Birch sap is a very useful natural drink, which is endowed with a mass of healing properties and has an extremely beneficial effect on the human body. This is the so-called elixir of beauty, health, vitality and strength. This is because it contains many useful substances, organic acids and trace elements. Today we will learn everything about birch sap, talk about its benefits, how, where and when to collect, as well as how to store the drink.
All about the benefits of birch sap
Birch sap contains fructose, glucose, sucrose, organic acids, enzymes and substances that have great antimicrobial activity (phytoncides), as well as potassium, iron, manganese, calcium, sodium, magnesium, copper, which are required by the body weakened by spring beriberi.
Birch sap is endowed with a huge amount useful properties:
- Perfectly strengthens the immune system.
- Normalizes the work of the heart.
- It has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.
- It improves metabolism and is very useful for brain function.
- Tones, invigorates and energizes the body.
- Just one glass of drink a day will relieve you of drowsiness, fatigue and depression.
- The drink is called one of the best dietary and restorative remedies.
- It is very useful for people with diseases of the urinary tract and kidneys - it stimulates kidney function, has a diuretic effect, promotes the release of uric acid and increases diuresis.
- Useful for lung diseases, bronchitis, tuberculosis, tonsillitis, cough.
- Relieves headaches and migraines.
- Useful for venereal diseases.
- It is recommended to take a drink for diseases of the liver, gallbladder, duodenum and with low acidity.
- Helps with high blood pressure and anemia.
- It has a therapeutic effect in arthritis, radiculitis and rheumatism.
- Able to purify the blood and remove toxic substances from the body.
- Taking birch sap, you can increase the body's resistance to allergic, infectious and colds.
- In chronic rhinitis, it is recommended to take one glass of fresh birch sap every morning.
- Endowed with anthelmintic, antitumor and diuretic action.
- It is useful to wipe the skin with acne, eczema, psoriasis, furunculosis, neurodermatitis, fungal diseases, poorly healing wounds,
Important!To preserve birch sap for a long time, it can be frozen in ice molds and used as cosmetic ice.
Birch sap is widely used in cosmetology:
- Perfectly cleanses and refreshes the skin, and for this it is enough just to wash it in the morning.
- Used to moisturize and cleanse dry skin.
- Used for washing the head - to strengthen the hair, their rapid growth, giving softness and shine to the hair; used to fight dandruff.
- You can also do anti-cellulite wraps.
Did you know?The Soviet poet Stepan Shchipachev wrote the story "Birch sap" in 1956.
How to determine collection time
The collection begins in the spring during the first thaws, and ends after bud break. The beginning of the collection is dictated by weather conditions. But often the juice begins to flow somewhere in the middle of March, when the snow melts and the buds begin to swell, and continues to run until the middle - end of April.
You can check whether the time has come to collect and harvest, using a thin awl. It is necessary to go out into the forest and make a puncture in a birch as thick as a hand with this awl. If the juice has already gone, then a drop will immediately come out at the puncture site. This will mean that you can start collecting and harvesting.
Important! The most intensive sap flow through the tree occurs during daylight hours.
Is it possible to collect birch sap in urban areas
Answering the question whether it is possible to collect juice in the city, we immediately warn you: no, don’t even think about it. It is necessary to collect away from large cities, from highways, from large factories and polluted places, since the tree can absorb all harmful substances and vehicle exhaust gases from the environment. The juice that will be collected from such trees will not only not bring any benefit, but can also be harmful to health.
The best places to collect
To get really healthy juice, the place of collection must be chosen very carefully. It is best collected in ecologically clean forests away from urban areas, industrial areas and highways.
Features of the collection, how to properly collect a healthy drink
Before you take birch sap, you need to know some simple, but very important rules and terms of collection:
- Young trees cannot be used for collection, only mature trees that have a diameter of 20 cm or more. If you collect sap from young trees, you can destroy them, because during the period of tree growth, he himself needs it.
- Use a drill with a 5-10 mm drill to collect. Such a hole overgrows in the trunk almost without a trace.
