How to seal a birch tree after collecting sap. How to collect birch sap: useful tips

Birch sap (birch tree)- liquid coming out of a birch tree in places where its trunk or branches are damaged. Such damage can be cuts or fractures, and the outflow of fluid is caused by root pressure in the tree.

Birch sap is a very valuable product, enriched with many substances beneficial to the body, due to which this liquid has a complex beneficial effect on human health.

Composition of birch sap

Juice density - 1.0007-1.0046 g/ml;
Dry matter content - 0.7-4.6 g/l;
Ash content - 0.3-0.7 mg/l;
Total sugar content - 0.5-2.3%;
Protein - 0.1 g/100 g;
Fat - 0.0;
Carbohydrates - 5.8 g/100 g;
Among the organic substances we note: essential oils, saponins, betulol, more than 10 organic acids.

The calorie content of birch sap is— 22-24 kcal per 100 g of fresh product.

Birch sap also contains the following macro- and microelements (minerals):

sugars - 1-4%;
— 273 mg/l;
— 16 mg/l;
— 13 mg/l;
— 6 mg/l;
aluminum (Al) - 1-2 mg/l;
manganese (Mn) - 1 mg/l;
iron (Fe) - 0.25 mg/l;
silicon (Si) - 0.1 mg/l;
titanium (Ti) - 0.08 mg/l;
copper (Cu) - 0.02 mg/l;
strontium (Sr) - 0.1 mg/l;
barium (Ba) - 0.01 mg/l;
nickel (Ni) - 0.01 mg/l;
zirconium (Zr) - 0.01 mg/l;
— 0.01 mg/l;
traces of nitrogen (N).

The chemical composition may vary somewhat depending on the growing region of the donor birch tree and the composition of the soil on which the tree grows.

From the point of view of herbal medicine, birch sap is one of the best natural remedies for improving metabolism. Despite the fact that birch sap differs little from water, it ferments well and has a positive effect on the functioning of the stomach.

Birch sap is rich in sugars, organic acids, enzymes, calcium salts, magnesium, iron and others that are necessary for the body, which we talked about a little earlier. Due to its rich composition, it is recommended for diseases of the blood, joints, skin, as well as for other respiratory diseases.

Drinking birch sap helps cleanse the blood, enhance metabolic processes, and remove harmful substances from the body during infectious diseases. It is useful to drink juice for diseases of the liver, gall bladder, low acidity, scurvy, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Birch sap also helps to quickly cleanse the body of harmful substances and break down urinary stones of phosphate and carbonate origin.

Birch increases the body's resistance to colds, infectious and allergic diseases, has an anthelmintic, diuretic, and antitumor effect; birch sap is useful for wiping the skin to moisturize and cleanse dry skin.

It is also useful to wash your hair with birch sap, to enhance its growth and appearance of shine and softness (infusion of birch leaves has the same property). Birch sap is a good remedy for impotence. Birch “tears” have a very good effect on women during the period. If you drink at least a glass of juice a day, drowsiness, fatigue, irritability and other symptoms associated with menopause will disappear.

The technique of tapping birch trees to extract sap is very simple.

Various methods of extracting birch sap are practiced. When extracting it for one's own needs, they sometimes break a birch branch and drop it at the break point into a bottle, which is tied to the branch. Often the trunk of a birch tree is simply cut several times with an ax and a tray of immediately stripped birch bark is placed under the holes or a straw, a tube of bark, etc. is inserted into the hole. Such methods, of course, cannot be recommended under any circumstances, since they often lead to massive damage trees. To carry out tapping without harm to the tree, you need to follow certain rules.

Mass tapping requires cultural and economic management of the forest and proper organization of all work. At the moment, we can propose the following method for extracting birch sap.

Selecting trees for tapping

The plot received from the forestry department must be studied and developed; first of all, trees suitable for tapping are selected. They are examined, noted and taken into account. Then they study the nature of the area in which the site is located in order to create a route around the selected trees.

Trees with a diameter of at least 20 cm, with a good crown, and undamaged should be allowed for tapping. Trees that are sick, dead-topped, damaged by fire, damaged by forest pests, etc. for tipping are not allowed.

Having selected trees suitable for tapping, their permissible load is determined, i.e., the number of holes to be drilled. In doing so, they are guided by the following standards.

With a tree diameter of 20 to 24 cm, 1 hole is laid
With a tree diameter of 25 to 30 cm, 2 holes are laid
When the tree diameter is 31 or more, 3 holes are laid

If a forest area designated for tapping is scheduled for felling in the current or next year, then trees with a diameter starting from 16 cm can be allowed for tapping, let’s assume:

with a tree diameter of 16 to 20 cm, 1 hole is laid
with a tree diameter from 21 to 25, 2 holes are laid
with a tree diameter of 26 or more, 3 holes are laid

The diameter is measured at the height of a person’s chest using a measuring fork. In its design, such a fork is similar to a caliper.

When tapping maple trees, the load is determined based on the following standards:

with a tree diameter of 24 to 30 cm, 1 hole is laid
with a tree diameter of 31 to 35 cm, 2 holes are laid
with a tree diameter of 36 or more, 3 holes are laid

In case of tapping of an area designated for felling in the coming years, the load standards are taken as follows:

with a tree diameter of 20 to 24 cm, 1 hole is laid
with a tree diameter of 25 to 30 cm, 2 holes are laid
with a tree diameter of 31 or more, 3 holes are laid

Putting holes in trees

The height of the holes in the tree depends on the location of the sap collectors. So, if the juice collectors are suspended, then the hole is laid approximately at the height of the person’s chest. If the sap collectors are simply placed on the ground near the trees, then the height of the holes will be determined by the height of the sap collectors, i.e. approximately 25-30 cm from the surface of the ground. The distance between the surface of the receiver and the end of the groove should not be more than 3-5 cm to avoid wind blowing away drops of juice.

You need to choose a place for the hole so that the sap receiver can be conveniently installed near the tree: the hole should not be located above roots coming out of the ground, etc. In addition, when choosing a place for the hole, it is necessary that the tree bark does not have cracks from frost, accidental scratches and other damage; the hole is laid on healthy wood at a distance of at least 10 cm from damage.

Before drilling a hole, you should clean the area of bark where it is laid. This is recommended for the following reasons.

The bark of thick trees is very hardened; in addition, it has numerous longitudinal cracks and irregularities; a moss cover often forms, especially on the northern part of the trunk. Therefore, in order not to dull the drilling tool and to avoid contamination of the juice flowing from the hole, the bark should be stripped. Cleaning is done using a light small hatchet, scraper or planer. The area to be cleaned should be slightly larger than the hole being drilled. Typically, stripping is done with a size of approximately 5 by 5 cm. During stripping, care must be taken to ensure that only the rough layer of bark is stripped and that the bast layer of the tree is not damaged. At the same time, you should also not cut off knots and growths from the tree, as this entails loss of sap.

