The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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The tzars in old Russia seemed to love birch sap wine. Not sure that it needs concentrating like maple syrup it's just used 'as is'.
Never tried it - just wondered if anyone else had and if it might be worth scouting out a few trees.
 
buckytom said:
Is maple syrup produced in Australia, or is it imported?
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we get Canadian 100% pure maple syrup here as well as the adulterated stuff.

sidevalve said:
Moving on from Maple syrup [that is getting way too complicated] has anyone tried birch sap ?
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Yes. Of course. and Birch sap wine (or was it sherry? Lurgashall Winery and Blackdown Distillery, make/made (?) a Silver Birch Wine which we loved. They don't appear to do it anymore looking at the website, though it seems to be spirits only not wines... But there is a Silver Birch Vermouth and a Silver Birch Vodka which I would be tempted to try were I ever back in the area (they are literally at the bottom of the hill from my friends' homes.) And diging a touch deeper there appears to be a Silver Birch Gin as well...

morning glory said:
I've never tried it. I have an immense silver birch in my garden - should I be tapping it?
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You could if you really wanted to. but it is does attract the insects and you have to re-drill the holes twice a day if I recall correctly to get any sap. You then need to be very careful to put the bored out wood back into the hole it came out of so as to seal the wound on the tree otherwise it gets infected and rot can set in. It is not an easy process to do at home and keep the tree alive long term, so consider the height of the tree carefully. If it could fall on your or a neighbours home, I would give it a miss despite the attraction. I have done it, having had access to plenty of silver birch trees and beech trees in the past (well they have had branches cut off at the wrong time of year, just as the sap is starting to rise - they bleed for days on end)

I pulled a few facts from their site.

Silver Birch facts

Silver Birch Syrup is a rare gourmet ingredient, and one of the most difficult to produce, often referred to as “white gold” it takes and average of 100 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup with the sap only containing 1-1.5% sugar (fructose). When the sap is being tapped it looks and tastes much like water.

Fructose has the lowest GI of all sugars with the Silver Birch sap containing vitamins, minerals, including vitamin C, potassium, manganese, thiamin and calcium.

Silver Birch sap is generally harvested between in the UK between March and April when the sap is rising in early spring. The season can last anything between 2-6 weeks, which varies from season to season. In 2015 we tapped over 300 trees, with an average tree providing 5 gallons a day collecting over 1,500 gallons producing 15 gallons of pure syrup.
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Why yes, I do.

I also like to flop around on the ground right next to the fish after I've caught them to show them just how ridiculous they are acting.

The pot helps...
 
... reefs are definitely out there when it comes to psychedelia:

Colorful-coral-reef.jpg.824x0_q71_crop-scale.jpg
 
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