By now we have all heard of maple syrup and probably have tasted the sweet, sugary, maple-y goodness. Whether as iconic maple syrup, maple candies or possibly maple cotton candy. But did you know you can also tap birch trees in much the same way? They certainly can, but which different birch trees can be tapped?
You can tap pretty much any species of birch tree. Although yellow birch sap contains the highest level of antioxidants, the paper birch tree contains the most sugar. The trees should be at least 8” in diameter, but larger, healthy trees are recommended.
Now you know you can tap birch trees for their sap. How do you accomplish it, what equipment will you need, what can you do with the sap, and is it even worth it to collect? Let us dive into today’s topic.
Why Should You Tap Birch Trees?
Ok, so you noticed some thick, papery bark-covered birch trees on your property and you now know you can tap them. You might collect gallons of sap from each tree. Why should you go through the hassle of tapping and collecting it all?
Birch Syrup Is Expensive
Maple syrup is rather expensive because of its limited supply and because it takes nearly 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Birch syrup requires much more sap, anywhere from 110 to 200 gallons of sap to cook down one gallon of syrup. This alone makes it expensive, but factor in other variables, and birch syrup skyrockets in price.
Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences tells us birch syrup sells for 3 to 5 times more retail than maple syrup. Mainly because birch syrup is more costly to produce in Alaska and Canada, and it takes so much more birch sap than maple to make the same amount of syrup. Then factor in the high demand compared to the limited supply, and you have yourself an expensive product.
If you want birch syrup, it’s worth it to harvest and cook it down yourself.
Birch Sap Great If You Are Homesteading Or Living Off The Grid
If you are working on becoming self-sufficient, already are, or want to get off the grid, then it pays to know about all the alternative uses for nature and what is available to you.
You can collect birch tree sap for cleansing, vitamin, and mineral-infused hydration, syrup, or other items. There may not be any maple trees around your area, but you have plenty of birch trees lining the stream, and you can still make syrup from the sap.
Surprisingly, Birch Sap Is Good For You
The tree itself uses the sap to kick-start the growth period, so it is packed full of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and other nutrients. The sap is also low in sugar, and the sugar it contains—fructose and xylitol—will not spike your sugar like corn sugar and cane sugar.
Do not worry about harming the tree by tapping it. When done the correct way, tapping it and collecting sap will not harm the tree. It will still grow fine, and a strong, healthy tree will recover easily from the hole drilled into it.
You May Enjoy The Taste Of Birch Sap
Say you harvest several gallons of sap, take it home, and carefully cook it down into syrup. It will not taste like maple syrup and some people complain about birch syrup, but you may find that you like it. You will not know unless you try it, right?
Why Else Should I Tap Birch Trees?
Football season is over, it’s a long time before it starts again, it’s too early to plant your garden, but you still want to do something outside. Instead of sitting inside with the “ho-hums”, go out there and start tapping some birch trees. Not only will you be out getting some exercise and sun after a long dreary winter, but you will learn a new skill with added benefits.
Which Birch Trees Can Be Tapped?
There are dozens of different birch trees, all of which can be tapped to collect their sap. Each one has different subtleties in flavor, sugar content, and amount of sap you can collect.
The most popular birch trees for collecting sap include:
- Yellow birch
- Alaska birch
- Paper birch
- Silver birch
- Black birch
- White birch
- River birch
- Gray birch
- European white birch
If you are not sure what kind of birch tree you have on your property, Do All Birch Trees Have White Bark? Identification Tips may give you some insight!
What To Look for Before Tapping
Obviously, you do not want to go drilling any birch tree and tapping your spile into the hole while hoping for the best. There are some factors to look out for when choosing the healthiest trees for the highest quality saps.
Look for healthy trees without a lot of dead and broken branches. Also, you want to choose a tree with a full canopy and the ability to soak up plenty of sunlight in the upper branches.
Sunlight is important to all photosynthesizing plants, but birch trees cannot grow in the shade. To learn more on this phenomenon check out 4 Reasons Why Birch Trees Can’t Grow In The Shade.
The bark around the tree needs to look clean and healthy as well. Be aware and avoid diseased or fungus-ridden trees, as these trees may be near the end of their life cycle.
You also want to tap trees that are at least 8” in diameter. You should err on the larger side as smaller trees produce bitter sap and less of it. Keep in mind a single birch tree will produce about a half to a gallon of sap per day, and the tapping season can last between 14 and 21 days.