After cleaning the site, a hole is drilled. The hole is made with a diameter of 1.5-2 cm and a depth of 3-5 cm, excluding the peeled bark. The question of the size of the hole is important from many points of view: its size affects the quality and quantity of sap, as well as the process of overgrowing the tree and, thus, the quality of the wood.

Drilling can be done either using a rotary hammer or a cylindrical drill. The tool must be well sharpened so that the edges of the hole are smooth and clean and there are no burrs. If necessary, the hole is corrected using a sharp chisel. The chips are removed from the hole.

The hole should have a slight slope towards the ground. It is laid at approximately an angle of 100-105°.

Proper tree tapping requires special attention to better preserve the trees.

To avoid damage to trees from improper tapping, the following rules must be observed in particular:

When stripping the bark, clean a minimal area, approximately 5 by 5 cm;
when stripping the bark, do not cut it deeply, so as not to touch the bast layer of the tree and thereby cause unnecessary external sap flow;
drill a hole for extracting juice, and do not make cuts;
at the end of the tapping season, carefully repair drilled holes, as well as all accidental damage;
for tapping, choose trees that are stronger and richer in sap;
When re-tapping, place secondary holes at a distance of approximately 10 cm around the circumference of the tree or below the previously located holes.

As practice has shown, repeated tapping does not in any way harm the development of the trees being tapped. On the contrary, trees that are reseeded over a period of years produce a consistently increasing yield of sap.

Grooves and juice collectors

Dishes placed near trees to collect flowing sap are called juice collectors, and the devices through which sap flows from the tree hole into sap receivers are called grooves.

Due to the fact that the extraction of birch sap is still a new matter, we have not yet developed special types of grooves and especially sap collectors. Each organization uses its existing capabilities to do this. But still, two types of simple grooves have already emerged. The first type is a simple metal groove made of tinplate, tinned or galvanized iron, bent in a semicircle or at some angle. The dimensions of such a tray for a ground-based juice collector are as follows: length 15-20 cm, width 3-5 cm. With hanging juice collectors, the length of the groove is shorter, depending on the neck of the juice collector. To install such a tray in wood, 4-5 cm below the drilled hole, with one blow of a chisel shaped like a groove, an incision is made, and notches are made. The depth of the gap is 1-1.5 cm. A metal groove is inserted into this gap. For greater strength, it is lightly hammered with a wooden hammer. To avoid damage to the groove from impact, it is recommended to make a wooden clamp for it, on which the blows are made. The groove, like the drilled hole, should have an inclination of 100-105° to the axis of the barrel.

The second type of groove is a wooden groove, open, semi-closed or completely closed. Wooden grooves can be made from alder, maple, linden and hazel (walnut) wood. Open grooves are the easiest to make. To do this, take a knot or plan a stick or block of the appropriate diameter, i.e. 2-3 cm, so that the groove is slightly wider than the hole in the tree. Then this block or stick is cut into pieces of the required length, each piece is split or sawed in half lengthwise and in the middle is hollowed out, or machined, or a recess 5-7 mm wide is cut out. To insert such a groove into a hole in a tree, its end is trimmed or hewn. The groove should be held tightly in the hole so that the juice does not leak from below.

The most suitable are closed and semi-closed wooden grooves.

A closed groove is a wooden tube or block with a hole inside, 5-10 mm in diameter. The end, intended for insertion into a hole in the tree, is sharpened or slightly tapered.

A semi-closed groove is made in the same way as a closed one, but there is no need to drill a large hole. For a groove of this type, a piece of stick, block or knot is taken; at a distance of 5 cm from one end, one third of its thickness is cut off, and in the remaining whole end, a hole is drilled with a gimlet, drill, etc., until the cut is cut; The hole is cut along the cut using a chisel.

To collect the flowing juice, a wide variety of utensils are used as juice collectors. The most commonly used are clay pots, jars, jars, and glass wide-neck jars; less often - buckets, narrow-necked jars and bottles. The capacity of juice receptacles also varies. The most desirable juice containers are those with a capacity of 3-5 liters.

If the capacity of the juice collectors is small and the juice flows profusely, you will have to empty them frequently, which will cause unnecessary labor consumption and create the danger of loss of juice when collecting it is delayed.

For ease of maintenance and lower labor costs, it is advisable to make a hole in the tree and strengthen the sap receptacles at approximately the height of a person’s chest. In this case, you can specify the following method for installing the juice receiver.

A rope is either tied around the tree, to which a bent hook made of wire is attached, or a wire is bent around, the end of which, bent in the form of a hook, is twisted and lowered. The juice collector is hung on these hooks. To tie and hang juice collectors, attach a loop of rope or wire to them.

When installing sap collectors on the ground, you must choose the most level area under the tree or place wood chips, twigs, pebbles, etc. under the sap collector so that it stands straight and stable.

In early spring, with heavy winter snow cover, it will be necessary to remove snow near the trees, otherwise, when the snow melts, the sap receiver may be far from the groove.

Before use, the grooves and juice receptacles must be thoroughly washed and dried so that they do not have any foreign odors. When using glazed clay pots or lids, you must wash them especially carefully, since the glaze often contains lead. It is advisable to have the glaze analyzed.

Juice receivers are installed by the time juice flow appears.

Despite their simplicity, low cost and ease of manufacture, all of these grooves and juice collectors have a number of significant disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that they do not protect the collected sap from contamination (twigs, insects, etc.), as well as from liquefaction during rainy weather and snowfall.

American practice and technology produces more advanced examples of grooves and juice collectors. It’s as if everything is provided for here. The length of the tube entering the hole in the tree is limited by the edge. To drive the groove, there is a thickening above the groove. For hanging the juice collector on the groove there is a ring with a hook. In America, metal buckets with lids are used as sap collectors, which protect the collected maple sap from contamination.

Juice collection

The juice should be collected at least once a day. This ensures constantly fresh juice. Basically, the frequency and duration of sap collection depend on the capacity of the sap collectors, the amount of sap released and on how convenient the collector’s path is: the sparser the trees being sucked, the larger the area, the less convenient the terrain (ravines, slopes, swamps), the slower the collected juice is being delivered; The smaller the capacity of the juice receivers and the more abundant the juice secretion, the more often the juice should be collected from the receivers.

The juice is collected by pouring the juice from the receiver into a bucket. If only one picker is engaged in the collection and his path is inconvenient, then the picker carries only one bucket. When pouring juice, he holds the bucket with one hand, and with the other he grabs the juice receiver and carefully pours the juice from it into the bucket. When carrying two buckets on a rocker, it is advisable to have an assistant to the assembler.

It is necessary to ensure that the juice collectors, after emptying them and during the entire collection of juice, stand steadily, directly under the grooves and as close as possible to the latter. Otherwise, the juice will spill and drops of juice will be blown away by the wind outside the neck of the juice receptacle. As a rule, you should check in the morning whether the juice containers are positioned correctly and that they are all emptied.

At the beginning of the season, little juice is released. Then juice secretion reaches a maximum, and then begins to gradually decrease. Juice secretion occurs unevenly throughout the day, sometimes on cold days it almost stops.

