Maple Sap Season Over....Try Birch!!

Yellow Birch Sap!by Ms. Forsyth 

Up here in Vermont, a few weeks ago was the end of Maple Sugar Season, which is later than back home in Boston. However, when the maple trees run dry...the birch sap begins to fly! 

"Do you remember the rise of coconut water?

It happened so suddenly, but now, you can't go to any grocery store, big box or mom 'n pop, without seeing a bottle.

Coconut water boasts a number of health benefits, including a hydrating properties, a high amount of electrolytes, a low number of calories, and many, many, many more. A whopping 2,660,000 results come up when you Google "coconut water benefits."

But its reign at the top of the hydration chain is slowly coming to an end.

Enter: birch sap.

It's exactly what it sounds like. Similar to the process of tapping maple trees, birch trees can be tapped as well.

Except, instead of the sticky, sweet substance that comes out of maple trees, birch tree sap is clear and relatively neutral in flavor.

Two main varieties of birch trees are tapped—the silver birch and the North American sweet birch, and already, it's a big deal in Eastern Europe and Russia.


Birch sap is slightly sweet, similar to coconut water in its delicateness of flavor.

It can only be collected once a year, around early spring, before the leaves start appearing. As the sap will change in flavor the later the trees are tapped, harvesting is only a short one-month period.

The beauty of birch sap is that it leaves the birch trees unharmed, allowing them to continue growing through the rest of the year.

What happens during the summer, fall, and winter is what gives birch sap its incredible health properties.

The trees soak up nutrients from the sun and soil in the summer to prepare themselves for hibernation in the fall.

During this time, they store all the nutrients in the form sap in their roots. The birch trees retain this sap throughout the cold winter.

Then comes spring again, and the beginning of birch tree tapping season.

Birch sap is loaded with a number of amino acids, minerals, enzymes, proteins, antioxidants, and vitamins.

Like coconut water, it's got detoxifying properties, making birch water an effective solution for that headache you acquired during your previous night out.

Birch sap is great in smoothies, and effective as a post-workout hydrator thanks to its electrolytes."  Source: https://www.urbancultivator.net/birch-sap/

The Process: 

I decided my hand at tapping some of the numerous Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis) trees in Northern Vermont! 

Step 1: Identify your birch tree. Any birch can be used, however yellow and black birch are the sweetest! 

Step 2: The next step is to measure 4' up from the base, which is called Diameter Breast Height (DBH), and measure the diameter.

 If you do not have a specialized DBH tape, and only a regular tape like I had, then you need to make some conversions to get diameter from circumference. for one tree I got 30" circumference.  I then divided the circumference (30) by 3.14 (pi) to get diameter=9.5" tree. It is recommended that the birch trees be at least 8" diameter before you tap them!

Step 3: At 4' (DBH) above the base of the tree, take a 5/16 or 7/16" drill bit, and tap at an upward angle into the tree about an inch. You may have to back the drill in and out a few times, and then take a piece of wire or something comparable, and clean out the hole to get the sawdust out. 

Step 4: I decided to purchase taps and lines as opposed to the traditional "hang the bucket on the tree" taps. What I did next is take the tap, and hammer it into the hole gently until the hollow sound started making a-- "thud"-- solid noise. Then I knew it was in far enough. 

Step 5: Next, I took one of the buckets and covered it with tin foil (you can buy covers as well, but this is cheaper.) to keep water and other things out. I inserted the line in the hole in the bucket, or you can put it over the bucket to drip into, and secured the bucket around the tree with twine, or you can just leave it on its own if it is stable. 

Step 6: Every few days, check the bucket and empty it into another container. I purchased a 5 gallon jug, which after 2 weeks tapping 3 trees,is almost full! Since it takes 110-200 gallons of sap to make one gallon of birch syrup, as opposed to maples, which are 40:1, I probably will not have enough to make syrup... however, I think I might try my hand at wine! You can also drink it straight from the tree as a health tonic. Birch beer? There are so many possibilities!! 

                    Stay tuned for my wine making experiment!!