Birch sap is known for its beneficial properties. Many are not averse to collecting it in the spring. But before you start treating all diseases with it, it’s worth learning more about its miraculous properties.
With its natural purity, this product has earned the love of traditional medicine. It is collected in the spring, before the birch leaves bloom. However, when starting to collect, you still need to find out what is so special about this colorless liquid.
There is one interesting sign associated with birch sap - if you make a hole in the trunk of a birch tree, but the sap does not flow, then the summer will be dry and barren. There are several more spring folk signs for the harvest, which we told you about.
When and how to collect birch sap
Typically, the collection period begins at the end of March and ends at the end of May. This is due to biological rhythms in birch trunks and the characteristics of these trees. It is better to collect sap from mature and strong trees, since young ones will not give as much sap as needed, and old ones simply do not have it in large quantities. It is better to collect it from 12 to 18 hours.
As of March 20, you can safely go into the forest. You need to make a hole in the tree with an awl or other sharp object. Do this carefully so as not to damage a large area of the trunk. After harvesting, the holes made must be sealed with wax so that the tree does not die and does not lose liquid in vain.
The juice can be stored for no more than a few days, although it is possible to can it to increase shelf life.
The benefits and harms of birch sap
Traditional medicine claims that any pure natural products can work wonders with the human body, enriching it with useful substances and giving it a boost of energy. And these words apply fully to birch sap.
Birch sap is sweet, but its sugar structure is not the same as that of ordinary non-natural products. Previously, we told you that sweets improve your mood and increase your energy. Birch sap works in a similar way, but without any side effects.
Birch sap contains less than 30 kcal per 100 ml, so you don’t have to worry about your figure. It is also rich in nutrients and vitamins such as B6 and B12.
Birch sap improves immunity, improves the body's energy, removes toxins, and improves metabolism. If you suspect kidney or bladder stones, natural birch sap will help get rid of them. For those who suffer from liver dysfunction, the juice can also help. Moreover, even people suffering from radiculitis or rheumatism can improve their health by drinking birch sap.
Is birch sap harmful? Not at all. The only side effect that people may experience when consuming this product is an allergy to its components. Otherwise, there are no restrictions - you can consume the juice in any quantity. Even children can drink it.
Finally, it should be noted that drinking birch sap helps with weight loss, since it suppresses the feeling of hunger, and its calorie content is extremely low. To improve the effect, use the lunar diet from Vasilisa Volodina. Her method has helped many people achieve their desired figure. We wish you good luck, good health, and don't forget to press the buttons and
06.05.2016 06:01
Chakras are located in the body of every person. These are energy centers on which physical health and...
Do you know that birch sap is very healthy and you can drink it? From mid-March to early May, in the vast expanses of Russian forests, the gentle rays of the sun awaken to life the main natural symbol of the country - the birch tree: sap begins to flow from the roots of the tree up the entire crown. Travel times depend on the region and weather conditions. In Siberia, in the North-West of the country, and even in the central zone now, in the second half of April, is the best time to drinkBirch juice- a storehouse of useful vitamins, micro-macroelements and amino acids.
Birch sap, is it possible to take it from the birch tree?
I foresee a question from ecologists or people who are jealous of nature: why collect birch sap, thereby harming the tree? I am also against industrial sap collection and careless, sometimes barbaric treatment of trees, leading to their death.
However, an adult birch tree can produce from 1 liter to 3 liters (no more than 1 liter per day) of sap without harming its health. These are like donors who donate a portion of blood for the benefit of human life and for their own renewal of the body. Often the white-trunks themselves cry, losing drops of juice that are transparent, like tears, because remember:
“Juice appears on the white trunks -
Now the birches are crying, now the birches are crying...”
Today, birch sap is classified as a biologically pure product that has benefits and its cost exceeds 100 rubles. for 1 liter. Exotic or unique benefit? Let's see why the juice of white-trunked beauties is so rich.
Composition of birch sap
Birch juice- a physiological solution that nourishes the tree and promotes the formation of foliage and ensures its life. And it is already clear that this will be a useful composition not only for wood, but also for humans, and it will also taste good. It does not have a pronounced taste; it is a cool, slightly sweetish liquid with a slight sourness, reminiscent of spring water.
Birch sap contains the following components:
- Proteins;
- , the same one that is found mainly only in animal products. This is precisely what makes birch sap especially useful.
- Organic acids, enzymes, aromatics, tannins that improve metabolism and help eliminate carcinogens and toxins. Phytoelement saponin in juice reduces .
- Fruit sugars.
- Microelements and their salts: potassium, magnesium, sodium, copper, manganese. The juice is especially rich in potassium, which blocks sodium, reducing swelling and improving the functioning of the heart muscle.
There is an opinion that in its composition birch is close to, the benefits of which have already been discussed.
Birch sap: benefits
- The juice perfectly replenishes the balance of vitamins in the body and resists.
- Strengthens, reducing risk.