Juice, as a rule, begins to stand out at about 8 a.m. Moscow time. It is most abundantly released around and after noon, i.e. from 11 to 2 o'clock. day. In the evening, juice secretion decreases, and sometimes stops completely at night. Such a course of juice secretion is not observed on all days of the tapping season. This is usually observed on clear sunny days with light winds or in calm weather.

Rarely standing trees located at the height of the slope, moreover, in its southern part, release more sap. The most abundant release of juice occurs in clear sunny weather after a light overnight frost. Trees that are better illuminated by the sun produce an increased yield of sap.

In rainy weather or snowfall, when the incoming moisture causes the sap to become very liquefied, the sap should not be collected.

To speed up and facilitate the work of the collector, firstly, a route around the site of each collector must be drawn up, and secondly, the path itself on the site must be prepared.

The entire plot is divided into a number of working sections. A barrel is installed on the site under a light canopy to drain the juice collected by the collectors. The barrel is pre-washed at the point, weighed and delivered to the site in its pure form. A funnel is inserted into the barrel, into which linen and gauze are placed, like a filter. The size of the area and the volume of the barrel should be such that the barrel can be filled in one day. It is necessary to make an entrance to the location of the barrel on the site.

When collecting juice, of course, general sanitary and hygienic requirements must be observed. All utensils must be washed thoroughly. The assembler's hands must be clean, the assembler must be equipped with special clothing, etc. filters, i.e. cloth and gauze, must be changed and washed frequently.

Drawing up a collector route

Since the collector will have to walk around his site every day, and sometimes several times a day, he is obliged, firstly, to study it well, and secondly, to prepare it in advance.

The collector must know how many sap trees are on his site, how many sap collectors are, and firmly remember the location of these trees so as not to miss a single one when collecting. For convenience and to speed up the work, it is recommended that the collector outline a route for gradually walking around all the trees on his site; in this case, one should adhere to a known direction and order so that the transitions are as short as possible.

Once a detour path has been outlined, it is necessary to put this path in order. So, if there are swamps on it, then light floorings made of brushwood or boards are laid across them; they remove brushwood and trees from the path, thin out the thicket and cut down bushes. This work is necessary. do it in advance and do not waste time on it, since thanks to this, during the hot season of collecting sap, the time spent on carrying the sap will be greatly reduced and the collector’s transition from one tree to another will be facilitated.

Receiving juice from collectors

If the area for collecting juice is small and located close to the receiving point, then the collectors themselves deliver the juice directly in buckets to the point. Here the juice is received and filtered. If the site is located far from the receiving point, then, as indicated above, the juice is poured into barrels brought to the site.

It is necessary to keep records of the amount of sap collected by each collector and monitor the quality of the sap.

If the juice is delivered directly in buckets, then if the buckets are uniform, you can use a measuring ruler to determine the amount of juice collected. This is done as follows: a bucket is filled with a half-liter measuring mug, a ruler is lowered into the bucket, and as the bucket is filled with juice, marks are made on the immersed ruler.

For the same purpose, you can use milk meters and barrels with meters. The easiest way to determine the amount of juice donated is by weighing, assuming that one liter of juice weighs one kilogram (the specific gravity of juice is almost the same as the specific gravity of water).

Before delivering barrels to the site, they must be weighed and the weight must be marked on the barrels. In addition, a serial number is also placed on the barrels, which is necessary in the future to record the juice handed over by collectors, as well as when filling out a specification or invoice when sending juice from a procurement point.

The quality of the juice supplied by the collector is controlled mainly by determining its density. If the juice supplied by the collector does not meet the technical conditions, the juice will not be accepted.

It is most advisable to filter the juice through a cloth covered with two layers of gauze. Gauze traps larger particles, and the fabric traps smaller ones. This filter can be inserted directly into the funnel. It is simple, cheap and easy to wash.

Curtailment of tapping work

By the end of the season, when the secretion of juice is greatly reduced, the juice will look cloudy and taste a little sweet - juice extraction should be stopped.

When starting to wind down the tapping work, first of all you need to assemble the sap receivers, then remove the grooves from the wood. Holes in Trees should be sealed. This is done in order to prevent excessive leakage of sap, as well as to protect the wounded area from infection, which could result in damage to the tree (for example, fungal diseases).

The caulking of holes in trees should be done immediately following the removal of the grooves, so as not to miss any trees with an uncovered hole. Covered holes will heal within 2-3 years.

Sealing holes is possible in various ways. You can hammer them in with a wooden stopper, you can cover them with various kinds of putty (both special garden putty and simple window putty), you can even cover them with simple clay. If there are pine trees in the forest, the putty can be prepared on site from pine resin. The method for preparing such putty is as follows: put resin in a metal or clay bowl at the rate of 5 g per hole, then place it on smoldering coals. After the resin has passed into a liquid state, chalk powder or ash is added to it in an amount of 15-20% by weight of the resin, mixed thoroughly and removed from the smoldering coals. Preparing this putty is very simple and takes only 10-15 minutes.

The collected grooves and juice collectors are washed well, dried and delivered to the warehouse. They also take away other items from the forest that remained there during work, for example, buckets, barrels, funnels, filters, stands, etc. All this is brought to the receiving point, checked and accounted for, and then delivered to the main warehouse.

At the end of the season, a calculation is made of the total amount of juice collected, expenses incurred both for wages and for other types of expenses. Accounting draws up a complete report and reveals the result of all the work.

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Nature is full of mysteries; it brings gifts even from places where you might not expect them. In spring, all living things wake up, and the period of sap flow begins in the trees. Natural, garden-grown products appear on the tables. Vegetables, first berries - without preservatives or chemicals. In general, this is all familiar, but natural juice straight from the tree, and not from the nearest supermarket, is already a curiosity.

Birch sap has a high content of vitamins C and B, minerals, sucrose and nutrients that improve immunity and well-being. If you have a birch tree at your dacha, don’t miss this opportunity to collect sap. European white birch produces it well. This juice is allowed even for diabetics, since birch sugar (xylitol) is easily and quickly absorbed without affecting insulin levels.

When to collect birch sap

Birch sap is collected in late March-early April, before the vegetative buds swell. The end of the collection occurs during the period of foliage formation, namely mid-April. Choose the collection time from 10 am to 6 pm. At night, sap flow stops.

Choose an adult, middle-aged tree (15-20 years old), preferably in the forest, more often or on your own site, most importantly, away from roads, environmentally polluted places, cities, highways, and away from industrial zones. The diameter of the tree must be at least 20-25 cm. A young tree may die from such a procedure.

You cannot collect more than 5 liters of juice from one tree, and no more than 1 liter per day. If you break this rule and immediately pump out a lot of sap from a birch tree, this will cause significant harm, depleting its vitality.

How to determine the beginning of sap flow

A puncture is made in the tree trunk with a thick awl. If droplets of sap appear after a while, it means it’s time to collect birch sap.

