One day last week The Deer Hunter and I hiked up on the ridge and tapped one of the many birch trees that surround our house. We wanted to drink the sap as a spring tonic.
When I was a girl my family never used birch trees for anything other than chewing on a twig for a sweet taste of spearmint.
There are other families in the mountains of Appalachia who have an interesting tradition using birch trees. Most of those are related to the fiber of the tree instead of the sap.
In More Than Moonshine Sidney Saylor Farr shares the following.
“In early June, Mother and Aunt Mossie used to take all the children and go birch-sapping. It was an annual event we looked forward to each spring. Mother always said birch sap was the very best if taken during the first new moon in June. We always looked for a tree that was at least twenty-four inches in diameter-a smaller tree would die if you removed too much bark. (Father always cut the bark and stripped it away in a complete circle around the trees which he wanted to kill in order to clear new ground for a patch of corn.) We carried buckets, spoons, a hatchet or long sharp knife when we set out.”
She goes on to explain they used a hatchet or sharp knife to cut a square of bark off the tree and then scraped the pulp from the underside of the bark. Once the fiber has been removed it is added to spring water along with about a half a cup of sugar and let set for an hour or more in a cool place. The liquid is then drained for a cool sweet summertime drink and the pulp can be eaten.
A few years ago we followed Farr’s directions and made a tasty drink. The only thing we did different was to use a small limb from a birch tree instead of getting the fiber from the main trunk.
We enjoyed drinking our birch sap straight from the jar sitting high on the mountain ridge the other day. The sap is said to have magnesium and other nutrients in it, but it tastes like water with a very slight note of birch taste at the end of the swallow or swaller as we would say.
Tipper
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Another educational and entertaining post, Tipper. NOW I WANT a sip of such as I never heard of or tasted it. I have enjoyed a sassafras drink and eaten homemade maple syrup. The Good Lord takes care of us wonderfully!
I don’t recall drinking birch sap but remember sassafras tea. (Both the drinkable type and the type applied to my backside.) I remember cutting “tooth brushes” for my grandmother from the birch sprouts. She called them toothbrushes but used them for snuff dipping.
I’ve seen others cut a small branch and place a glass bottle over the end. Let it drip for several hours. Drink it straight from the bottle just as is. Planning to try it this year.
I tried that a good while back with my Birch trees in my yard. Except I can’t remember how I tapped the tree. I think I used a 1/4 inch drill bit and then put a plastic straw in and rigged a cup for it to run into. I am having senior moment I guess….lol
Good morning Tipper & Matt – until you came along I had never heard of this use for a birch tree before and we have many birch trees around here. Most interesting. Thanks for this tid-bit.
Morning Miss Tipper, Matt and all the families up there on the Goat Bluff of Wilson Holler. Miss Louzine sure hope your day is good. What a beautiful home in that beautiful area you all have. A stormy, rainy morning here in South Mississippi. We’ve needed some rain. Thank God for His many blessings and His mercies. Have a great day and rest of the week. God is so good to us all.
I’ve never had Birch sap, but it sounds refreshingly good. Glad y’all got to enjoy a hike together and a refreshing Spring tonic from the Birch tree.
Such an interesting story. So much practical knowledge! If things ever go sour before the Lord comes, I’m heading for the hills!
I am completely stumped. I have never heard of drinking birch juice/sap/???.
My curiosity has been piqued. I will look further into this.
I’ve never tried this. I didn’t even know birch had a spearmint taste. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for birch trees now and give it a nibble!
I have had occasion to get a taste of birch tree tea. It is just like peach tree tea. I never notice a flavor to either.
Good Morning and God bless you, Tipper. I just started reading this blog, even though I’ve heard you mention it on the internet many times. I enjoyed it and will continue to follow along.
Well I learned something new. I did not know that about birch trees.
You make me wonder if sweet birch could be tapped like sugar maples. Sounds like fresh birch sap would be a good combination of mountain ground water tree filtered and the wintergreen-like taste of sweet birch. That is a real spring tonic alright. No sweet birch here. Probably would have to go 15 miles north to find any. Just one more way to see I am too far south.
I used to like to chew on a birch twig like you mentioned. A small sliver of bark was my favorite. To me, they tasted like T-Berry chewing gum.
It’s when you share this sort of thing I find myself wishing I could tag right along with you and Deer Hunter and learn a thing or two while getting a dose of birch tonic myself. I quit using toothpaste with fluoride and I now use NOBS with birch to sanitize and clean my mouth. After a year, I get no more fluoride headaches or feelings of stupidity related to fluoride use. My teeth are as white as snow without whiteners and I ain’t had a toothache since plus my teeth have recalcified and healed sensitive spots…I think the birch is lovely. A lot of ours are gone now. The healing and health and groceries we need are all around us if we will just look and taste thereof…. There’s no life in Rockefeller bought and paid for medicine. As a RN and human biologist who RAN AWAY from the death and lies, I can testify! Dandelions are extremely good for you for example. Turn off the lying black box and get to living and change your frame of mind and very being by doing and participating in life instead of being an arm chair guru… lol
I have been looking on ebay for sassafrass roots to make a tea (it tastes just like old fashioned rootbeer and does not even require sugar to achieve that great flavor). the cherokee drank sassafras tea for a spring tonic and I have done so often on over the past ten years when I can find the root (the stuff you can buy on amazon or in stores is not the same as steeping the root–those other products are bark or derivatives from the bark and it tastes nasty lol too bad you dont have some where you live I would gladly pay Matt to dig me up some and mail to me. I would not mind at all trying your birch sap especially if it helps purify your blood after being sedentary all winter (that was the reason for the Indians drinking sassafras tea)
When I was a kid, we always pulled off tiny birch branches to chew on. They were so minty. I had forgotten about that. I think the sap water would be delicious too.
We never did anything like this, I do remember Fletcher Castoria, Black Draught, Geritol and the cure all for whatever ailed you castor oil. Thank goodness I was never given castor oil, but mother would gives us the Fletcher Castoria in the spring of the year. I remember liking the taste.
In my 38 years of working at Michelin, I would sometimes see large containers on the receiving dock labeled castor oil! I never did know what it was used. Maybe it was given to the employees that liked to drag around! I guess upper management thought it would help make them step it up and go!
My great grandfather used twigs of the branches to clean his teeth. He always had a few in his left bib pocket. Had all his teeth when he passed at 89 years.
Good Morning. I’ve never drank birch sap, but I’ve wanted to. I hope everyone has a blessed day. Please pray for my family.
good morning and God bless everybody,
Great story, but must say this is something that I never heard of. Although we are from the red clay hills of northeast Mississippi, we share virtually all of the old ways and vocabulary. Could be the lack of birch trees. The sweet gum and black gum trees provided gum for chewing and sprigs for tooth brushes.