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New user
Posts: 2
| Birch syrup making page up in the new foraging section, you'll have to be quick to catch the tail end of it this year but birch leaves are good to eat up til mid summer. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Looks like it is more like honey in chemical make up; 48% glucose, 41% fructose as opposed to maple syrup which is nearly all sucrose (1 glucose molecule and 1 fructose molecule stuck together). I'm trying to cut down on fructose so this is a step in the right direction. See Robert Lustig's really thought provocing lecture which has caused us to completely re-think what consitutes healthy eating http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM |
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Regular
Posts: 79
Location: Cromarty | Tommy, I think your new pages are great! And things like birch bark had never occurred to me let alone others. What about setting up some events - demos of different skills, from foraging to cooking with birch sap, etc |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Message from Rupert Waites
Hi,
was just reading your sap tapping piece there. I have a feeling that soon folks everywhere will be out tapping sap. I have been tapping for a couple of years now and after reading loads about it came to the consensus that the tree is self healing and as long as the hole is true and straight and the bark doesn't split then the tree is best left to repair itself. It will only enclose any dowels within the wound and potentially introduce rotting from within. The dowel itself , being porous will not stem the flow of sap either.
Still. It is a great spring activity and one that should be sensibly encouraged. It is very popular in Alaska and some good papers have been written on the subject if you would like I could look them out.
Loving the page |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Page is here http://www.transitionblackisle.org/birch-syrup.asp
I've been wondering about using sap as an alternative to sugar to feed bees and it does seem to be used in the USA but it would need to be concentrated somehow as birch sap is only about 0.5-1.5% sugar. |
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Birch sap page up