- The juice regulates the acidity of gastric juice, therefore it is prescribed to patients with gastritis with low acidity. It has a rare ability to scar the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines caused by ulcers.
- Strengthens metabolic processes in the body, relieves depression.
- It cleanses the blood, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys well, eliminates waste and toxins, relieves swelling, and is a natural diuretic.
- Birch sap is recommended for sore throat, bronchitis, and pneumonia. You can just gargle with it
- Birch elixir is used in the treatment of joint diseases, arthritis, arthrosis, and salt deposits.
- Helps with furunculosis, neurodermatitis, eczema, and other skin and hair problems.
- Thanks to low calorie, V 100 grams only 25 kcal with great benefits, it is used in diets for weight loss.
- The juice is useful for women during menopause, as it lowers blood pressure and alleviates the symptoms of this period. Eliminates fatigue, lethargy and gives strength.
- It occupies a leading position in cosmetology: it is added to creams, masks, and lotions. Rubs into hair.
When to collect birch sap
Birch sap usually begins to be extracted after the vernal equinox (March 21) immediately after the snow melts. It all depends on the weather, the tree senses it subtly. The beginning of the movement of juice can be checked by making a light cut along the trunk. If there is juice, a drop of it will immediately appear. So, we can start collecting. When choosing a location, it is important to consider the following points:
- The most useful is considered to be clear juice collected in the middle of the sap flow period. As the buds open, the juice becomes cloudy and bitter and can no longer be consumed.
- They collect birch sap far from the city so that there is no highway nearby, otherwise the sap will be of no use.
- It is better to choose a birch tree on a hill, in the depths of the forest, where it wakes up a little later, such sap is sweeter.
- The tree must be mature, with a trunk at least 20 cm thick and thick bark. But it is better to neglect trees that are too old; the sap in them is also bitter and almost tasteless.
- The collection is carried out in clear sunny weather, then the best movement of the juice. In the dark, the movement stops and the tree also falls asleep.
How to collect birch sap correctly without harming the tree
It is important to collect birch sap correctly so as not to harm the tree and at the same time obtain the sap in full volume
- At a height of about 1 meter, a hole is made with a sharp knife or drill with a diameter of 5-8 ml. Under no circumstances should you cut the bark with an ax or make large cuts - this can destroy the tree! Do not make more than 3 holes in one trunk.
- The sap flows between the bark and the wood, so there is no need to drill deep, just pierce the bark layer.
- Insert a plastic juice tube, a wooden stick, a metal tube in the form of a drain into the hole, securing a thick thread or rope at the end, or you can use a medical dropper, remove the needle from it and insert the spout into the hole. The juice will begin to flow down them into a plastic bottle or glass jar.
- The volume of sap should not exceed more than a liter per day - the same amount that birch can restore without loss. It is better to use several trees.
- Don’t forget to cover the hole in the tree with clay after finishing collecting, plug it with grass, a stick or garden pitch, taking it with you in advance.
If you went to the forest and did not take with you any equipment for collecting birch sap, you can cut a branch and hang a bottle on a twig, the sap will flow down it. You can hang several bottles on several branches at once like this:
How to take birch sap for health benefits
It is better to drink juice fresh, it contains more vitamins and nutrients. Fresh juice is stored in the refrigerator for no more than three days. You can preserve the juice, but as you understand, all its benefits end there. But it’s better to freeze the juice, this way it retains its properties better.
You can drink it with milk, making cocktails with the addition of citrus juice or mint leaves. But I think it’s best to drink the juice neat, enjoying its clear moisture.
How to store birch sap
It is better to drink the juice immediately when you receive it. If you can’t get it often, you can stock up for future use and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This juice is the healthiest. If there is a lot of juice, you need to think about how to store it.
Freezing juice in the freezer
The most convenient and reliable way to store birch sap is to turn it into ice. And this method helps preserve all the beneficial substances. So feel free to pour the juice into molds and put it in the freezer; as needed, you can take out the mold, melt it and drink it.
Canning birch sap
You can preserve birch sap in glass jars, but the process requires heating the sap to the boiling point, at which most vitamins are killed. Of course, some of the benefits of the juice remain, so this method is acceptable, but you should know that it will no longer retain all the benefits of the juice.
Heat the juice to a temperature of 80 degrees and pour it into clean, sterile, preheated glass jars and close with a sterilized metal lid. We wrap the jars with a warm blanket and leave them like this for 6-8 hours. Then we cool the jars and put them in a cold room or refrigerator. This way we preserve all the beneficial properties of birch sap.
Birch sap: harm
- those suffering from pollen allergies,
- urolithiasis,
- stomach ulcer during an exacerbation.
Birch sap treatment recipes
Treatment with birch sap is quite affordable and enjoyable. Birch sap helps:
At chronic For sore throat, drink 1 glass of fresh birch sap every morning.
For coughs, it is good to take birch sap half diluted with warm milk.
