# Birch Syrup



## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Lots of chatter and excitement this time of year concerning the tapping of sugar maple and other trees in the maple family but how many of you guys (and gals) have tapped white birch? Birch syrup definitely has a different flavor than maple syrup. 

I won't give away what it tastes like to me so as not to influence others. FM


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## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

I have tasted it. 

Enough said.

My nephew sent me some from a place that he worked at in AK. They made a bunch of different stuff and put it in small fancy bottles for the tourons.

I still have a bunch of bottles of various concoctions at my other house. I can not remember what some of the stuff was but it was different.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

If Birch syrup was better than Maple syrup, you would find it in stores in greater quantities than Maple syrup. I'll stick with what I know, which is making Maple syrup. Maple syrup has been good for my family for a very long time.


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## Anish (Mar 6, 2009)

Cool thing about birch syrup is, it's good for sore throats.


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## MSUFW07 (Jan 22, 2009)

I saw this thread yesterday and tried to find birch syrup online. Only place I could find it was out of Alaska, and even with that its not available until April, during their sap season. My in-laws make maple syrup, cant remember how many taps and buckets etc. But there are nights they boil all night long and only shut down to empty the ashes from the boiler. I would really like to try some birch syrup, just to taste the difference. 

To reply to Fishndude, I think the reason that you don't see much birch syrup around here is because it isn't as know as maple but if you get up further north where there are not nearly as many maples, you have to find something to get sap from and there are plenty of birch. Read that you can make syrup that isn't to bad out of hickory sap also, but I don't see myself tapping my hickory trees in the front yard anytime soon. My FIL might rethink me being part of the family then.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I did some research, about 25 years ago, when I first made maple syrup. What I found was that Sugar Maple trees have sap that is approximately 2% sugar, while other types of Maple trees have .66% sugar concentration in the sap. Since the Sugar Maples give about 3x the amount of syrup for the same amount of sap, people usually tap Sugar Maples. I also found that you can make syrup out of virtually any type of hardwood sap. Birch, Hickory, Oak, etc. However, the result isn't as good as Maple syrup, and the yield is far lower if you use other types of trees. 
But don't let me discourage anyone from trying to make syrup from other types of trees. Please report back with your results.


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## trout (Jan 17, 2000)

I like Birch syrup.


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## Padilen (Jun 18, 2013)

I find this very interesting. I have worked for a local maple syrup producer. I agree it's most likely used because of the quantity of maple to trees. I'd like to taste the others!
I know we learned to do this, but who was the one that said let's drill a hole in a tree. Catch the liquid. Then boil it till it's thick. Brilliant, but what gave them the idea?


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## Padilen (Jun 18, 2013)

I find this very interesting. I have worked for a local maple syrup producer. I agree it's most likely used because of the quantity of maple to trees. Id like to taste the other the other trees syrup!
I know we learned to do this, but who was the one that said let's drill a hole in a tree. Catch the liquid. Then boil it till it's thick. Brilliant, but what gave them the idea?


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Padilen said:


> I find this very interesting. I have worked for a local maple syrup producer. I agree it's most likely used because of the quantity of maple to trees. Id like to taste the other the other trees syrup!
> I know we learned to do this, but who was the one that said let's drill a hole in a tree. Catch the liquid. Then boil it till it's thick. Brilliant, but what gave them the idea?


 
Sure, in our neck of the woods there are far more large tapable maples than there are large birches. If the numbers were comparable I would still be willing to give some pretty good odds that the production of maple syrup would be much, much, higher than production of birch syrup. Using the argument that sweeter is better maple syrup wins the competition hands down. Up north birches got tapped pretty much by necessity. It was birch syrup or nothing.

Who was the first to drill a tree? Good question. Maybe a Native American had an ah-ha moment when he (maybe more likely a she?) saw sap flowing from a wound on a maple trunk and speculated that if there is sap on the outside maybe there is more on the inside.........we will never really know! 

Hey, if anybody taps an oak and makes some syrup let us know. I was once working with a school forest and noticed that the teacher in charge had the students tap a large red oak right next to the evaporator shack. When I asked him why he tapped the tree he looked at the tree, then at me and said "Oak? Well that explains why we haven't gotten any sap from it all season." FM


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Padilen said:


> I find this very interesting. I have worked for a local maple syrup producer. I agree it's most likely used because of the quantity of maple to trees. Id like to taste the other the other trees syrup!
> I know we learned to do this, but who was the one that said let's drill a hole in a tree. Catch the liquid. Then boil it till it's thick. Brilliant, but what gave them the idea?


When sap is running, you can see "icicles" hanging off cracked or broken branches in the mornings. The Indians used to break these off, and suck on them for the sugar they contained. This happens on Maple trees a LOT more than other types of trees. So this is just something that has been known for a very long time. But the Indians didn't have metal pans to put over a fire, to evaporate the water from the sap, and leave concentrated syrup for consumption. The whole metal pan thing was a game changer.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

If anybody does try to make a little birch syrup this spring I suggest starting out by tapping only a tree or two. Sap not only flows much faster from a birch than from a maple but you may not care for the flavor. FM


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## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

Forest Meister said:


> If anybody does try to make a little birch syrup this spring I suggest starting out by tapping only a tree or two. Sap not only flows much faster from a birch than from a maple but you may not care for the flavor. FM


We had to cut down a white birch to make room for a new house. When we cut it the sap poured out of the tree like you can not believe. Tree was to most 8 inches at the stump and maybe 20 ft tall.

If I remember right I think that birch syrup tasted like molasses.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

multibeard said:


> ........If I remember right I think that birch syrup tasted like molasses.


You have a good memory. FM


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## MontcalmCounty (Apr 1, 2013)

What is everything I'd need if I were to tap a few trees? I don't need to make a ton of syrup, maybe a glass jar full.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

There are lots of threads on this site and others on getting started. You need a spile (tap), a drill to make a hole in the tree, a bucket or clean plastic milk jug and some string or light rope to hang the jug from the tree.

To make one pint of syrup you need approximately 5 gallons of sap, if you are tapping maples. I don't know what the ratio is for birch but you can google it easily. One maple tree can produce 5 gallons or more of sap in a season.

Go for it, and have fun.


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