How to collect birch sap

In order to start collecting birch sap, an incision is made in the tree trunk or a hole is drilled with a drill at a height of 1.5 m from the soil surface, the depth is no more than 5 cm. The diameter of the drill is no more than 10 mm. A gutter (a glass or plastic tube, a new hose) is inserted into the hole, and the container is placed on the ground or secured to a tree, where the juice will flow. There may be several punctures. If you use straws for cocktails, then make up to 5-6 punctures.

On the north side of the tree there is more accumulation of birch sap than on any other side.

If there is nothing at hand to serve as a gutter, then cut a branch with a diameter slightly smaller than the neck of a plastic bottle. Insert the branch into the bottle and secure it. True, it takes more time to collect juice than in the previous version.

When the amount of birch sap begins to decrease, it means that the tree is healing the wound. There is no need to try to make new punctures, just change the birch.

After the birch sap has been collected, the gutter is pulled out and the hole is covered with laundry soap, plasticine, garden moss, or at least a wooden sliver is inserted. Sealing with garden varnish will allow it to quickly recover, not lose more sap than necessary, and harmful microorganisms will not penetrate inside the tree.

Such a useful product for humans is dangerous for pets, therefore products containing birch sap are strictly prohibited for animals.

It is better to consume birch sap fresh, immediately after collection. Can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in a glass container. Then the drink begins the fermentation process and kvass is prepared from it or placed in barrels and a low-alcohol drink is obtained. If a lot of birch sap has been collected, it is preserved for the winter.

In the spring, drinking birch sap is very important, since it is during this period that vitamin deficiency, depression, stress, weakness and loss of strength occur. This is exactly the product that will fill the gaps in the body and set you up for positivity.

How to make kvass from birch sap

1 liter of juice is heated to a temperature of 35°C, 3-5 raisins and 15-20 g of yeast are added. The jar is closed and stored in a dark, cool place for 1-2 weeks. The result is a tasty, invigorating, carbonated drink.

Preserving birch sap for the winter

In order to also be able to drink birch sap in winter, it is canned.

The jars are washed with baking soda and sterilized. The lids are boiling. For 3 l. juice take ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp. citric acid. Boil for 5 minutes, pour into jars and seal.

Homemade food preparation and canning

Chapter:
Procurement of fruits, berries and vegetables
4th page

SPRING PREPARATIONS
Part 2
BIRCH JUICE

PAGE CONTENTS:
6. BIRCH JUICE PREPARATIONS (OLD RECIPES)

6. BIRCH JUICE - preparation and canning

Birch juice, or berezovitsa– a very valuable product that has a beneficial effect on the entire human body.

A LITTLE ABOUT WATER AND SOLUTIONS
Let us recall the inextricably linked triad: COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES.
With the same composition, there may be a different structure of the substance and, therefore, different properties. An example would be the isomers of the sugars glucose and fructose, which have the same composition C 6 H 12 O 6, but different molecular structures and very different properties.
Water does not consist of H 2 O molecules, but of clusters, built, for the most part, from 2-5 molecules. These clusters interconnect to form very complex structures of water. The number of such possible water structures is extremely numerous. An example of this can be the shapes of snowflakes: among the billions of snowflakes studied, no two identical ones have yet been found.
In natural water, in addition to water molecules with light hydrogen (H - protium) H 2 O, small quantities also contain water molecules with heavy hydrogen (D - deuterium) D 2 O and super-heavy hydrogen (T - tritium) T 2 O.
In addition, there is no pure water in nature, but there are always aqueous solutions of various substances in different concentrations, the presence of which greatly changes the water structure.
In birch sap the content of rather harmful heavy D 2 O and super-heavy T 2 O water is sharply reduced, and it also has its own special liquid structure, very beneficial for health. Therefore, birch sap is useful not so much for the dissolved substances it contains, but for its special liquid structure.
This structure begins to gradually change immediately after extracting the sap from the birch and after 2 hours it becomes significantly changed.
Therefore, it is fresh birch sap that is especially useful, and not stored or canned.

Drinking fresh birch sap is a pleasure. This is a pleasant, refreshing and body-strengthening drink that tastes little different from plain water. Since ancient times, it has been famous for its healing properties - it is an environmentally friendly, tasty, healing, refreshing soft drink.

Until the sticky leaves bloom (about a month before the leaves appear and flower, during the period of snow melting), birch trees begin to flow sap, called “crying birch.” Within 15-20 days, the birch tree gives us slightly sweet birch sap.

The sap of a tree growing near a busy highway or in an industrial area of the city will do harm instead of benefit. It makes no sense to buy birch sap in stores, because... When canning, almost all beneficial substances are destroyed.

How to extract juice correctly?
You need to cut out a small square of the outer bark and in the cleaned area turn the indentation 3-4 centimeters with a hammer. The juice will flow in a brisk stream. You can attach a tin groove, you can distill it into a bottle using a gauze strip.
After collecting the juice, you need to tightly cover the incision with plasticine, wax, laundry soap or clog it with moss. This will protect the tree from the penetration of bacteria and fungi.
In the old days, birch sap was collected in special containers made of birch bark - it was believed that in them it better retained its properties. But with no less success, the juice can be collected in glass jars or plastic bottles.
How to take the sap correctly and not harm the tree.
Firstly, it should be taken from trees with a diameter of 20-30 cm; it is better not to touch young and old birches.
Secondly, you can take no more than 1 liter of juice from one tree in 2-3 days. You can pierce the bark with a knife or chisel (but not very deeply). A groove made of thin aluminum or plastic is inserted into the slot, through which the juice will flow drop by drop into the container. Then, when the sap is collected, do not forget to cover the hole with garden varnish, plug it with a piece of moss or seal it with wax.
There is a more gentle way: just a branch on a twig is cut, and a bottle is hung on the stump. Using this technique, you can hang several glass or plastic bottles on one tree at once. The cut branch should be lowered slightly downwards (the branch can be tied with a rope to the lower branch or to the tree trunk).
During the day, when the sun warms up, the juice runs faster - you need to remember this when checking in time how the container is filled.
The best time to collect juice is between 12 and 18 o'clock, when it flows most strongly.
The number of holes that can be made depends on the diameter of the birch trunk: if the trunk diameter is 20-25 cm - only one, for 25-35 cm - two, for 35-40 cm - three, and if the diameter is more than 40 cm - it is permissible to make four holes .

ADVIСE
The period of release of birch sap depends on weather conditions. For example, if during the March thaw the sap has already begun to flow, and frosts unexpectedly hit, it may stop secreting for some time. As a rule, the sap begins to flow when the snow melts and the buds swell, around mid-March. They stop collecting sap when the leaves bloom, in the second half of April.
“Birch tears” should be collected only in ecologically clean forests, because wood is capable of absorbing harmful substances and exhaust gases.
It is best to choose a birch tree with a diameter of at least 20 cm, with a well-developed crown.
At a distance of 20 cm from the ground, a small hole is carefully made in the tree trunk. It is important to know that, basically, sap flows in the surface layer between the bark and wood, so a deep hole should not be made.
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.
Birch sap should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2 days (although some store it for up to 1 month, but the sap loses almost all its beneficial properties).
Like any sap, birch sap is best consumed fresh, stored for no more than 2 hours.

