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Birch juice is undoubtedly a valuable liquid for our entire body. It contains many vitamins, nutrients. In addition, this product has a pleasant aroma and sweet taste. To always have a delicious drink in the house, you need to know how to prepare birch juice for the next year.
In the spring, it's nice to have a freshly picked up cool juice! And the preparation will help preserve this taste until the next season of collecting the magic liquid.
When and how to extract birch sap
In the melting snow, when the young leaves have not yet blossomed, the time begins, which is called "weeping of the birches". Usually this season falls on the middle of March - April. It is then necessary to go to collect a valuable liquid with a sweet taste.
Collect birch sap should be only in clean forests, away from roads and cities, otherwise liquid may not do good, but harm to health.
The collection of birch sap is a matter that, it would seem, is simple, but has several rules:
- The birch must be neither young nor old.
- From one tree you can collect no more than 1 liter of juice in 2-3 days.
- The incision is made small, so as not to harm the birch tree.
- After the procedure, it is necessary to glue the cut with clay, wax, and garden wax.
In order to collect the juice, you need to make a small cut in the bark of the tree (at a distance of 25-30 cm from the ground) and clear it. In the hole, insert a groove of metal or plastic, which will drain the liquid. From below, install a jar, plastic or glass bottle, in general, any convenient capacity. It is important to carefully monitor the flowing juice, and after filling the cans to cut the cut in the trunk with wax, garden wax.
It is worth noting that in sunny weather the birch "cries" faster than the cloudy one.
Beneficial features
Birch sap, and especially collected in remote locations from people and roads, has many useful properties. Doctors recommend in the spring to use at least one glass of valuable liquid per day. It helps to cope with spring weakness, depression, absent-mindedness and fatigue.
"Tears of birch" can boast of the ability to cure diseases of the stomach and liver, relieve headache and charity affect the state of the body as a whole. In addition, cosmetologists assure that washing with birch sap has a positive effect on the appearance of the skin, combating pigment spots and acne. For this you need not only to use the elixir, but also to wash it.
Preparation of birch sap
The preparation of birch sap at home is a simple and even interesting task. Most often the magic sweet liquid is preserved, but many also freeze "tears of birch". Due to the second method of storage of birch sap, it does not lose useful properties, as it happens during heat treatment, however we will consider both methods of billets.
Canning
The first recipe for birch sap is based on heat treatment. Unfortunately, with this method of preparing a tasty liquid, all vitamins and nutrients are lost, but the drink continues to be tasty.
For the preparation of birch sap at home, we will need:
- 7 liters of birch juice;
- 1 lemon;
- 1 orange;
- a sprig of dry mint (added to taste, however with this ingredient the drink will result in a more interesting aroma);
- 1 cup of granulated sugar.
Pour into a large saucepan sauce, add sugar. We put the drink on medium fire. As soon as the liquid begins to boil, collect all the foam from the juice with a spoon and remove it. If this is not done, a rolled-up jar with a delicious beverage will form a precipitate. After boiling, add half a lemon, a half orange (lemon and orange cut into slices) and a dry twig of mint, then reduce the heat to a minimum and leave for 10-12 minutes.
Before preparing the treasured juice it is necessary to sterilize the cans. It is important to do this especially carefully so that the drink does not deteriorate. Rinse with a clean sponge jar under hot water with soda, then sterilize glass containers in any convenient way for you. Bottles, if you decide to store birch sap in them, just rinse with hot water and soda.
As soon as the appointed time has come, the "tears of the birch" are prepared, we carefully filter them.
At the bottom of the prepared cans we spread the remaining half of lemon and orange (cut them into circles). Fill in a bowl of birch juice prepared at home, roll it up with a metal lid and put it upside down in a cold place.
If you store the juice in bottles, then prepare the lemon and orange for later placement on the bottom of the dishes can be cubes, chopsticks or any other medium-sized cut.
Freezing
Another way to prepare and store birch sap is to freeze. It is simple and practical. Thus, the drink does not lose valuable substances and vitamins useful for the body.
For this method you will only need birch juice in its pure form and bags or plastic bottles.
Fresh birch sap is poured into bottles and firmly clogged, placed in the freezer.
If you use packages, then they must be clean, new. Pour out the liquid in them better in small portions, 2 cups of drink per bag. All the air must be released, the package tightly closed and sent to the freezer.
"How to cook birch sap at home?" - at all times this issue was relevant. Ways and recipes for creating a delicious drink now exists a huge amount, and they are all unique and interesting in their own way. Of course, it would be great to try birch juice in all versions, but it's worth starting with a simple and at the same time delicious recipe.
Eating birch sap is useful and pleasant, because the drink is not only rich in valuable substances, but also has a thirsting effect and a wonderful taste.