Take off gout attacks, a recipe for birch balsam will help improve kidney function:
Take 100 ml of alcohol for 1 liter of juice and store in bottles or jars. Take balm 50 g three times a day before meals 20 minutes.
For increase hemoglobin: Mix birch sap in equal parts with apple, carrot or beet sap. Take 50 ml (this is about 1 shot glass) 15 minutes before meals 3 times a day, for 2-3 weeks.
To cleanse the body, in particular the kidneys of sand, in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract, joint problems and other diseases, take 1 glass of juice three times a day 20 minutes before meals for 2 weeks.
Conclusion
Birch for a Russian person it is a symbol of bright sadness, dear to the heart and soul. The image of a white-trunked beauty, tender, flexible, slender, is sung in poetry and songs. And the birch forests are amazingly light, soulful, bewitching. Let us take care of them and use with caution the gifts that they give us, like all of Mother Nature.
And everyone should try real birch sap at least once in their life... Now you know how healthy birch sap is.
I suggest watching a video sketch of picturesque natural places and listening to the song “I drank birch sap in the spring forest.” Author of music and lyrics: Evgeniy Danilovich Agranovich.
Open to us, Fatherland, your open spaces,
Open the treasured thickets inadvertently -
And just like before, they give me something to drink
Birch sap, birch sap!
M. Matusovsky
Energy value and composition of birch sap. Useful properties and contraindications for its use. How is it collected and what can be prepared from it? Recipes for drinks and dishes.
The content of the article:
Birch sap is a drink beloved by many, which symbolizes the arrival of spring. A clear liquid (sap), which is released under root pressure, is collected from a cut in the trunk of a tree belonging to the Birch family (Betulaceae), during the period of swelling of the buds (March-April) before they bloom. Birch sap is popular in Russia, Eurasia and North America, especially in cold regions and Northern China. Since ancient times, birch was revered, respected and loved by the Slavs, and today the drink is in great demand in Russian and Ukrainian cities and villages.
Composition and calorie content of birch sap
Since ancient times, the birch tree has been considered a symbol of Rus', and birch sap has been known to us since childhood not only as a tasty gift of nature, but also as a rich source of nutrients that has a complex beneficial effect on the human body. Outwardly, it is difficult to distinguish it from ordinary water, since the juice is colorless, but its chemical composition shows full advantages over the most useful vitamin cocktails.
The calorie content of birch sap is 240 kcal per 1 liter of product, of which:
- Proteins - 1 g;
- Fats - 0 g;
- Carbohydrates - 58 g;
- Ash - 0.5 mg.
- Potassium, K - 273 mg;
- Calcium, Ca - 13 mg;
- Silicon, Si - 0.1 mg;
- Magnesium, Mg - 6 mg;
- Sodium, Na - 16 mg;
- Phosphorus, Ph - 0.01 mg.
- Aluminum, Al - 1.5 mg;
- Barium, Ba - 0.01 mg;
- Iron, Fe - 0.25 mg;
- Manganese, Mn - 1 mg;
- Copper, Cu - 0.02 mg;
- Nickel, Ni - 0.01 mg;
- Selenium, Se - 0.6 μg;
- Strontium, Sr - 0.1 mg;
- Titanium, Ti - 0.08 mg;
- Zirconium, Zr - 0.01 mg.
Useful properties of birch sap
Birch sap has a wonderful taste and aroma, but it is also rich in various beneficial substances, which makes it a necessary drink in the people's diet, especially during the period of its collection, i.e. It is recommended to consume it fresh as a tonic and restorative. It will relieve chronic fatigue, increased drowsiness and lethargy.
Let's take a closer look at the benefits of birch sap:
- Boosting immunity. The presence of biological enzymes and stimulants in birch sap helps strengthen the body's immune forces. For this purpose, it is recommended to drink it with milk and the addition of starch.
- Fighting colds and infectious diseases. Consumption of birch sap will increase the body's resistance to these diseases due to the large amount of tannins in the drink. In addition, it removes remnants of the decay products of viruses and bacteria from the body.
- Normalization of the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. This drink is an excellent stimulant for the production of gastric juice, which leads to improved digestion. It also controls acidity. Regular consumption of fresh birch sap normalizes metabolism, regulating metabolism in the body, relieves constipation, and promotes weight loss, since the drink is also a dietary product.
- Lower blood pressure. Thanks to the diuretic effect, birch sap will become an indispensable drink for hypertensive patients. It is recommended to drink the juice on an empty stomach 1 hour before breakfast, without giving up the use of antihypertensive medications. A cocktail of birch sap, carrot and beet juice will lower blood pressure. And a glass of fresh drink will relieve swelling in people with hypertension.
- Improved kidney and bladder function. Birch sap breaks down stones in these organs and also washes sand out of them. Relieves swelling and helps remove excess fluid from the body.
- Treatment of respiratory diseases. Birch sap treats cough, sore throat, bronchitis and pneumonia. In addition, it will also be beneficial for tuberculosis.