With proper tapping, when the bark and several layers of wood are carefully cut, no great harm is done to the tree. In the scientific literature there is no mention of the death of birch trees due to the extraction - even industrially - of birch sap. By the way, one of the vital indicators of birch is sap production. If it decreased from year to year, one could say that tapping undermines the health of the tree. However, five-year observations of tapping in the Middle Urals showed that sap productivity not only does not decrease, but, on the contrary, tends to increase.

Natural birch sap is known for its healing properties

For medicinal purposes, two types of birch are most often used - silver and spreading. They use buds, leaves, juice, activated carbon, tar obtained by dry distillation of wood, xylitol - a sugar substitute for diabetics, obtained from wood waste - and all this is widely used in medicine.

Useful biological compounds, salts and minerals, dissolving in juice, form an almost universal medicine. It contains 0.5 - 2% sugar and is rich in vitamins. The juice contains enzymes, organic acids, tannins, calcium, potassium, iron salts, plant hormones, glucose and substances with high antimicrobial activity (phytoncides).

Every year a person should consume at least 8-10 liters of birch sap.

Birch sap destroys urinary stones, is effective in treating stomach and liver ulcers, headaches, bronchitis, cough, as well as rheumatism, radiculitis and arthritis, and removes harmful substances from the body. In addition, birch sap has a regenerating effect and stimulates metabolism, and is also an excellent dietary and refreshing drink.

Birch sap helps with vitamin deficiencies, anemia, tuberculosis, uterine cancer, colds and skin diseases. It is also taken as a diuretic and anthelmintic for edema of cardiac origin, scrofula, gout, and for the prevention of dental caries.

Systematic intake of birch sap has a general strengthening and tonic effect. Spring birch sap is taken for vitamin deficiencies, allergic diseases, kidney and bladder stones, scrofula, scurvy, colds, and anemia. And it is especially useful for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and tonsillitis.

Birch sap is rich in nicotinic, malic and glutamic organic acids. It contains potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and tannins. Thanks to these components, birch sap has good tonic cosmetic properties.

The scientific literature mentions the antioxidant and antitumor activity of birch sap. It is also recommended to drink it for various diseases of the respiratory system, including tuberculosis; kidney and gallstones, gout, rheumatism, edema, non-healing wounds and ulcers.

ABOUT BEREZA

Once upon a time, the birch tree in Rus' was called the “tree of four tasks”: “The first task is to illuminate the world, the second task is to console the cry, the third task is to heal the sick, the fourth task is to maintain cleanliness.”
Russian people learned to read and write on birch bark, illuminated by a birch torch.
The “cry” from the creaking of cart wheels was consoled with birch tar, and decoctions from birch buds were given to babies “for the cry.”
And today, every year, fragrant and flexible birch brooms and brooms are harvested from the forests. For the birch broom is beyond any competition in the bathhouse, where it is not so much a guardian of cleanliness as a multifaceted medicine.

There is a wonderful remedy for treating various cuts, abrasions and skin lesions - "Berezka". Fill 3/5 of the bottle with sticky birch buds, pour vodka under the neck, seal tightly and leave in a dark place to infuse for 2-3 weeks. Store in the dark without draining the liquid from the kidneys. The solution is stored well in a cool, dark place for 2-3 years.

Not only folk medicine, but also scientific medicine turns to birch for help. Almost all parts of the tree have long been used for all sorts of ailments: unopened buds, young leaves, growths of chaga mushroom on the trunks, and a strong antiseptic extracted from birch bark - birch tar.

Medical studies have shown that drinking at least one glass a day for 2-3 weeks (it is optimal to drink a glass three times a day half an hour before meals) will help the body cope with spring weakness, vitamin deficiency, absent-mindedness, fatigue and depression.
Birch sap is contraindicated for those who are allergic to birch pollen.

Birch sap increases the body's resistance to colds, infectious and allergic diseases, and has an anthelmintic, diuretic, and antitumor effect. Birch sap is also useful for wiping the skin for eczema, acne, moisturizing and cleansing dry skin.

It is useful to apply the following mask to your face: mix 1 tbsp. l. sour cream with 2 tbsp. l. birch sap and 1 tsp. honey You need to keep this mask for about 15 minutes, rinse with cool water, after which the skin will acquire a beautiful matte shade.

Birch sap is useful for washing your hair if you have dandruff, to enhance its growth and make it shiny and soft. An infusion of birch leaves has the same property.

If you are over 40 years old, try periodically wiping your face with a tonic:
Mix a glass of birch sap with one bottle (40 ml) of ginseng tincture. Wipe your face with this mixture morning and evening before using day or night cream. But always after cleansing the skin.

The ideal cosmetic product is natural birch sap. But it is only available in the spring, and only if you have a birch grove nearby, and in an ecologically clean area.

For cosmetic purposes, you can buy canned birch sap at the grocery store. It’s even better to use what you get yourself and freeze it in small portion bags. Ginseng tincture is sold in pharmacies. By the way, you can also buy tinctures of Rhodiola rosea, Eleutherococcus or Sophora japonica for this purpose. All of them perfectly improve the condition of the skin and slow down aging.

For preserving birch sap You can add alcohol to fresh juice to obtain a strength of 16-18 degrees (percent by volume). Store in a cool, dark place. To enhance the effect, you can add 40-50 birch buds per half-liter bottle.

Birch sap is a good remedy for impotence, an assistant for menopause: if you drink at least a glass of sap a day, drowsiness, a feeling of fatigue, irritability and other phenomena accompanying menopause will disappear. Healthy people can take fresh birch sap unlimitedly (of course, avoiding an overdose of the total amount of liquid) instead of tea, compote, water for 1-2 months.

You need to store the juice in the refrigerator, because it quickly deteriorates and turns sour. It is useful to mix birch sap with all types of juices, infuse it with St. John's wort, rose hips, mint leaves, thyme, lemon balm, basil, linden blossom, etc. The healing properties of medicinal plants, vegetables, and fruits complement the healing effect of birch sap.

Finnish doctors have discovered that sweet syrups made from birch sap not only prevent dental caries, but even stop its development. Therefore, birch sap, as well as syrups and candies made from it, are recommended for the prevention of dental disease in children.

TREATMENT WITH BIRCH JUICE

In case of high body temperature, sexually transmitted diseases, drink 1 glass of birch sap before meals 3-4 times a day, following a dairy-vegetable diet.

For vitamin deficiencies, anemia, tuberculosis, in case of atherosclerosis, cardiac edema, scrofula, for the prevention of caries, as a diuretic, anthelmintic, birch sap is drunk 0.5-1 glass 3-4 times a day for 3-4 weeks.

In case of sore throat and other inflammatory diseases of the throat and mouth, gargle with birch sap.

