Tasty and healthy birch sap was sold in all stores twenty years ago. Today, few people produce it on an industrial scale, so it is better to get the spring delicacy on your own. You just need to choose the right time and observe the technology.
From drip to foliage
Birch sap can only be obtained in early spring. As soon as the thaws begin, the trees wake up and begin to prepare for bud release. To do this, they use stocks of starch, which was formed as a result of photosynthesis in the summer and was stored all this time in the roots. This process is the same for all plants, but the tasty and sweet sap can only be obtained from birch. It receives nutrients from the roots thanks to the special structure of the conductive tissue - it looks like a system of thin pipes. Once the tree has buds, the movement of fluid through these tubes will be controlled by leaves that evaporate moisture. Until they have blossomed, the juice drives up only the root pressure. This is why it is so easy to get birch sap in early spring. If these "pipes" are punctured, the liquid will pour out. Few plants use this method of delivering sugar to the branches - the risk of loss is too great. Most trees raise winter food stores upward through tissues with a different structure, which does not allow moisture to flow out.
The right moment
It is difficult to name the exact time of the beginning of sap flow. Each year, this period depends on the weather in a particular region. At the same time, natural regulation is arranged so wisely that in the event of frost after early thaws, the trees again freeze and cease to drive the sap to the branches. On average, the extraction of birch sap begins in March, with the beginning of snow melting. It is not difficult to check the timing. If you pierce the birch bark with an awl at the right time, a drop of liquid will certainly come out.
If you extract sap from a birch, chopping it with an ax, removing part of the bark, or draining out the liquid without residue, the tree will die.
This means that you can already drain the juice. At the same time, trees slow down life processes at night, so experienced collectors prefer to drill holes, put grooves and collect sap only during daylight hours. The choice of the gathering place also plays a role. First, after winter, birches "wake up" on forest edges and other well-warmed places. Then sap flow begins in the depths of the forest.
The main thing is measure
The root pressure is very strong. If you drill a thin hole only five cm deep in a birch tree and allow the liquid to drain along the groove into the container, it is easy to collect at least two to three liters of juice per day. An old and large tree can give more than five liters.
Birch sap is drunk fresh, canned with added sugar, evaporated to a syrup, or kvass is prepared from it.
But immediately after drilling, the birch begins to overgrow the hole, and after a few days you need to choose another tree. At the same time, it will be correct to help the plant to heal the wound - to cover it with wax or garden varnish.
