anyone ever test sugar content in birch in the northeast?

[Rich]

I made some Birch syrup last year to give it a try. A lot of people thought that I was trying to mess with there heads when they saw buckets on Birch trees. Made for some interesting conversations. Found myself overwhelmed with the sap flow from my paper birch trees... 3 to 5 gallons a day and they will run all night unless the tree freezes. The paper birches here in central New Hampshire averaged 0.7 brix. I don't recommend mixing the yellow birch sap in with the rest. The yellow birch should be boiled by itself because it has a distinct winter green flavor to it. You will find that some people will like the winter green flavor and others will not. Just a heads up. I have switched to plastic buckets and taps because I found that the sap can take on a off flavor if it sits in a metal bucket for more than 24 hours.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Dr Tim, I called and left her a message today. Thanks.

Snow Pass - I wish an RO was in my near future, but i just don't see it happening. Cash poor, dream big... Maybe if I can produce some extra syrup this year I can afford the investment.
In terms of boiling and when to draw it off, I am not sure how that will work out as everything I can read says that it's a different type of sugar and boils different. I hope to get it as close to 60 brix by just using medium steady heat. My arch hold 80 gal +/- of sap so I can't do it in batches. I will need to be drawing off concentrate every hour. Finishing on low heat in turkey cooker for like a week.? Not sure yet really how I can do it, as I said this is an experiment. If I can't have it rumbling, I sure won't be boiling at a rate of 130 gph. More like 100 or even less.

Still I have thought about it and even if Birch Syrup is worth only $100 a gal it is worth an hour of my time to make it and test the process. It is even worth buying a little extra slab wood this year. I mean with maple, if I burn more wood for a faster fire and make 3 gallons of maple syrup in an hour what is that worth? about the same really.

The more I think about it and the natural sugar craze. Where cane sugar and corn syrup are not advised in quantity if at all and maple syrup is still considered a (relatively) safe alternative, I think demand for Birch syrup would increase if people new it existed and was also a safe alternative. I suspect it has all the same properties of Maple in terms of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants. If it could be produced in more quantity to bring the price down it could be a larger product/industry in the US, I think.

Step one, tap a few and see what happens.


Rich, Thanks for the insight. I was thinking Yellows would have had the highest sugar content and produced a better product. I will aim to keep them separate. Not so sure about that though as that makes this even more complicated. Might mix and match shooting for more paper than yellow. A hint of winter green may be nice. I'm kidding. We will see.

The sap flow shouldn't be a problem with it on vacuum and tubing. No collecting, flip vac switch, start boiling and don't stop til I am over it. The sap shouldn't sit in my tank very long as I will be boiling it at as fast or faster than that which I expect it to come in for 200 -300 taps. Apply 20" of vac and who knows what will happen.

I plan to wash my lines at year end so don't think it will hurt the tubing. I hope not.

What time of year did you tap them? Late April or just weather dependent?

[FunnyFarm]

I've been walking my woods and looks like I can pick up about 100 birch on tubing and another 50-60 on buckets figuring to throw myself at it this year and see what happens...

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch syrup sells for more like $100 per litre or quart, not gallon.
Sugar densities vary depending upon where you are. It appears to be a function of site productivity, ratios vary from 80 to 1 to 120 to 1 depending upon where you are.
Regarding selling it I'm not sure if you want to leave that to somebody else in all cases. You need to educate the sales folks & the customer that it is a different tree,different sugars and a different end use. Folks typically think of maple automatically but you have to put that idea out of your head. You're tasting a totally different product with a different application.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

BC Birch Tapper, is there anywhere in the US or Canada that buys Birch Syrup on a Whole sale level? I hear the largest producer in the world is in AK, Do they buy Birch Syrup? I ask because I see educating people in the East being tough at first. To convince people to spend $75-100 a liter on a product that is (to some) less tasty than a liter of maple syrup which they can get for $15-20, will be hard. I know it is different and in limited supply, thus the cost (like caviar). However I think it will be a hard sell for the time being. We have a tremendous resource of birch trees in the east, I suspect greater than most regions of the world. I speak of only my sugar bush, with about 1/5 maple, 1/5 yellow, 1/5 white, 2/5 ash, beech and other. I am feeling ambitious and plan to try to make as much as I can. What I hope for is to find a place to sell it to all at once. Thanks for any help.

[BC Birch Tapper]

There was somebody I believe from Ney York that wanted to purchase a large quantity last year, but I can't recall who it was. There may be a tread still on here that talks about it. Selling something new is always a challenge, but every producer we talk to sells out every year. To sell anything on a large wholesale basis as you know involves a lower price for the producer as others want their cut. For us marketing takes a wide variety of avenues and one has to work at it as there are few large purchasers. We go to our local farmer's market, use social media & our website as only a few components of a marketing strategy. First you need to make a good, stable consistent product, then you need to educate your customer on your product. Provide samples, provide items for local fundraisers, get it in the hands of some local chefs & see what they can do. Just a few thoughts.....good luck

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Thanks BC, I think you are right in saying that I need to establish a stable consistent product before I worry about selling it. That will be step 1. From everything I can read it is similar in property to very dark maple syrup in terms of the type of sugar. I suspect it boils similar to dark syrup and have to be very careful when getting close to 60-65 brix. My cousin is coming in a few weeks from AK and I have instructed him to bring me a sample so I know what it is supposed to taste like. I'll send you a sample for critique if I successfully produce a product I think is worthy.

[MillbrookMaple]

We tried making birch last year and learned a few things. Also, my business partner went to a presentation at Verona given by someone that did it up near Lake Placid last year. I will try to get him to make me a list of things they went over and I can post to you or even better get the information of the person that gave the presentation. A few things off the bat that I remember he said was, there were bacteria problems using birch after the maple season using the same tubing. Vacuum didn't really increase flow like it does in maple. Lastly they said that plugging the tap holes was not necessary as stated by the AK tappers. I don't know what there scientific credentials are so I don't know if that is valid, but that is what was talked about. What we found at home last year was our sugar content was between .5 and .7, White birch gives the most sap and Black the least, Sap spoils really fast so you need to get it boiling soon and collect often, and lastly it as an ingredient makes really good chocolate chip cookies.
BTW. We were in the 70s the week we did it, which is rare for late March so it wasn't the most normal conditions to test a new process out with.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Millbrook, I do love Chocolate Chip cookies!! I think the presenter in Verona was who I spoke with. That is exactly what he told me, that vac didn't make a difference, and that it was a mistake to use the same tubing as maple (***without cleaning first after maple production was complete***). Otherwise he said it worked great. He told me he used the same laterals as maple tubing and cut in new drops for birch. I can't imagine that Vac makes no difference. I think they are doing research on that at Proctor this year. He added he took it to 67 brix on his arch with no problems. He also told me that he sold it for an exxxxtra ordinary amount per gal. I think if you can make 20+ gal, it is a good supplement to maple income.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We've had some testing done at a lab that indicates that you don't have to finish birch to 66 deg brix as in maple. Tests have indicated that it only needs to go to 60 deg, which is good as it gets very easy to burn the higher brix reading is obtained. It is a function of PH, water activitiy & sugar content Birch is more acidic which lends itself to a lower sugar content. As it is colleced later in spring daily collection of sap & lots of cleaning/rinsing is required.