For chronic runny nose, you should drink 1 glass of fresh birch sap every morning in the spring.

Birch sap is good at driving stones and sand out of the kidneys and bladder (it destroys urinary stones mainly of phosphate and carbonate origin, without affecting oxalate and uric acid ones). To do this, you should drink 1 glass on an empty stomach.

For gout, arthritis, rheumatism, as a diuretic and tonic, the juice is taken orally, 1 glass three times a day. The course of treatment is 1-1.5 months.

Methods for placing a container when collecting birch sap

Step-by-step instructions for collecting birch sap

Equipment: hammer, drill, tubes (anything round or hollow will do), drill for the outer diameter of the tube and containers (bottles).

We choose a larger tree and start drilling.
During the drilling process, the juice already flows through the drill.
There is no need to drill deeply, we will spare the birch tree - it is enough for the inserted tube to support the weight of the bottle.

The hole is ready, let's clean it of sawdust.

Let's pick up the phone...

...and hammer it into the hole.

After a couple of seconds, the first drops of birch sap are already pouring.

We take a bottle (preferably plastic, so that it is lighter) and put the neck on a tube driven into the tree.

We are waiting for our containers to be filled with wonderful birch sap.

In an hour we’ll see what nature has given us. And immediately drink fresh juice - it is the healthiest!

Having collected the juice and drunk, BE SURE to plug the hole tightly. a wooden cork cut from a branch.

While birch sap is pouring into our cups, bottles and jars, we walk through the forest and carefully get acquainted with the surrounding nature.

If you're lucky, you can meet such a wonderful local resident in a birch grove.

PREPARATIONS FROM BIRCH JUICE
(OLD RECIPES)

FREEZING BIRCH JUICE is the best way to preserve it
Preserving birch sap in jars is not a very wise thing to do.
Birch sap is especially good fresh. When pasteurized or sterilized, it loses many vitamins and other useful substances.
Drinking such canned juice in the summer, when there are a lot of different berries and fruits, is a below average pleasure.
So if you prepare birch sap for a long time, then only by freezing it.
After defrosting, it retains almost all of its properties.
For cosmetic purposes, it should be frozen in small plastic bags.

BEREZOVIK (1st METHOD)
Trim the bark of a large young birch tree, make a transverse hole, insert a splint tightly into it and place a pan or bowl under it. From a good tree you can get from 10 to 40 liters of juice.
Pour the juice into a barrel, add port wine, vodka, add sugar and raisins. Stir the contents of the barrel thoroughly until the sugar dissolves. Seal the barrel with a sleeve as tightly as possible and place it in a cold place, preferably on ice, for 2.5 months.
After this period, pour into bottles, carefully cork, securing the corks to the neck with wire, and place in a cellar or other cool place on its side.
For 5 liters of birch sap - 750 g of port wine, 500 g of vodka, 1.2 kg of granulated sugar, 600 g of raisins.

BEREZOVIK (2nd METHOD)
Pour birch sap, port wine into the barrel, add sugar, crushed lemon pulp with skin, but without seeds. Place the barrel in a cold place (preferably on ice) for 2 months. After this period, pour the juice into bottles, carefully cork it, attaching the corks to the neck with wire, and place it in a cellar or other cool place on its side on the sand. Birch bark prepared in this way will be ready for consumption 3 weeks after the spill.
For 5 liters of birch sap - 1.6 kg of sugar, 2 lemons, 1 liter of port wine.

BEREZOVIK (3rd METHOD)
Pour birch sap into a basin, add sugar, stir until it dissolves and cook until a third of the sap boils. Skim off foam while boiling. Then remove the basin from the heat, strain its contents through a clean cloth directly into the barrel and, when the juice has cooled to a temperature of 40 ° C, pour in a thick solution of yeast, vodka, put in lemons, cut them into circles and remove the seeds. The keg doesn't have to be full.
Leave the barrel in a warm room for fermentation for 10-12 hours, then take it to a cold room or on ice, where it is left for 7 weeks.
After this time, strain the juice again, pour into champagne bottles, carefully cork, attaching the corks to the neck of the bottle with wire, and store in a cool place.
For 5 liters of birch sap - 1.6 kg of sugar, 2 tbsp. spoons of yeast, 1 liter of vodka, 2 lemons.

BIRCH WATER
Release the sap from the birch and pour it immediately into bottles. Place granulated sugar, lemon zest, and raisins in each bottle. Carefully seal the bottles, attaching the corks to the neck of the bottle with wire, and place in a cool place for 2-3 months. The finished drink should foam well. Before use, add sugar to taste.
For 0.5 liters of birch sap - zest from 1/4 lemon, 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar, 4 raisins.

VINEGAR FROM BIRCH JUICE
Pour birch sap into a barrel, add vodka and honey. Place all this in a warm place without clogging the barrel.
The vinegar will be ready in 2 months.
For 2 liters of birch sap - 100 g of vodka, 40 g of honey.

BIRCH KVASS,
recommended by the Institute of Nutrition of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1946)
This is an ancient folk recipe that allows you to preserve birch sap in the cold for two to three months (fresh sap does not last long - a few days at most). Proper storage increases the acidity of kvass without impairing its taste.
The juice is fermented in glass bottles of any size. After washing with hot water (preferably boiled), they are filled with fresh juice right next to the sapling trees.
For every half liter, add half a teaspoon of regular or glucose sugar, 2-3 raisins, washed in cold boiled water, and - if you like - a little lemon zest.
The bottle is closed with a clean stopper and secured with wire or bands.
The pressure of carbon dioxide in the bottle is created quite high, and to prevent the glass from bursting, it is not recommended to put more than the specified amount of sugar.
In a few days you will get a pleasant-tasting, sour, highly carbonated drink.

BIRCH KVASS
A bag of burnt rye bread crusts or crackers is lowered onto a rope into an oak barrel with juice. After two days, fermentation will begin. Then oak bark, berries or cherry leaves, and dill stems are poured into the barrel. After two weeks, the kvass is ready.
There is another recipe for kvass. Birch sap is heated to 35°C, yeast is added to it at the rate of 15-20 g per 1 liter. The starter is placed in a cold place for 3-4 days, then poured into containers and preserved.

GOLDEN BIRCH KVASS
It has a beautiful golden color and a wonderful aroma, and if you let it sit for a long time, it begins to ferment and has a pleasant tingling sensation on the tongue.
Add dried apples (dry apples for compote), dried lemon balm sprigs and toasted barley (whole grains) to a container with birch sap (for example, a can).
This kvass is infused for several days in a cold place and stored in the same cold place.
RECIPE OPTION
About 0.5 kg of pure roasted barley is poured into a 20-liter bottle of juice, and the bottle is placed in the cellar.
In a week or a week and a half, excellent kvass is ready, which can be stored in a dark and cool place for up to six months.