- Removing harmful substances from the body. The rich composition of birch sap accelerates the process of removing toxins. In addition, this drink has the property of purifying the blood.
- Prevention of vitamin deficiency and scurvy. Regular consumption of fresh birch sap will help with vitamin deficiencies after the winter period, at the beginning of spring, and will also relieve fatigue and depression. This is due to the rich composition of this product.
- Eliminate headaches. The large amount of glucose and fructose in juice makes it beneficial for brain function and also improves the body's performance. For this reason, it is recommended to drink it during heavy mental stress.
- Strengthening the heart and blood vessels. This beneficial property is explained by the presence of calcium, potassium and magnesium in the composition. A unique mix of minerals renews vascular walls and prevents the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.
Fresh birch sap is useful for expectant mothers at all stages of pregnancy, as it can improve placental blood circulation, reduce the manifestations of toxicosis, and prevent swelling. Remember that in an “interesting situation” you can consume no more than 100–250 ml of birch sap per day.
Externally, birch sap is used for diseases such as furunculosis and eczema, ulcers, acne, pigmentation and increased dryness of the skin. It will help cope with hair loss, dandruff and non-healing wounds.
Contraindications and harm of birch sap
Despite the large list of beneficial properties, birch sap can also cause harm. We must not forget about the allergic pollen of the plant that produces such a healing drink. In addition to this, for some ailments it is not recommended to use it at all.
Who needs to avoid adding birch sap to their diet:
- People with individual intolerances or allergies. Birch pollen is what can trigger an unhealthy reaction in our body when consuming this drink. 15-20% of all cases of seasonal allergies in the northern parts of the world are associated with it.
- Suffering from urolithiasis. If you have such health problems, you should drink birch sap, especially fresh, with caution, as it can cause the movement of stones in the kidneys and organs of the genitourinary system, as well as drive sand out of them.
- Patients with gastric and duodenal ulcers. For these diseases, diet food and the same drinks are recommended, but juices are not, so this product should be taken with caution.
Important to remember! One glass of drink (150-350 ml) per day will only benefit the body, so you need to drink it in moderation. However, do not forget that only home-prepared birch sap, without various chemical additives and preservatives, has beneficial biological stimulation.
When and how to collect birch sap?
It is difficult to say exactly when the best time to collect birch sap is difficult, since it depends on weather conditions. Birch sap can flow after the March thaw, but the process will stop if frost strikes unexpectedly.
In general, “useful water” from birch begins to be collected in the spring with the melting of the sap, when the buds swell on the tree, from March to April, and sometimes until May, and stops when the leaves bloom.
To collect birch sap, you should choose trees that grow far from highways and large enterprises, otherwise the sap will contain the entire table of chemical elements and will not bring any benefit. The best choice is a birch tree with a thick trunk (the larger the diameter, the better), growing in an area where the sun shines well.
Using a drill or a brace, a hole (5-8 cm) is made on the tree trunk at a distance of 20-25 cm from the ground. Next, a prepared tube is inserted into the incision and a container is placed under it to collect the juice, which tastes like spring water. It flows best from noon to 5 p.m.
Important! The “wound” on the tree should be covered with wax, or it can be hammered in with a peg.
Recipes for drinks with birch sap
Birch sap has a pleasant aroma and excellent taste, and also contains many useful substances, but does not last long when fresh. After three days it already has a sour taste and begins to ferment. Therefore, it is important to know how to seal birch sap.
Recipes for delicious drinks:
- Kvass from birch sap with raisins. First of all, we filter 20 liters of juice; gauze folded in several layers works well for this. After this, add 1 kg of sugar and 100 g of raisins and leave to brew for 3 days. Then we filter the kvass, bottle it and store it in a cold place.
- Birch kvass with barley. Strain 3 liters of birch sap and place in a cool place for a couple of days. In a dry frying pan, fry 100 g of barley until golden brown. Add it to the juice and leave for 4 days. The drink is ready! It will perfectly quench your thirst in hot weather.
- . First, pour the strained juice (5 l) into a saucepan, then add 150 g of sugar and bring to a boil, but do not boil. At the same time, cut 400 g of bread into pieces and dry in the microwave or oven. Place them in a saucepan with juice, cover with a lid and leave to steep for 2 days. The drink is ready. Pour it into bottles and cool before use.
- Kvass from birch sap with dried fruits. We wash 150 g of dried fruits (it is best to take pears and prunes in equal quantities). Place them in a 3-liter jar and fill with 2.5 liters of birch sap. We close the container with gauze folded in several layers or with a special nylon lid with holes. Place in a warm place for 10-14 days. A warmer room means the drink will be ready faster. The finished product is bottled.
- Kvass from birch sap with honey. Strain 5 liters of juice. In a bowl, dilute 50 g of yeast in 50 ml of warm water. Take 1 lemon and squeeze the juice out of it. Pour birch sap into a container, add lemon juice, 100 g of honey, diluted yeast and 10 g of raisins. Infuse the drink in a cool place for 2-4 days.