- It is not necessary to make a hole too deep in the tree trunk, because the juice mainly goes in the surface layer between the bark and the wood. It will be enough 2-3 cm deep.
- The best time for collection is between 10:00 and 18:00, when the juice flows most intensively.
- Do not try to drain all the juice from one tree, otherwise you can destroy it. It would be better to go around five to ten trees and drain a liter a day from each.
- At the end of the collection, be sure to help the tree heal its wounds. Cover the hole with wax, garden pitch, or seal or hammer a wooden plug to keep bacteria out of the barrel.
As regards, in fact, how get birch sap:
- Choose a birch with a well-developed crown with a diameter of more than 20-30 cm.
- Make a hole carefully in the trunk at a distance of 20 cm from the ground.
- Attach a birch bark tray or some other semicircular device into the hole made or under it, along which the juice will flow.
- Place a jar, bottle or bag under the groove where the juice will run.
The number of holes made in the barrel depends on its diameter. With a tree diameter of 20-25 cm, only one hole can be made, and then one more hole for every ten centimeters. But the main thing is not to overdo it with holes, because the more the tree is injured, the more difficult it will be for it to heal its wounds.
Storage methods, studying recipes
It is best to use the juice fresh, when boiling some of its properties are lost. But how long can it be stored? If we talk about how long it can be stored in the refrigerator - no more than two days, and for long-term storage it is necessary to do some manipulations with it.
Storage methods (recipes) are known to be different. From it you can make kvass, syrup, balm, various drinks, or canned.
Canning. For one liter of birch sap, you need to take 125 g of sugar, add 5 g of citric acid, pour into jars, pasteurize and roll up with lids. 
Birch syrup. Evaporate the juice to a yellow-white color until it becomes viscous and resembles in consistency. The concentration of sugar in syrup is 60-70%.
Birch wine. For 10 liters of birch sap, you need to take 1 kg of sugar, two peels, two bottles of white grape wine, yeast. Boil the juice with sugar over high heat until about eight liters of liquid remain; then take it off the heat, add the rinds and white wine, mix everything well and let the mixture cool down. Add 0.5 tablespoon of yeast and leave for four days. After four days, bottle everything, cork the bottles and put in a dark, cold place for a month.
Kvass:
- For 10 liters of Syria you need 50 g of yeast. It must be boiled so that some water evaporates, cool, add yeast and let it ferment for several days, then pour kvass into bottles, close and put in a cold place for a couple of weeks.
- For 10 liters you will need the juice of four lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins. Mix all this, pour into bottles and leave in a cold dark place.
- Pour birch sap into an oak barrel, lower a canvas bag with burnt crusts of rye bread on a rope, and two days later put oak bark in a barrel, you can also leave or stems. In two weeks, kvass will be ready.
Birch sap when to collect this year, find out from our article, as well as the most effective methods for assembling it.
Birch juice are usually harvested in mid-March. The end of the collection of juice in the last days of April - the appearance of the first leaves on the trees.
You should be guided by swollen kidneys. Experienced collectors come to the forest after the 20th of March, make an injection on a birch, the thickness of which is more than 20 cm. If juice comes out in the puncture area, then you can collect it.
A strong flow of juice begins from 10 to 18 hours.
Birch sap is on the surface between the bark and wood, therefore, the hole should be shallow.
Basically, 5 to 10 trees are used, from each of which they take 1 liter of liquid per day. If you take all the sap from a birch, it will destroy the tree.
You need to help the tree heal the wound (so that bacteria do not get into it) using one of the options:
- close the wound with garden pitch;
- hammer a cork made of wood or moss into the hole.
To collect juice, use a birch tree, the diameter of which is 20-30 cm and the crown is well developed. Such birches have sweet juice. Drill a hole in the birch trunk. The distance from the surface of the earth is 20 cm. A groove is hung in the hole or under it so that the juice flows into the container.
The thickness of the birch trunk determines the number of holes drilled:
- from 20 to 25 cm - 1 hole;
- from 25 to 35 cm - 2;
- from 35 to 40 cm - 3;
- more than 40 cm - 4 holes.
