Has anyone ever tried birch sap as a tonic?
According to this blog posting, birch sap is very popular in Russia as a drink. Further, I read in wikipedia that it is popular enough to be bottled and sold commercially.
Finally, (and most importantly) I found this article in the Guardian, detailing the steps to take in order to enjoy fermented birch sap (AKA 'birch wine').
Has anyone tried this, and if so would they relate how successful the attempt was?
Best Answer
I've tried unfermented birch sap before (I got it at a local Russian supermarket). I was expecting it to taste somewhat like Birch Beer. Instead, it was surprisingly tasteless; like maple, I suspect one would have to reduce/concentrate it quite significantly to get a pronounced birch flavor. It had the taste and consistency of a thin/diluted simple syrup with only a faint hint of birch flavor.
I made a cocktail using birch sap and ROOT: a liquor modeled after a pre-temperance liquor called "root tea" that was the predecessor to root beer (which is, ironically, non-alcoholic), one of whose primary flavorings is birch bark. I forget what else (if anything) I put in it, but I seem to recall that it worked quite well.
I asked a Russian friend of mine if he had ever heard of fermented birch sap. He said that, although birch sap ("????????? ???", if you ever want to find it in a Russian store) is very popular in Russia, he has never heard of anyone fermenting it. However, he did add that "Russians would ferment anything…"
On a somewhat related note (at the risk of going off topic), there is an extremely popular low-alcohol drink in Russia called kvas (????) which is made from fermented rye bread. Despite the fact that birch sap is also popular, every Russian for whom I've served root beer or birch beer absolutely hates the stuff. Likewise, I love root/birch beer, however, I hated kvas the first time I tried it (but I have since developed a taste for it, over time). I have developed this theory:
Anyone who liked the taste of kvas the first time he/she tried it will undoubtedly dislike the taste of root/birch beer the first time he/she tries it. Likewise, Anyone who liked the taste of root/birch beer the first time he/she tried it will undoubtedly dislike the taste of kvas the first time he/she tries it.
I have surveyed dozens of Eastern Europeans and Americans alike who have tried both, and I have yet to find a single person that invalidates my theory. Is there anyone out there who has tried both?
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Quick Answer about "Has anyone ever tried birch sap as a tonic?"
In countries such as Finland and Sweden, after the birch water was consumed as a health tonic, they would add sugar and yeast to the birch sap to ferment and turn into birch beer. This refreshing alcoholic drink would be ready to consume for the hot summer months ahead.What can you do with birch sap?
Birch sap can also be used as an ingredient in food or drinks, such as birch beer or wintergreen-flavored candy. Concentrated birch sap is used to make birch syrup, a very expensive type of syrup mainly made from paper birch in Alaska and Canada, and from several species in Latvia, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.What does birch water taste like?
When tapped, birch water is a clear, colorless liquid with a slightly sweet taste. After 2\u20133 days, it begins to ferment, developing a more acidic flavor ( 3 ). It's consumed on its own or made into other products, such as syrup, beer, wine, and mead (1).How do you make birch wine?
Gently heat the sap in a pan with the lid on to 75C and keep at that temperature for 20 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the sugar until it is dissolved. Closely cover the pan and allow to cool. Transfer to a fermentation bucket and add the lemon juice, grape juice concentrate, yeast and yeast nutrients.What is birch beer soda made from?
Birch beer is made using a similar process to root beer or sarsaparilla. Traditionally, it's made from the bark of the birch tree, specifically the black birch, which is also known as the spice birch or sweet birch. The bark would be boiled in water for a long time, softening it and releasing its essential oils.BIRCH SAP: How NOT TO HARVEST! - Do THIS instead...
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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