- Carbonated kvass. Pour 20 liters of birch sap into a large bottle, add 0.5 liters of dried fruit, a handful of raisins and 1 glass of roasted barley (instead of cereals, you can take a crust of black bread, after drying it in the oven). Infuse this drink for 1 month in the cold.
- Kvass from birch sap for the winter. A drink prepared according to this recipe can be stored in the cellar for the whole winter. First of all, pour the juice into the bottle. Then we put the crusts of rye bread in a linen bag and place it in a container with future kvass for 2 days. After this period, we pull it out. Add oak bark (a natural preservative), cherry leaves, various berries and dill. And we insist for another 2 weeks.
- Drink "Berezovik". We will need 10 liters of birch sap. Pour it into a large container and place it in a cool, dark room for 3 days. Now add 60 g of rye crackers and roasted barley to taste. And we insist for 1 more day.
- Cocktail recipe with birch sap for children. Using a mixer, mix 2 cups of birch sap, 4 tablespoons of canned fruit syrup and 100 g of ice cream. Before serving, you still need to add the same amount of ice cream to the cocktail.
- Moonshine from birch sap. We will need 15 liters of birch sap, 3 kg of sugar, 100 g of yeast, currant and cherry leaves at our discretion and taste. Heat the juice a little, add yeast, sugar and leaves to it. We send our dishes with ingredients to a warm place for a week. After this period, we filter the mixture and now work with a moonshine still.
- Birch wine. For this recipe, fresh juice, just collected, is suitable. Bring 30 liters to a boil, skim off the foam. Add 7.5 kg of sugar and 9 g of lemon peel. Cool, pour into a bottle and make an air seal. After 2 weeks, bottle the wine and place it in the cellar.
- Canned birch sap. Pour 7 liters of birch sap into a saucepan, add 3 dry mint sprigs, 0.5 teaspoon of citric acid and 10 tablespoons of sugar. Before rolling up the birch sap, bring the liquid and ingredients to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, skimming off the reddish foam. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Of course, many vitamins are destroyed, but some minerals are still preserved. In addition, this drink is very tasty and healthier than store-bought sweet water.
- Drink "Orange Storm". Place 5 liters of birch sap on the fire, bring to a boil, remove the foam, add sugar (1-1.5 cups) and add 25 g of citric acid. At the same time, prepare the jars: sterilize them and put 3-4 orange slices in each (we will need 3 pieces). Pour the finished drink into prepared containers, seal and wrap.
- Drink "Lemon Breeze". For this recipe we will need the following ingredients: juice, sugar and lemons (you can use citric acid). For a 3-liter jar of birch “liquid”, take 1 cup of sugar and 1/3 of a large lemon (or 1 teaspoon of citric acid). So, bring the juice to a boil and add sugar to it. Then pour it into the prepared one, i.e. sterilized jar with chopped lemon slices. We cork and wrap.
Note! Birch sap can be frozen fresh in the freezer, while all its beneficial substances are preserved.
Recipes for dishes with birch sap
3-4 days after collection, birch sap acquires a pleasant sour taste, which makes it the basis for a popular cold dish - okroshka.
What and how to cook with birch sap:
- City okroshka. We will need the following products: 300 g of boiled sausage, 3-4 cucumbers, a bunch of green onions, 4 eggs, mayonnaise and salt to taste. You need to take enough birch sap to make the dish as thick as soup. First of all, boil the eggs, cool and peel. Then we wash the onion, chop it, add salt and mix well (this will help remove the bitterness from this greenery). After this, cut the cucumbers, sausage and eggs. Add these ingredients to the onion and season with mayonnaise. Pour in juice and mix well. Our dish is ready. You can add dill or parsley. It should be eaten chilled. A piquant taste will be added by 1 tablespoon of non-dry mustard, diluted directly in the plate.
- Rural okroshka. Wash the green onions and dill and chop finely. Add a little salt and crush these ingredients using a potato masher or potato masher. Finely chop 1 cucumber and 2 boiled but peeled potatoes and add to the greens. Cut 200 g of doctor's sausage into cubes and place in a pan with already prepared products. Boil 2 eggs, separate the whites from the yolks. Grind the first component and add it to the pan. Now we make a dressing for the dish: grind the yolks with 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and dilute this mass with a small amount of birch sap. Place this mixture in okroshka, stir and pour in 300 ml of juice, mix thoroughly again. You can decorate with tomato slices and dill. Serve chilled.
During the existence of the USSR, in the mid-20th century, birch sap was one of the cheapest drinks. One glass of it cost 8 kopecks. They sold it in 3-liter jars.
The largest number of “birch tears” were collected in Belarus, northern Ukraine and the middle regions of Russia. The Chernobyl accident and the collapse of the Soviet Union - these two factors influenced the decrease in the production of the drink we are considering.
There is an enterprise “Birch Sap Festival” in the Leningrad region that sells frozen product.
