BIRCH SAP WINE

Choose a silver birch of at least 10 ' (1/4 m) diameter at base - not downy as it gives an unpleasant sap. The best time is in early

spring when the sap is rising, before the leaves open but when the drooping apex of the tree has a red-pink colour through it.

The idea is to extract a gallon of sap from a hole drilled into the bark and transfer via a plastic tube to a gallon jar. A standard 1-gallon

bottle (from a home wine making shop) takes a 1" cork; so take a hand drill and a 1" auger drill. Just penetrate through the bark (usually

less than a 1/4' or 6 mm), put the cork in and connect the tubing to the bottle through a second cork (with a little slot to let the air out).

Leave for two days and if conditions are right a gallon of sap will be found in the bottle. When collecting the bottle, fill the hole you have

made in the tree with a new, complete cork, this gives the tree an easier task in repairing its bark.

You can use the same tree again the following year - you haven't hurt it, but remove last year's cork and remove any insects that may be

harbouring in the darkness of the hole. The sugar content is not high - about 4oz to the gallon - so another 2 1/2 lbs to the gallon will make

a dry wine and 3 lbs to the gallon a sweeter one. Left dry it can taste like a German wine while, if liked sweeter, add the juice of two oranges

as well as the juice of one lemon that should be added in both cases. The rest of the procedure of fermentation, racking and maturation follows

normal home wine making practice. 

--gla.ac.uk

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