Anybody doing birch?

[madmapler]

I tested the sugar on several birches on my land. Range was from 1.1 to.4% with an avg. around .7%. All woods trees. I've got a lot of them(guessing between 3 and 4 thousand with 50% being black and the rest white with some yellow. The sugar levels were indiscriminate amongst the 3 species. All the black sap had a hint of wintergreen. Does anyone know of any decent birch seminars in the future? I've got a lot of interest in this along with a lot of questions.

[DaveB]

When I read about this a few years ago, I thought it was interesting and wished that I had more birches because I thought it was only the white birches. I have lots of black birches. I may have to try collecting some sap and see how it is. My birches are probably 95% black birch but I do have some white birches.

[sugaring in vt]

I tried birch sap last year and it was a lot more boiling time. I only put out about 10 taps and made a little better then a quart of syrup. It has a lot different flavor then maple. Its almost like a molasses. It smells different when boiling also. I only have a 2 x 3 pan so it took awhile to make it.the trees run a lot more then maples but the sugar content isn't as high. I think if you have a ro you would be better suited to do it.there is a member on here who has posted quite a bit of info on the subject. I believe his user name is birchtapper but not sure.

[maple marc]

No birches here, but I have tasted it. Very much like sorghum syrup--quite a strong flavor. You might check for Steve Childs' comments (Cornell). He discussed it briefly during his seminar here in Ohio recently. He is NOT a fan of birch.

[Cedar Eater]

I made birch syrup last year and learned a lot in the process. I have not decided whether I will make it again this year because we still have some left. It is an excellent ingredient for meat smoking glazes and roasting mixes. It is also a very good topping for ice cream. I did not go to any seminars but there were other people here talking about their experiences and they were helpful.

[madmapler]

I have a little that I bought from that Alaskan producer. It's definitely not as good as maple. Some sell it blended with maple and that's pretty good. The thing is, I have a perfect location where I can flow all my taps (3 to 4 thousand) right to the sugarhouse. I just bought a 4 post RO for next year so I can RO the crap out of it. From what I've heard, there's so little of it that there's no problem selling it for twice what syrup goes for. It may be the perfect opportunity for me.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We're in our 10th year tapping birch. We started tapping last week which is the earliest we have ever done. It has always been April for our part of the world. The flow has been down a bit and we have very warm temps. The year was the winter that didn't really happen. As a result it looks like we're in for a very short season. Oh well that's life!