In Russia, 70,00 tons of fresh drink are collected every year, but the hidden potential is 875,505,000 liters. The cost of 1 liter is 50 rubles, and in Japan it will be 60 dollars!
Every year in Russia, a festival is held in the Leningrad region. There is a tasting of the product and a demonstration of the operation of a sap pipeline connecting approximately 40 trees, with a sap collection rate of 7 liters per hour. In addition, event participants and guests can observe the process of evaporation of birch syrup. In the world this product is produced in a volume of 5000 liters. To get 1 liter, 100 liters of juice are required. Hence its high cost: 1 liter costs $90.
The Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Bykhov produce fresh juice, as well as drinks with oregano, rose hips, St. John's wort and thyme.
Aseptic containers that preserve the beneficial properties of juice for a long time are the calling card of the Borisov cannery.
In the USA and Great Britain, the popular drink “coconut water” was replaced by birch sap.
How to collect birch sap - watch the video:
So, birch sap is a wonderful drink that has many beneficial elements necessary for our body. This is a wonderful drink that quenches thirst and is an excellent healing agent. Due to its taste and aroma, it is a component of many drinks, including alcoholic ones. The cold dish okroshka is prepared with plain or mineral water with the addition of citric acid, but it will taste better if you use birch sap. The product can be bought in the supermarket, but prepared at home will be healthier, as it does not contain harmful chemical additives.
Birch sap is a clear liquid that is released from a tree trunk under the influence of root pressure if the bark is broken or cut. A tube or small groove is inserted into the incision site, through which the juice flows into the prepared container. After harvesting, the cut site is sealed with wax to prevent the tree from drying out later.
The movement of birch sap begins in early March along with the first buds, and the sap is collected over 1.5 months, from early April to mid-May. Besides Russia, this juice is drunk in Scandinavia and Northern China.
It tastes like fresh spring water, but with sweet, woody notes due to the low concentration of natural sugars.
The benefits of birch sap are great, because it contains many minerals, vitamin C, tannins, phytoncides and essential oils. On hot days, it invigorates, quenches thirst thanks to its pleasant light taste and replenishes the supply of mineral salts that a person loses during heavy sweating.
It is curious that in the USA and Great Britain interest in this drink has recently increased, displacing another popular tonic - coconut water.
Nutritionist Eva Kalinik says: “Birch sap is similar in chemical composition, electrolyte balance, potassium content and other phytonutrients to coconut water, but its main advantage is saponins.”
It is saponins that are responsible for most of the beneficial properties of the original Russian drink.
- Throat diseases: cough, sore throat. For treatment, you need to take warmed birch sap mixed with milk and starch. It is recommended to drink a glass of this drink daily until recovery.
- To improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. This spring nectar stimulates the secretion of gastric juice and enzymes necessary for normal digestion. Birch sap normalizes stool and relieves constipation.
- To relieve inflammation in the mouth and prevent caries, you can rinse your mouth with this juice. Are you going to have a glass of juice? Just hold it in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing. Unlike many acid-rich fruit juices, this drink does not damage tooth enamel.
- Helps get rid of migraines and headaches.
- For a runny nose of any origin, especially chronic, you should take a glass of pure birch nectar daily. Natural anti-inflammatory compounds will drive disease out of your body in no time.
- Swelling caused by impaired kidney function, stones and sand in the kidneys and gall bladder also subside under the influence of birch sap. It has diuretic properties, but you can drink it for such diseases only with the permission of a doctor.
- If you have already received your doctor's approval, you can drink one glass three times a day for two weeks, but no longer.
- Wounds, ulcers, and abrasions that do not heal for a long time must be treated with undiluted liquid. Its beneficial properties contribute to the rapid healing of open lesions on the skin.
- Recommended as a supportive remedy for people with anemia and other blood diseases.
- With a sharp rise in body temperature, a balm made from birch sap, sugar, wine and finely chopped lemon helps. All this needs to be left in a dark place for three months.
- Helps cope with spring depression and vitamin deficiency. To do this, you need to drink a glass of healing liquid every day for two weeks.
- Birch sap helps remove toxic substances from the kidneys and liver - European healers knew about this back in the 12th century. To test its cleansing properties for yourself, you need to drink 200 ml every morning before breakfast. The course of treatment will require 4-6 weeks and 6-8 liters of healing liquid.
- Fresh tree sap is an excellent dietary drink; it contains absolutely no proteins or fats. If you have already started working on yourself and lost a few kilograms, but then your weight stagnated, include this healthy liquid in your diet.
For therapeutic and prophylactic purposes, the drink should be consumed 1 glass for about a month. Preliminary medical consultation is required!
Cosmetic properties
Rinsing your hair with birch sap makes your hair stronger, restores the water balance of the scalp, and prevents dandruff. You can prepare a lotion with honey and rub it into the roots of your hair. A mask made from birch nectar, cognac and burdock root decoction also helps against hair loss. It is applied for 15-20 minutes, then washed off with warm water.