Please note that as soon as you drill it, it will begin to heal the wound, and the stream of juice will decrease. You can not deepen the hole or drill a new one, it is better to find another tree.
How is birch sap collected and when
How to store birch sap
Birch sap is consumed fresh. It cannot be stored even chilled for more than 2 days, it is stored only in a frozen state.
What is birch sap made of?
- enzymes, biological substances that strengthen the immune system;
- calcium, potassium, magnesium are needed for cardiac activity;
- tannin components with anti-inflammatory power;
- fructose and glucose for the brain.
Birch sap is useful for everyone, especially in spring. The drink does not contain allergens - it can be consumed by pregnant and lactating women to strengthen the immune system, relieve swelling (the juice has diuretic properties).
Birch sap is effective in the treatment of kidney failure and inflammation of the kidneys, however, with kidney stones, it should be drunk carefully, as it can provoke the movement of stones and renal colic. Birch sap cleanses the blood, eliminates toxins, helps against poisoning, and is useful in infectious diseases.
Juice is recommended to use with low acidity of the stomach. Doctors advise drinking birch sap 3 times a day before meals, 1 glass. This improves the formation of fluid in the body for the digestion of food. Also, birch sap is used to treat skin problems, against dandruff and to strengthen hair.
Juice tones and strengthens the body. It relieves fatigue, improves immunity. The drink stimulates metabolic processes, it is recommended during the diet. An important property of juice is the improvement of bowel function, the normalization of blood formation.
Birch sap is an excellent dietary preparation, it has a tonic property. Drink a glass daily, it will give vigor, drowsiness and lethargy will go away.
Birch sap strengthens the body, acts as a diuretic, improves kidney function. The drink favors the excretion of uric acid, enhances diuresis. It is useful to drink it in diseases of the kidneys and diseases of the urinary system. Juice helps to restore strength in lung diseases, bronchitis, arthritis. Those who suffer from stomach ulcers and urolithiasis should consult a doctor before drinking this drink.
The benefits of birch sap
Birch sap helps with skin problems such as lichen, eczema, furunculosis. The drink is used to gargle during a sore throat. Juice is useful in the complex therapy of cough, headaches, joint diseases. Also, the drink cleanses the blood and removes toxins, helps during intoxication, with infectious ailments.
Birch sap is harmful if it is collected from trees located near the highway, in an ecologically unfavorable place, and also when there is an allergic reaction to birch pollen. Now you know birch sap when to collect this year.
You will also be interested
When springtime comes, many summer residents are interested in the question " How to collect birch sap?". Say what you like, but the juice of a young birch is the most useful remedy against beriberi and mild colds. In addition, this drink is also very tasty, and can also easily quench your thirst. But collecting it is not an easy task. To do this, you need to choose the moment at which the birch is the most "fertile". A it is also very important to know where and when to collect juice from birches. We will tell you about this and much more in our article.
When and where to collect birch sap?
To determine when is the best time to collect birch sap, you need to take into account certain weather conditions. They can vary significantly in different regions of the country, as everywhere has its own microclimate. The best time is the middle of March or the end of April. Be guided by birch buds: if they begin to swell, then the time to collect the juice is the most optimal!
Take note: it is best to collect the juice between 12 and 18 hours, since at this time it flows most intensively.
The place of collection of birch sap must also be chosen carefully. It is not recommended to collect drink from trees that grow near the highway or under large factories that pollute the air. Such birches absorb all the exhaust and harmful substances that enter the atmosphere, and the juice collected from such trees cannot be useful in any way.
How to collect birch sap?
After you have decided on the place of collection and picked the right time, you can proceed directly to the collection of birch sap. In order to assemble it correctly, you need to know a few simple but very important rules:
Use only mature trees with a diameter of 20 centimeters or more! Collecting sap from a young birch, you risk destroying it, because during its growth it needs the sap itself.
When collecting juice, use a drill. In no case do not use an ax, it is very harmful to the tree! Subsequently, it may not give juice and die.