From fresh birch sap (sweet and slightly sour in taste) you can prepare a tasty and healthy
BIRCH SYRUP
(it can be added to tea or mixed with water)
After evaporation over fire in an open container (at the end - with stirring), the sugar concentration should be 60-70%. This syrup has a lemon-white color and the thickness of honey.
It has been proven that sweet syrup made from birch sap not only prevents dental caries, but even stops its development.
NOTE. The sap of the Canadian maple, from which maple syrup is boiled by evaporation, is 3-4 times sweeter than birch. Therefore, syrup is usually not prepared from birch sap - the fuel consumption is too high.

A simple modern way of collecting birch sap for future use
To 1 liter of birch sap add 125 g of sugar and 5 g of citric acid.
Then it is filtered, poured into jars, pasteurized and screwed on with lids.
It is useful to mix birch sap with other juices obtained from fresh fruits and vegetables, and also infuse it with mint leaves, lemon balm, thyme, St. John's wort, linden blossom, rose hips, and lingonberry berries.

Birch sap - an elixir for health

Our ancestors knew about the unique properties of birch - it was not for nothing that it was so revered by the ancient Slavs. It was believed that the birch tree takes away adversity and illness, and in return brings happiness.

Birch branches and leaves, as a powerful magical symbol, after sacred rituals served as a talisman for the house, field and garden - the birch tree drove away evil people, witches, evil spirits, and protected from destructive natural phenomena.

Traditional medicine: what does birch treat?

Everything about the birch tree is useful: the sap, the bark, the leaves, the buds, and the inflorescences. Note that birch brooms are so popular among those who like to take a steam bath, because the substances released from the leaves at high temperatures have an excellent effect on the skin: they treat dermatitis, acne, eczema, and also help reduce cellulite and swelling.

Do you want to have beautiful hair? A decoction of birch leaves will help strengthen curls, get rid of dandruff and improve the health of the scalp. The same decoction treats skin diseases, relieves pain from arthritis and rheumatism.

Infusions and decoctions of birch leaves or its buds are an excellent diuretic for diseases of the kidneys and urinary system, and for cholecystitis. Essential oil is made from birch buds.

It is used not only in medicine to treat dermatitis, but also in perfumery - birch bud oil gives the characteristic aroma of expensive leather.

Tinctures from birch catkins are used for heart diseases, gastritis and stomach ulcers. Only men's earrings are suitable for these purposes; it is difficult to confuse them with women's: unlike single women's earrings, they grow in several pieces side by side.

Fresh birch bark helps treat abscesses, and tablets from it - activated carbon - are widely used for diseases of the stomach and intestines.

Even the birch mushroom, chaga, is useful, but it is recommended to collect it in the fall. And spring, we repeat, is an excellent time to collect birch sap.

This very tasty, healing, refreshing drink has a sweetish taste due to the content of healthy sugars: glucose, fructose, sucrose.

Birch sap is a storehouse of vitamins, especially vitamin C, and it also contains organic acids, aromatic, tannins, biologically active substances and compounds, a lot of mineral elements, including potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, manganese, copper and even titanium.

Plant hormones and phytoncides that kill microbes make birch sap a real natural immunostimulant.

Note that the positive properties of the sap are stronger than those of other, also medicinal, parts of birch. After all, it is the sap that contains all the life-giving power of the tree, which it has accumulated over the long winter.

In addition to the entire spectrum of diseases - from dermatitis to arthritis - the juice cleanses the body of toxins, stimulates metabolism, improves mood, and, according to recent data, even helps women relieve the symptoms of menopause, and men fight impotence.

Birch sap: when and how to collect

In March-April, birch trees begin to awaken from winter sleep. Birch sap rises along the trunk to the tree buds.

This tendency of the sap upward, towards the branches, can even be heard if you put your ear to the white bark. The characteristic noise is similar to the surf of a distant sea. It makes sense to collect juice within a short period of time: experts set aside no more than four weeks for this.

The beginning of the collection of birch sap can be determined by... the weather: when daytime and night temperatures reach several degrees above zero (approximately after March 25), the birch wakes up.

The sap begins to decline when the first leaves begin to appear on the trees. Moreover, the time of day for collecting sap is also strictly defined: from ten in the morning to six in the evening, in the evening and at night the tree “sleeps”.

Having decided on the collection time, you need to decide on the tree. In a birch grove or forest, you need to choose a healthy birch tree, without damage or signs of disease, with a trunk of at least 20-25 cm in diameter.

At a height of about 50 cm from the base, use a drill, knife or other sharp object to make a hole with a diameter of up to 1 cm and a depth of about 2 cm, at a slight upward slope. Then you need to insert a tube or groove into the hole through which the juice will flow, and tie a container under the gutter to collect the juice.

From one tree you can collect no more than 1 liter of juice in 2-3 days, but you shouldn’t “drink” all the juice from a tree: it can die from such poaching. Therefore, the bottle is usually removed one day after the start of collection. The hole must be plugged with a wooden plug, and then covered with garden varnish or wax.

A more gentle way to collect the healing drink is as follows: cut a branch from a branch, tilt it down, and hang a container on it to collect the juice. This way the sap collects more slowly, but the tree will lose less strength.

Important:
- do not collect juice in the city and suburbs, it will not be environmentally friendly;
- you can collect sap in specially designated places - birch forests intended for felling;
- if the birch tree is less than 30 cm in diameter, then only one hole or cut can be made on it to collect sap;
- be sure to treat the hole in the trunk, otherwise the tree may get sick;
- if the sap goes poorly, do not deepen the hole, but rather choose another tree;
- if the sap has an unpleasant odor, this may mean that the tree is infected with a fungus - you should not drink such sap!
- there is an allergy to birch sap;
- juice spoils quickly, so it’s better to drink it fresh.

More tips:
1. When choosing, it is better to give preference to larger birch.
2. It is better to place the collection container on the north side of the tree so that the sap does not begin to ferment under the sun’s rays.
3. Don’t try to “milk” the birch tree to the last. It is better to collect sap from several birch trees.
4. Do not collect sap from a birch tree near which there is an anthill - otherwise there will be attempts on sweets

Birch sap: recipes

The best thing you can do with birch sap is not do anything with it! Just drink it immediately after collection, while all the beneficial substances are contained in full.

You can store it in the refrigerator for no more than two days. It is recommended to take 1 glass 3 times a day.

Make cocktails: birch sap is good in combination with the juice of blueberries, viburnum, lingonberries, chokeberries, currants, apples and cherries, as well as with various infusions such as chamomile, mint, linden, rose hips, thyme, St. John's wort, lemon balm.

Of course, birch sap in its pure form and mixed with other juices and herbs is the most healthy drink, but if you want to preserve it, try following the recipes below.

Kvass is made from birch sap
To 5 liters of birch sap add the juice of 2 lemons, 25 g of yeast, 20 g of honey or sugar diluted in birch sap. All ingredients are mixed well, poured into bottles, put 1-2 raisins in each bottle, sealed tightly and placed in a cool, dark place.
In a few days the drink will be ready, but it can be stored for up to 4 months, checking periodically, as bottles can burst from pressure.

