better to choose 5 birch trees and collect a liter from them than to draw out all the liquid from one.
Do not choose trees that are located within the city to collect juice. They absorb everything that is harmful around - exhaust gases from cars on the highways, smoke from factories and factories, dust. From such juice you can get more harm than good. Get out for birch sap deeper into the forest.
Be careful with the wood, do not cut with an ax, use a drill with a thin drill bit. Remember that the sap circulation occurs near the bark, so you do not need to drill too deep a hole in the tree trunk.
How to collect birch sap - instructions for beginners
So, make a hole, fix a clean plastic bottle below it (this can be done by taping it to the barrel with tape). Form a flagellum from gauze fabric, which will play the role of a kind of fluid conductor. Insert one end of the flagellum into the hole made, lower the other into the neck of the container. In a capillary way, the juice from the hole, accumulating in a gauze flagellum, will gradually fall into a plastic bottle.
Several times a day it is desirable to control the filling of containers. If the sap is not flowing as much as it was at the beginning of the collection, do not try to drill a hole deeper, just move on to a new tree.
After completing the collection, do not forget to take care of the tree. Plug the hole with a piece of wood, wax, or a piece of moss. The juice will stop flowing out, and will begin to flow to the branches of the birch. Then the tree will cope with its own wound. If you do everything right, then you will drink juice and save the tree. 
Gained 50 liters of live drink? Save some for the winter, prepare birch sap with orange.
Oksana Abramovich was with you
Also watch a video clip on how to collect birch sap using straws into a bottle.
© Vcusnyatina.ru
Loading...