In Scandinavia, this drink is considered an excellent way to nourish and rejuvenate the skin. With its help, women cope with the first signs of aging.
- To get rid of acne, you need to apply a mask to your skin consisting of egg white, birch sap and honey. To prevent acne, wipe your face with undiluted liquid in the morning and evening.
- To preserve the healing qualities of the drink, you can freeze it in the form of ice cubes. If necessary, wipe the skin of the face, neck and décolleté with them.
- To smooth out small wrinkles, a cream mask of 2 tbsp is suitable. l. birch nectar, 50 g of sprouted wheat and 200 g of pureed sea buckthorn.
- For dry skin, a mask made from tree sap and honey in a 1:1 ratio will be useful.
The listed masks are applied to cleansed facial skin, and after 15 minutes they are washed off with warm water.
Drinks based on birch sap that are beneficial for the body
- Birch kvass. For it, mix juice, several raisins and sugar in the amount of 2 tsp. per liter
- Multivitamin juice. The drink goes well with natural citrus juices.
The juice must be stored in the refrigerator, but no more than two days. - Birch syrup. Obtained by liquid evaporation. It can be added to compote, tea or plain water. But finding it on sale is more difficult than, for example, maple syrup.
Harm of birch sap and list of contraindications
If you love tasty and healthy liquids, you can safely drink birch sap. The benefits and harms of this drink are not equivalent. Experts assess its negative effect on the body as weak.
This juice can be drunk by adults and children over one year old, healthy and sick. It is allowed for pregnant and lactating women, especially those who suffer from edema.
You should not drink birch sap if you have a stomach ulcer or an allergy to birch catkin pollen. A reaction in the form of a rash and irritation on the skin is a good reason to refuse the drink.
If you drink excessive amounts of alcohol, are an active or passive smoker, are under stress, take a lot of medications (such as statins, supertensors, antidepressants, anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone and analgesics), and the body's defenses are running low, do not neglect this wonderful gift nature.
Today, reliable scientific data on the beneficial properties of birch sap either does not exist at all, or they are hidden away from human eyes. Independent extraction of sap is treated as a crime, and if you ask a person what birch sap is, then the first thing he remembers will be a sweet and sour liquid, “packed” in a glass jar or tetra pack.
Of course, later, perhaps someone will remember trees with black and white bark, but that will be later. And this is somewhat alarming.
On the other hand, today is a time when a person learns about natural food products not in the forest, in a clearing or near a river, but in a store, studying the colorful labels of semi-finished products.
Well, what kind of health are we talking about here...
However, we have deviated greatly from the main topic of the article. After all, our main task is to find out what birch sap is, how it can be useful to us, how to prepare it and whether it is worth storing it for a long time.
So let's get started...
The benefits and harms of birch sap
Birch sap is a tree elixir of life that nourishes the birch throughout its existence.
This definition is far from scientific or even generally accepted, but we believe that it reflects the essence of birch sap, its main purpose and value. At the same time, despite such a clearly defined biological role of birch sap, it is able to nourish not only the tree, but also the human body. And with no less efficiency.
At first glance, birch sap is very similar to water, but it is not water at all. And the point here is not at all in the sweet taste, which is a kind of “calling card” of birch sap. In fact, the two liquids have different chemical compositions.
The maximum that water is capable of is saturation with minerals. Birch sap, in turn, contains minerals, vitamins, enzymes, phytoncides, fructose, tannins, organic acids, essential oils and, most likely, much more. Because even in our advanced age, not everything is visible through a microscope.
Thanks to such a rich composition, birch sap benefits everyone who is able to drink it. And this, not more, not little, is practically the entire population of our huge planet. The only exceptions are two categories of people:
- those who were not lucky enough to “get at their disposal” an allergy to birch catkin pollen
- healthy children under the age of six months who have the opportunity to feed on their mother’s breast milk (no one will give birch sap to sick children at this age either, but hypothetically it can help them too)
For everyone else, birch sap will be a good help in life, as it improves metabolic processes in the body, and with regular use can quite quickly remove a huge amount of toxins from the gastrointestinal tract and blood of a person.
In addition, birch sap is susceptible to all kinds of inorganic deposits (salts, trans fats, etc.), which are waiting in the wings in joints, internal organs, connective tissue and under the skin.
Such an effect on the body allows us to say with confidence that birch sap will be useful to everyone who has one or more diseases from the following list:
- radiculitis, arthritis, rheumatism, gout
- stones in the kidneys, urinary and gall bladders (it is imperative to start with small volumes of juice and constantly monitor the size and position of the stones)
- functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys and other internal organs and systems
- cardiovascular diseases
- sore throat, cough, chronic runny nose, tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections and other diseases associated with the release of mucus and pus through the upper and lower respiratory tract
- any oncology
- any inflammatory processes in the body, and especially in the organs of the genitourinary system
- intoxication of any origin
- chronic fatigue, drowsiness and even depression
This is not a complete list of diseases and conditions for which raw, fresh birch sap is indicated. However, what we have here is not a medical encyclopedia, but just a small article about health. Therefore, this is where we will probably end the conversation about beneficial properties and diseases.