Wine is made from birch sap
Boil 6 liters of birch sap and 350 g of sugar to 5.5 liters, not forgetting to skim off the foam. Place 1-2 slices of lemon in a container, add 1 liter of white table grape wine, and add hot birch sap.
Cool the mixture to room temperature, add half a teaspoon of dry yeast, stir and leave for 3-4 days. Then the container is sealed and placed in a cool place. In 2 weeks the wine will be ready.

By the way, ready-made birch sap in bottles tastes similar to natural one, but, alas, has no health value. Substances used for preservation neutralize all the beneficial properties of the juice.

Birch leaf recipes

If you don't have the opportunity to collect healthy birch elixir, don't worry. You remember that the leaves of this tree have the same powerful healing power, and they can also be eaten.

Once upon a time, our ancestors used birch leaves as an additive to various dishes. Collect the early, tender leaves and use them to make a stew, a dry seasoning, or simply brew them as an herbal tea.

Chowder with birch leaves
Birch leaves are passed through a meat grinder, 2 tbsp. spoons of the resulting mass are placed in boiling water (3 cups), grated carrots and chopped onions are added, and boiled for 5-7 minutes. Let it brew for 15 minutes and then serve with sour cream.

Seasoning with birch leaves
Birch and nettle leaves are dried. Grind them into powder along with a clove bud (for 1 teaspoon of birch leaves you will need 1 teaspoon of nettle and 1 clove bud).
Store in a tightly closed glass container, in a dark and dry place, add to dishes shortly before cooking.

Healing tea from birch leaves
Two teaspoons of crushed birch leaves are poured into 250 ml of boiling water and left for 4 hours. The infusion is filtered and drunk 0.5 cups 4-5 times a day warm, adding honey.

Remember: nature is generous with gifts, you just need to use them correctly.
A barbaric attitude towards nature is unacceptable: They stuck a piece of iron with a groove into the birch tree, milked it for juice, drank it and left the birch tree to bleed out the juice and heal the wound on its own.

HEALING DRINKS FROM BIRCH JUICE

Birch-oat drink
Pour 1 glass of well-washed oats into 1.5 liters of birch sap, leave in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours, put on fire, bring to a boil and cook in a sealed container over low heat until half the sap has boiled away, then strain.
Take 100-150 ml three times a day 30 minutes before meals for a month.
This drink is especially recommended for those who suffer from gastric diseases aggravated by chronic hepatitis or pancreatitis.

Birch-lingonberry drink
Wash 150 g of lingonberries, mash with a wooden spoon, squeeze out the juice. Pour the marc with 1 liter of birch sap and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Strain the broth, cool to room temperature, dissolve 150 g of honey in it and pour in the squeezed lingonberry juice.
Drink within 1-2 days.
This drink is useful as a diuretic for gout, arthritis, edema, and rheumatism.

Birch-wheatgrass drink
Pour 100 g of dry crushed wheatgrass roots into 1 liter of birch sap, cook in a sealed container over low heat until the juice has evaporated by half, strain.
Take 1 tbsp for urolithiasis. l. hourly.
This drink is also useful for gallstone disease. In this case, drink 1 glass three times a day 30 minutes before meals.

Birch-lemon drink
A birch-lemon drink will help those with hypotension: wash 6 medium-sized lemons well, remove the seeds, grind in a meat grinder, put in a three-liter jar, pour in 1 liter of birch sap.
Leave, tightly closed, in the refrigerator for 36 hours, then add 500 g of honey, mix the contents thoroughly and put in the refrigerator again for 36 hours.
Take 50 ml three times a day 30 minutes before meals.

Birch-calamus drink
1 tbsp. l. pour calamus rhizomes with 3 cups of birch sap and cook in a tightly sealed container for 15 minutes, remove from heat, leave, warm, 2 hours, strain.
Take 0.5 cup three times a day 30 minutes before meals, you can sweeten it with honey.
Use as an antifever and expectorant for coughs.

Birch kvass
To preserve birch sap longer, kvass is prepared from it. To do this, it should be heated to 35 degrees, add 15-20 g of yeast and 3 raisins per 1 liter, you can add lemon zest to taste.
After this, close the jar or bottle tightly and leave for 1-2 weeks.

Another kvass recipe:
up to 10 liters of birch sap, add the juice of 4 lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins at the rate of 2-3 pcs per bottle. Pour into bottles and keep for 1-2 weeks in a cool, dark place.
Kvass can be ready in 5 days. Long-term storage in a dark, cool place will not spoil the drink, and it can be stored throughout the summer.

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Surely you have only tried this drink, but never collected it yourself. To correct this situation, we decided to tell you in detail about how to properly extract birch sap.

General information about the drink

Before I tell you how birch sap is collected, I would like to tell you what this drink is.

Birch sap is the liquid that flows from broken and cut branches and trunks of birch trees, which occurs as a result of root pressure.

Surely everyone knows that berezovitsa (the second name of the drink we are considering) is a very valuable and nutritious product. This is due to the fact that it has a beneficial effect on the entire human body.

Composition of the drink and beneficial properties

In the spring, sweet birch sap is extracted due to the fact that it is very rich in vitamins and minerals. Experts say that this drink includes the following substances: various sugars, phosphorus, potassium, zirconium, sodium, nickel, calcium, barium, magnesium, strontium, aluminum, copper, manganese, titanium, iron and silicon. Scientists also found traces of nitrogen in it.

Drinking the drink helps cleanse the blood, break down stones in the kidneys and bladder, and enhance metabolism. It also removes toxins and other harmful substances from the body.

Among other things, birch sap is useful for drinking for liver diseases, stomach ulcers, gallbladder pathologies, low acidity, rheumatism, scurvy, radiculitis, arthritis, headaches, tuberculosis and even sexually transmitted diseases.

When to collect birch sap?

The release of sap from birch begins in early spring, with the first thaw. This period continues until the buds open. However, it should be noted that the exact time of juice release is quite difficult to establish, since it completely depends on weather conditions. Although most collectors claim that “birch tears” begin to run in mid-March.

To independently determine the beginning of the sap flow period, you just need to come to the forest and prick a birch tree with a thin awl. If after this action droplets of life-giving moisture appear from the hole, then you can safely begin collecting it and further preparing it.

In our country, maple juice is extracted very rarely. And its volume is quite difficult to compare with birch. This is due to the fact that the sugar maple grows only in North America, while other species are not fast-growing enough to produce large quantities of the life-giving drink.

In the northeastern United States, as well as in southeastern Canada, maple sap is used very widely. As a rule, it is used to produce a sweet syrup, which is often consumed with pancakes and added to various confectionery products.

Let's sum it up

In this article, we answered in detail the question of how to make birch sap tasty and store it for a long time, and also discussed how it should be extracted without harm to the trees. Thanks to these tips, you will definitely get a very tasty and healthy drink that will quench your thirst and saturate your body with minerals and organic acids. Just don’t forget to “treat” the slender beauty and treat the wound so that the tree does not die.