Birch sap tapping equipment / kit for tapping birch sap with 4 pcs 2.5-litre canisters

The kit consists of: - 1 collecting bucket with handle and lid, 10 litres, white. The lid has a pre-drilled hole for the tapping tube. - 4 x 2.5-litre stackable plastic containers - 1 metre of PVC plastic tubing - 1 plastic tapping spout - 2 dowels for plugging the hole after tapping Before fitting the tube onto the tapping spout, soften one end in water at approx. 40 degrees. It will then slip on easily. All products are approved for food contact. Can you drink birch sap? Yes – and you can even get hooked on it. At least two members of our family already have! Tapping birch sap is an old tradition in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden and Finland, and in Russia. As far back as the 1700s, birch sap is mentioned in Danish literature as having ‘a not unpleasant taste’ and as a remedy for several ailments. The sap contains approx. 1–2% sugar and many minerals. Birch sap can be tapped from the time the sap starts rising in the birch tree. After a typical winter, that means from around mid-March until the trees come into leaf in April. Birch sap can be drunk fresh, straight from the tree, or served chilled. The sap can also be used in baking, ice cream, other cooking and beer brewing. Bread baked with birch sap seems to rise more than other bread and has a delicate flavour. Birch sap can also be reduced to a thick syrup for use in desserts and sauces. In cooking, it has a flavour-enhancing effect. Try adding a little birch sap when making a goulash, stew or similar dish, and let the family be the judges. The same goes for fruit purée sorbets, where the flavour of the berries becomes more nuanced. At the same time, the sorbet stays softer at a lower temperature than usual. Fresh birch sap keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. Birch sap is also very well suited to freezing until the next tapping season, so you can enjoy it all year round. The sap can be frozen in plastic containers (see product number 4305) or bag-in-box bags (see product numbers 3066 and 3067). Remember that the sap expands when frozen, so don't fill the containers/bag-in-box bags completely. After thawing, birch sap keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. You can also bottle the fresh birch sap and pasteurise it in a pasteuriser (see product number 3341). Stored somewhere cool and dark, pasteurised sap can keep for several years. Let's get started: First, pick out a tree of suitable thickness. It shouldn't be too old, nor too young. A tree with a diameter of at least 12–14 cm is ideal. To tap birch sap, drill a hole in the birch trunk approx. 70–80 cm above the ground. You'll need a drill bit of a suitable diameter, approx. 9 mm. Choose a smooth area with no overgrowth or knots. Use a drill bit of a suitable size. Drill at a slight upward angle, so gravity helps guide the sap out of the tree. Drill approx. 6–10 cm into the tree, but no further than the centre of the tree. Then clean the hole with warm water if needed. The outer approx. 5 cm of the tree consists of living sapwood, where the sap is carried up to the crown through ‘pipes’, the so-called vessels. It is these vessels you tap from. In the central wood, the heartwood, these vessels are closed, so there's no reason to drill too far in. Once the hole has been drilled in the birch tree, the tapping spout can be knocked into the tree with a few light taps of a hammer. The ridges make sure the spout seals tightly. At the same time, the ridges at the other end mean the tube can easily be attached securely. Fit the tube onto the spout and run it to the bucket. You should check the sap collection at each tree once or twice a day, as in good weather up to 10–12 litres per day can be tapped from a large tree. As a curiosity, birch trees could be called early risers, since most sap usually flows in the early morning hours, tailing off towards the afternoon. When you've finished tapping, hammer a wooden dowel into the hole. Drive it in as far as possible, and in any case far enough for the end of the dowel to be flush with the bark. The bark will then heal over within a couple of years. Dowels that can't be driven all the way in should be sawn off flush with the trunk. NB: Opinions differ on whether using a dowel is best for the tree. Some studies indicate that it may encourage fungal attack. Without a dowel, however, the tree will undoubtedly bleed quite a lot of sap before it heals. So it's up to you whether you want to use dowels or not. NB: You should only tap the same tree once every 2 to 3 years or so, as tapping the same tree every year may weaken it. A single tapping over a 2–3-year cycle will not weaken the tree. Never reuse the same hole. Drill a new hole every time you tap a tree, as the hole from previous tappings may be infected with fungi, bacteria, etc. If the sap coming out isn't clear, discard it and stop tapping from that hole. Instead, you can drill a new hole somewhere else on the same tree and carry on there. Milky sap can be caused by bacteria in the drilling dust, so remember to clean thoroughly before you start tapping. Before moving equipment to another tree, wash all the equipment thoroughly. Spouts and tubes should also be sterilised in boiling water every 5–7 days, especially in milder weather. Containers and buckets can be cleaned with bottle and demijohn cleaner (product number 3018). Good luck with your tapping in the woods. Containers and buckets can be cleaned with bottle and demijohn cleaner (product number 3018). Fresh birch sap keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. In our experience, the sap can be kept cool in bag-in-box bags (see product numbers 3066 and 3067) for at least 3 weeks, as this storage method doesn't expose it to oxygen. Birch sap is also very well suited to freezing until the next tapping season, so you can enjoy it all year round. The sap can be frozen in plastic containers (see product number 4305) or bag-in-box bags (see product numbers 3066 and 3067). Remember that the sap expands when frozen, so don't fill the containers/bag-in-box bags completely. After thawing, birch sap keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. see an introduction to birch sap tapping here Good luck!