Let us only note that fresh, raw birch sap has the greatest healing cleansing power. Frozen raw juice will bring a little less benefit, and you will get very little benefit from all kinds of kvass, tinctures, industrial drinks called “Birch sap” and other products of industrial and home processing of this wonderful elixir.
How to collect birch sap
Getting acquainted with the technology of independently collecting birch sap should begin with answering the question WHERE it can be collected. Although, of course, purely physically, birch sap can be stored anywhere, including the Chernobyl “reserve”. Only the only juice that can benefit the body is juice that was collected away from any factories, cities, major roads (including railways) and agricultural fields.
Only in this case will birch sap be pure (without heavy metals, radionuclides, pesticides and other harmful chemical compounds), safe and nutritious.
You can collect birch sap from the moment the first buds swell on the birch trees until the first leaves appear. At the same time, in sunny meadows, collection can begin a little earlier than in the depths of the forest. True, the leaves bloom faster here than in the wilderness. Therefore, start from the clearings and gradually move to darker places.
You can check whether the juice has flowed out using a thin awl - pierce the bark and see if a drop of juice appears. If it appears, you can start collecting.
Trees should be selected based on the following parameters:
- trunk thickness at chest level of an adult – at least 20 cm
- developed “lush” crown
To cause minimal harm to the birch tree, a hole in the trunk should be made at an angle of about 45 degrees (to make it easier for the sap to drain), with a thin drill - no wider than 1 cm, no more than 3 cm deep. Curved pieces of tin, wood and plastic can be used as a groove tubes, medical systems, etc. The main thing is that these grooves do not “enrich” the tree and the collected sap with harmful chemical elements and compounds.
Each birch tree that meets the above criteria is capable of producing an average of 1 to 7 liters of sap. At the same time, the holes made are tightened over time, and we get less and less juice. We recommend not making the hole deeper, but simply changing the wood. Just be sure to treat the damaged area - seal the hole with garden pitch, wax or clay.
How to preserve birch sap (before winter, at home)
Fresh raw birch sap can be stored in a cold place for up to 2 days without compromising quality. After this time, and also when stored in a warm place, birch sap very quickly begins to sour. And here methods of long-term storage of birch sap come to our aid...
The ideal option for preserving birch sap until winter is to freeze it. Moreover, the juice needs to be frozen quickly, then everything useful will remain in it.
If there is no freezer, then you can “roll up” birch sap in sterilized glass jars. To do this, it is heated to 80 °C, poured into jars and sealed with tin lids. After that, the sealed jars are kept in 85-degree water for 15 minutes and left to cool at room temperature.
You can also make birch concentrate. To do this, the juice is brought to a temperature of 60 °C and 75% of the total volume is evaporated. The remaining 25 percent of the concentrate is poured into sterilized jars and hermetically sealed. And before use, mix this concentrate with water.
What is prepared from birch sap?
Since the “discovery” of birch sap, people have come up with dozens of recipes for preparing tasty and healthy (although not always) drinks, which include all kinds of kvass, syrups, homemade wines, fruit cocktails, sweet “water” and others.
The simplest drink is obtained by mixing birch sap with fruit or vegetable juices. In any proportions - to taste.
Preparing birch kvass is a little more complicated (one of the options):
Fresh birch sap is poured into a glass bottle, a handful of raisins are added (at the rate of several per liter) and sugar (2 tsp per liter). If you wish, you can also throw a little lemon zest, fruit or berries into the bottle. After which the bottle must be tightly closed and placed in a cool place. In a few days, the kvass will be ready, but you can open it either immediately or after 2-3 months. It won't spoil.
Another option is birch-bread kvass:
Pour birch sap into any clean container (preferably an oak barrel), put a cloth bag with rye bread crumbs in it and close the container. After a few days, the juice will ferment, and you can add dill stems, cherry leaves and oak bark to it. Then the future kvass is closed for at least 2 weeks. After which the vessel can be opened and the kvass can be drunk.
Medicinal drinks are also prepared from birch sap. Usually, for these purposes, birch sap is mixed with berries and honey.
For example, here is a recipe for making a birch-lingonberry drink:
The first step is to squeeze the juice out of 150 grams of lingonberries. Then put the pomace in a saucepan and pour in 1 liter of fresh birch sap. Keep this “compote” for 5 minutes in a water bath and cool. Mix with previously squeezed lingonberry juice and add a little honey (or a lot if you really like sweets). Drink according to your mood. The drink has a pronounced diuretic effect.
As we have already said, there are a great many recipes for such drinks - at least according to the recipe for berries. And if you remember about lemons, oranges and dried fruits, then during the spring you can provide yourself with a variety of drinks for the whole year. True, before this you will have to stock up well on berries and dried fruits...
