On to Birch Season

Bucky, an old friend, called from Glover to discuss a pump. His maple season is over, too, so he’s tapping his white birch trees! It’s birch syrup season. It’s beyond me how anyone can manage two syrup seasons back to back, but Bucky is quite excited about it. I have not researched birch syrup production, but here is what he said:

The birches run after the maples.
Once tapped, a tree will run non-stop for two weeks.
No freezing nights are necessary, in fact, they are a handicap.
No vacuum pump is necessary; the trees gush.
The sap doesn’t spoil since it is so weak (.75% sugar content).
It takes 100-150 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of birch syrup.
He uses the RO and syrup pans as usual.

There is one deterring factor, in my book: I don’t like the taste of birch syrup. Apparently, many chefs snatch it up for their kitchens.

Mary Claire writes from the Colorado Rockies where she leads HMI winter expeditions: — Mary Claire McGovern writes from the Colorado Rockies where she leads HMI winter expeditions: “On day 9 or our 10 day winter-camping trip, we climbed Buckeye Peak above our camp then came back down for the perfect celebratory feast in our snow-kitchen. Some students reminisced about other sugar-on-snow days in their childhood, while others tried it for the first time. Yum!”

Weather: Cold and rainy this week, after last week’s blip of summer that prompted the brown, pointy sugar maple buds to swell and pop, ending the maple season.

Just about what the mood is here this week, post-boiling season. — Just about what the mood is here this week.

2 thoughts on “On to Birch Season”

Alaska is the biggest producer of the birch syrup- I found a ‘blog’ from some sugarmakers there: http://alaskabirchsyrup.com/2003harvest.html

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Thanks for the link, Freedle. Their birch seasons are as unpredictable and frantic as our maple seasons. I did note that she complains about a freezing night, so there is that one significant difference.

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