What To Avoid When Tapping A Birch Tree
When drilling your holes for the spile, once you are past the bark, if you get fresh, white drill shavings, you are good to go. However, if you drill and you are drilling out brown shavings, you have probably hit a dead spot.
Move to a different area and drill again or choose a different tree. You will not get any sap from a dead part of the tree, and if you did, you would not want to consume it.
Avoid trees that have been treated with pesticides or areas on the ground that have been treated. You don’t want that stuff entering your body via birch sap.
When Can You Tap Birch Trees?
If you are familiar with tapping maple trees, this is a simple question. When maple syrup season is over, it’s time to shift gears slightly and start tapping birch trees.
The exact time frame for when you can tap birch trees will be different for varying climates. In your area, when the nights and days no longer dip into freezing temperatures, it’s time to tap birch trees. In many places, the time to tap and collect sap is in late March to early April, but it all depends on where you live.
You want to tap them while the leaf buds are still small nubs because once the leaves come out and turn green, the sap no longer has any sugar in it. You are looking for the break between winter and spring.
How To Tap Birch Trees, And What Equipment Is Needed
Unless you have already been tapping maple trees, you will probably need a few specialized pieces of equipment. There are full kits for tapping trees like this Deluxe Maple Tree Tapping Kit. It comes with hooks, taps, buckets, filters, a drill bit, and even recipe cards!
Below is a list of everything you will need to tap your birch trees.
- Portable drill
- Drill bits for taps/spiles. 7/16” or 5/16” size, depending on the diameter of spiles
- Tree taps/spiles
- Sap collection buckets that will hang on the taps
- Hammer or rubber mallet
- Filter paper or cloth
- Rubbing alcohol to sterilize the taps or boil them first
Step-By-Step Instructions For Birch Tapping
Start by sterilizing your taps/spiles by soaking them in rubbing alcohol or boiling them for a few minutes.
Next, you want to drill your holes. You only need one hole per tree. Using the correct size drill bit, drill at a slightly upward angle and only into the tree about 1-½” deep.
It is a good idea to use a drill stop. Either mark the depth of the drill bit with a permanent marker or wrap a bit of electrical tape around the drill bit to prevent yourself from going too deep into the tree.
You should try to keep from drilling into the side exposed to full sun, as birch sap is perishable. With the sun beating down on it, it could spoil faster. Drill and tap the north or east side of the tree and clear out any shavings from your hole.
Gently tap the spiles into the tree using your hammer. If your spiles are plastic, we recommend using a rubber mallet. They only need to be tight enough to hold your sap containers.
The sap coming out should be clear as water and taste slightly sweet. If the sap comes out cloudy, discolored, or tastes bitter or sour, remove the tap, discard what you have collected, and move to another tree.
Gather your sap every day. Birch sap is highly perishable and needs to be collected daily. Strain your sap with filters to remove twigs, leaves, or anything else that might have fallen into your bucket.
Keep it refrigerated for up to 7 days or freeze it for a longer life. You can also pasteurize it or add citric acid or sugar to lengthen the shelf life.
I always say, the fresher the better. If you have it, use it. Don’t wait for the sap to reach the end of its shelf life.
Sap collecting season usually lasts about 14 to 21 days. When leaves start to “fluff” out of the tree, you’ll get no more sugar from the sap. Remove your equipment, clean out the hole with water and start planning what you’re going to do with all that sap.
For the coming seasons, if you continue to tap your birch trees, move to a different area to collect your sap. You want to move at least 4” away from your last hole, and spiral upward as you go.
It’s also good practice to let a tapped tree rest after three years of tapping. Give it some time to rest and heal.
What Can You Do With Birch Sap?
With gallons of freshly tapped birch sap in hand, what can you do with it? Don’t worry, there are several uses, especially if you are handy and have the time.
Drink it!
Birch sap all alone, filtered, and bottled up is a great, healthy drink early pioneers and indigenous peoples alike enjoyed in America’s younger years. It contains antioxidants, several amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and a load of other “good for you” stuff. Some people call birch sap or birch water an energizing early spring drink.
FWS says birch sap was a well-known “traditional health elixir” consumed by Russians, Scandinavians, Asians, and wherever birch trees grow. Birch sap also has a history of being used in the treatment of hypertension, urinary disorders, arthritis, scurvy, and other ailments.
(Obligatory disclaimer here. The above passage is for educational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose or treat any symptoms or ailments. If you have questions about your health and the potential benefits of birch sap, consult a professional such as your doctor.)
One note of caution here. Birch tree sap contains manganese. While it is an essential nutrient, too much manganese can cause toxicity.