Don't make a hole too deep. Just 2-3 centimeters deep is enough.
Collect a maximum of a liter of juice from each tree. If you collect more, it may harm the tree.
After you have completed the collection, do not forget close a hole in a birch with wax or moss to keep bacteria out of the wood.
The number of holes that can be drilled in a birch is directly proportional to its diameter. Simply put, if the barrel diameter is 20 centimeters, you can only clear one hole. Further, for every 10 centimeters, one more hole. But don't overdo it! After all, the more you injure a tree, the more difficult it is for it to heal its wounds.
After you have mastered the basic recommendations for collecting birch sap, you can go directly to the procedure itself. To do this, you need to make one or more holes in the birch trunk, approximately twenty centimeters from the ground. Insert a tube into this hole, through which the juice will fall into a previously prepared container. Make sure you place the straw and bottle correctly and then wait. When the sap begins to drain very slowly, do not try to injure the birch again. It is better to change the tree and repeat this procedure again. After you have collected the required amount of juice, do not forget to close up the hole in the birch to prevent bacteria from getting under the bark.
Benefit and harm
Due to the unique composition of birch sap, it brings great benefits to our body. It contains a lot of vegetable sugars and organic acids. It also contains many useful trace elements, such as calcium, potassium and magnesium. There are also plenty of vitamins in it, which makes it easy to get rid of beriberi, which haunts many after a cold and harsh winter.
Birch sap has a good diuretic effect, which helps fight high body temperature, as well as overcome ailments associated with edema. Such a drink will be very useful for pregnant women, as well as nursing mothers.. It allows you to remove swelling and reduce pain. In addition, birch sap is hypoallergenic and is not capable of causing allergic reactions. It is often recommended for children to drink.
Among other things, such a drink has a beneficial effect on the circulatory system, helps cleanse the blood and kidneys. Due to this effect, birch sap is recommended for those who suffer from severe chronic infections, as well as from frequent colds.
Birch sap is an excellent general tonic. Besides the fact that it has a positive effect on certain parts of the body, it helps to normalize the functioning of the immune system. This allows not only to cope with many viruses in our body, but also to prevent their reappearance.
For any skin diseases, birch sap also has a beneficial effect.
Such a drink will be very useful for those who have problems with metabolism. Birch sap will help normalize it, as well as remove excess fluid from the body. This property makes this drink invaluable for people suffering from excess weight.
As for harm, birch sap can only cause it if it was collected in places with a large accumulation of carbon monoxide or near factories. In addition, people suffering from stomach ulcers and urolithiasis, the use of birch sap is not desirable.
How to store?
Store birch sap should be no more than two days after receipt. If you want it to last longer, then you should do small manipulations with it:
Preservation of birch sap. In order to preserve juice for the winter or just for a long time, you need to take 125 grams of sugar per liter of liquid, add 5 grams of citric acid, mix it all up and filter it with gauze. Maybe even several times. After that, pour the juice into jars and cork.
Kvass preparation. In order to prepare kvass, birch sap should be heated to forty degrees, then mixed with yeast in the following proportion: 15 grams of yeast per liter of drink. Leave in the refrigerator for four days, then pour into jars and cork with lids.
Syrup preparation. To prepare a delicious sweet syrup based on birch sap, you need to evaporate the liquid to a yellowish-white color. In this case, the juice will become viscous, and the consistency will resemble honey. There is no need to add sugar, as the syrup will already be very sweet.
With the onset of the spring thaw, the trees begin to wake up. Birch is one of the first to come to life after winter, and before other trees it begins to let juice down its trunk. It is in the spring that many begin to collect Birch juice. Juice is often collected not only because it is tasty, but also because it is very healthy.
They drink it and for the treatment and prevention of many diseases of the body.The period of collecting birch sap falls on March - April, depending on the region. This is due to the fact that birch begins to "weep" at temperatures above zero, and the best temperature for this is about +5 ° C. In areas that are well lit by the sun, the birch wakes up even when there is still snow. At the southern edge of the forest, the birch will begin to “cry” earlier, therefore, in order to collect more juice, you need to gradually make your way into the depths of the forest, where the trees wake up later.
In order to understand whether it is time to go collect birch sap, you must first find out if the tree has begun to move juice. And this can be done very simply - by breaking a small branch of birch. If the juice has leaked out, then it's time to collect birch sap. It is important not to miss this moment, because the collection period does not last so long, before the leaves of the birch appear.
Before you start collecting birch sap, you need to know which trees you can collect it from.
It is forbidden:
Collect sap from birch trees that grow near roads, as such sap will be rich not only in useful trace elements, but also in hazardous substances.
In no case should you collect juice from trees growing near factories and factories, because it will also be saturated with dangerous poisons that will harm the body.
It is not advisable to take juice from trees that are sick, because after an injury it will be difficult for them to recover, and they may eventually die.
After choosing a suitable tree, you need to make a small hole in it on the side on which the sun shines. The hole must be 1 cm wide and 2-3 cm deep, 
directed from bottom to top. You need to make a hole in height 35-40 cm(this is about knee-deep), having previously cleared the bark. Insert a tube into this hole and fix it with plasticine. Point the tip of the tube into a bucket or bottle, and leave for the right time. Despite the fact that a birch tree can produce up to 10 liters of juice per day, it is desirable take from one tree no more than 1 liter per day. Otherwise, the tree will lose the juices necessary for life and die.
After the right amount of juice has been sharpened from the birch, it is necessary to close the hole with plasticine.
Surely you have only tried this drink, but you have never collected it yourself. To correct this situation, we decided to tell you in detail about how to properly extract birch sap.
General information about the drink
Before telling you about how birch sap is collected, I would like to tell you what this drink is.
Birch sap is a liquid that flows from broken and cut birch branches and trunks, which occurs as a result of root pressure.
Surely everyone knows that birch (the second name of the drink we are considering) is a very valuable and nutritious product. This is due to the fact that it has a beneficial effect on the entire human body.
The composition of the drink and useful properties
In spring, sweet birch sap is extracted due to the fact that it is very rich in vitamins and minerals. Experts say that this drink includes the following substances: various sugars, phosphorus, potassium, zirconium, sodium, nickel, calcium, barium, magnesium, strontium, aluminum, copper, manganese, titanium, iron and silicon. Scientists also found traces of nitrogen in it.
Drinking the drink helps cleanse the blood, break down stones in the kidneys and bladder, and increase metabolism. It also removes toxins and other harmful substances from the body.
Among other things, it is useful to drink birch sap for liver diseases, stomach ulcers, gallbladder pathologies, low acidity, rheumatism, scurvy, sciatica, arthritis, headaches, tuberculosis, and even sexually transmitted diseases.
When to collect birch sap?
Sap production from birch begins in early spring, with the first thaws. This period continues until the buds open. However, it should be noted that the exact time of juice release is quite difficult to establish, since it completely depends on weather conditions. Although most collectors claim that "birch tears" begin to run as early as mid-March.
To independently determine the beginning of the sap flow period, you just need to come to the forest and prick a birch with a thin awl. If after this action droplets of life-giving moisture appear from the hole, then you can safely proceed to its collection and further harvesting.
In our country, maple sap is very rarely extracted. And its volume is quite difficult to compare with birch. This is due to the fact that sugar maple grows only in North America, while other species are not fast growing enough to provide a large amount of life-giving drink.
Maple sap is widely used in the northeastern United States, as well as in southeastern Canada. As a rule, it is used to obtain a sweet syrup, which is often consumed with pancakes and added to various confectionery products.
Summing up
In this article, we answered in detail the question of how to make birch sap tasty and store it for a long time, and also discussed how it should be extracted without harming trees. Thanks to these tips, you will definitely get a very tasty and healthy drink that will quench your thirst well and saturate the body with minerals and organic acids. Do not forget to "treat" the slender beauty and treat the wound so that the tree does not die.