Go ahead and drink the birch sap, but take it in moderation. Limit consumption to possibly one to two cups per day.
If you have medical questions such as “Will this interfere with my medications?” consult your doctor to be safe.
Make Birch Syrup
Making birch syrup is a tricky process because the sap contains fructose sugars as opposed to maple tree sap which contains sucrose. Fructose burns faster and will create a woody and molasses kind of taste if the cooking temperature is too high.
The birch syrup manufacturers do not suggest putting this type of syrup on pancakes because it contains much less sugar than maple syrup. Some people report an almost savory, spicy taste. To each their own though, no one said the only topping for pancakes is maple syrup.
My brothers and sister prefer peanut butter on their pancakes. While not my favorite, we all have our own preferences.
You’ll need a lot more birch sap to make syrup.
According to an article by the USDA, Tree to Table, it takes around 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of syrup. It takes significantly more birch sap to make syrup. You will need anywhere from 100 to 200 gallons of birch sap to make a single gallon of birch syrup.
The reason it takes so much birch sap to make such a small batch of syrup is the sugar content. Birch sap only contains about 1%-1.5% sugar compared to maple sap which has nearly 5% sugar.
What can you do with birch syrup if you are not supposed to pour it all over your pancakes you ask? You can use it in glazes, sauces, baking, and marinades for meats, especially lighter tasting meats sweetness complement well like chicken and pork.
Incredibly, there are a ton of recipes using birch syrup on the internet from glazed salmon to pecan squares, and even birch syrup cocktails. Sign me up!
Crafting birch syrup from the sap is a difficult process because of its tendency to burn. The sap needs to be cooked down at a lower temperature than maple syrup does.
If you are interested in learning how to create your own birch syrup, contact the Alaska Birch Syrup Makers Association or the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service. They are the experts on birch syrup.
Birch Beer Is A Great Use For Birch Sap
Birch beer is already a popular drink in Canada and is gaining popularity in northern states such as Vermont. This type of beer is the non-alcoholic kind, more closely related to ginger beer, or root beer.
Birch beer is similar in taste to root beer because of the earthy, spicy flavors, but different because of a rich creaminess combined with an aftertaste of mint.
Craft Birch Mead Or Wine
If the thought of birch beer has you craving the earthy, spicy, slightly sweet taste of something with a little more kick to it, then get to crafting some birch mead, or wine. You can easily ferment the sap into mead or wine just like you would using grapes or other fruits.
What Does Birch Sap Taste Like?
I have not tasted birch sap or any other product from the sap, although I have to say I am very intrigued. The reports of taste vary as much as the trees themselves. Some people describe the taste as woody, slightly sweet, and refreshing, while others lean toward the taste of coconut water.
The different varieties of trees could have their own characteristics of flavors, as well as soil conditions and when the birch tree was tapped or harvested. The first batch from the tap typically contains the most sugar, so it would be sweeter than later collections of the sap.
The general consensus on the taste of birch sap is it is light tasting and slightly sweet with some hints of fruitiness and/or earthiness. Once you tap your birch trees, we would love to hear from you and your experience. Come on back and leave us a comment if you tried it.
This Tree Is Tapped
That does it for this episode of Different Birch Trees That Can be Tapped and How to Tap Them. If you have birch trees on your property, collect some of the sap. It does not matter what kind of birch tree it is, as long as it is the correct time, the tree is healthy, and you have the equipment.
You can easily collect a good amount of sap each year.
Birch sap has many uses and can be consumed on its own with little processing. Studies show many groups of people have enjoyed birch sap throughout history. If you are savvy and have the right equipment, you can make syrup, birch beer, or even ferment it into mead and wine.
References:
Staniszewski P, Bilek M, Szwerc W, et al. The effect of tree age, daily sap volume and date of sap collection on the content of minerals and heavy metals in silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) tree sap. PLoS One. 2020;15(12):e0244435. Published 2020 Dec 29. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0244435
Ana I. Sancho, Tina Birk, Juliane M. Gregersen, Tage Rønne, Sofie E. Hornslet, Anne M. Madsen, Katrine L. Bøgh, Microbial safety and protein composition of birch sap, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 10.1016/j.jfca.2021.104347, 107, (104347), (2022).
Jeong, S.-J., Lee, C.-H., Kim, H.-Y., Lee, S.-H., Hwang, I.-G., Shin, C.-S., … Jeong, H.-S. (2012, January 31). Quality Characteristics of the White Birch Sap with Varying Collection Periods. Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition. The Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.3746/jkfn.2012.41.1.143
