Birch sap is a very valuable and healthy drink that adults and children love. However, not many people know how it is collected, produced, and even more so how long birch sap is stored in the refrigerator. Let's figure out what birch sap is, find out its beneficial properties and storage conditions for a vitamin drink at home.
The collection of the vitamin drink begins in early spring, when the first signs of a thaw appear, and continues almost until the beginning of flowering.
On a note! The process of obtaining a healing liquid is based on flowing out of broken or cut branches and / or a tree trunk.
Under the action of root pressure, the accumulated liquid comes out. From one tree they get 2-3 liters of juice per day, and sometimes the productivity reaches 7-8 liters. In the middle of the last century, birch sap was especially popular. In the Soviet Union, it was the number one drink.
Due to its energy value and high vitamin content, it was recommended for use in preschool and educational institutions. The composition of the freshly harvested product includes:
- Sugar - 0.5-2.5%.
- Ash - 0.3%.
- Essential oils, vitamins B6 and B12, betulin, saponins - up to 15%.
- Water - 80-85%.
In addition, birch sap contains from 0.7 to 4.5 g/l of various dry mineral components and ash. The density of a freshly picked natural drink is 1.0007-1.0045 g/l. It is thanks to saponin, which is part of the healing liquid, that birch sap has many useful properties:
- In case of a sore throat, it is recommended to take birch sap with milk and starch.
- Digestive problems are also solved by lemon and birch water, taken in a 1:3 proportional ratio. In addition, birch sap improves the overall functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, relieves constipation and normalizes the excretion of feces.
- An unprocessed natural drink acts on a person as an anti-inflammatory agent for various colds.
- Functional disruption of the renal system can also be restored with birch sap. Very often, the drink is used as a diuretic.
Enumerate the usefulness of the Russian drink can be endless. No wonder in England and North America in recent years there has been an increased interest in this drink, which has surpassed the popularity of the traditional tonic - coconut water. However, the use of birch nectar can bring not only benefits, but also harm.
How to store birch sap?
It is advisable to use not plastic, but glass containers for storing birch liquid. You should know that you can store freshly picked juice in the refrigerator for no more than 5-7 days. After this period, birch water will become unpleasant in taste and lose its healing properties. Unfortunately, home conditions without the use of a refrigerator do not allow you to increase the shelf life of the drink. Already after 2-3 days at room temperature, the healing liquid oxidizes and begins to ferment, that is, it turns into poison.
However, there are certain technologies that allow processing stale products and making various alcohol-containing drinks from it. You can increase the shelf life of birch sap in the refrigerator up to 2-3 weeks with the help of sugar and citric acid:
- For one liter of fresh juice, ½ teaspoon of citric acid and 100 g of sugar are taken. All ingredients are mixed and sent to the refrigerator without sterilization.
An even more radical storage method is batch freezing of birch sap in a freezer:
- 2 tsp are added to the fermented juice (1 l). sugar, medium lemon zest and 5-6 pcs. raisins. This mixture is well corked and placed in the refrigerator for 10-14 days. After a precipitate has formed, the drink is filtered and sent to a cool place for 2-3 months. This method of storage allows you to get birch cider at the exit.
Attention! It is strictly forbidden to eat birch sap if mold has formed on the surface, or the sap has acquired a sharp unpleasant odor with visually detectable impurities.
Preservation of a natural product is the most correct solution that allows you to preserve useful vitamin and mineral supplements of a natural liquid for a long time.
We offer an interesting option on how to close birch sap in order to preserve its energy value for a long time:
- birch concentrate. At home, making a concentrate from birch sap is quite simple. The liquid is heated to 60 ºС and 75% of the total volume of the natural product is evaporated. However, for high-quality preparation of a sublimated product, it is better to use an autoclave.
- Sterilization. Before pouring the concentrate into containers, it is necessary to prepare glass containers. The heated concentrate to 80 degrees Celsius is poured into jars, covered with a tin lid and sterilized in a water bath for 20-30 minutes.
- The final stage is the preservation of the vitamin blank.
After cooling, such preservation can be stored not only in the refrigerator, but also in other places where the ambient temperature does not fall below zero.
How to roll up birch sap in order to keep the vitamin supply until the next season? It is very useful to preserve birch sap with needles:
- Rinse and scald pine buds with boiling water so that no wax coating remains on them.
- Coniferous shoots and birch sap are mixed in a copper basin.
- The whole mass is brought to a boil and boiled over low heat for 10-15 minutes.
- The future coniferous-birch sap is infused for 10-12 hours.
- After straining, sugar and citric acid are added to the liquid. If desired, to diversify the taste, you can add an orange or barberry.
- The whole mixture is brought to a boil and boiled for 3-5 minutes, after which it is poured into prepared sterilized jars, which are sealed.
Necessary ingredients for coniferous birch sap: 500 g of pine buds, 0.5 kg of sugar and 2 tsp are taken per 1 liter of birch sap. citric acid.
A very tasty and refreshing drink containing birch sap and mint is obtained. For 10 liters of a natural product, 50 g of dry mint is taken. All ingredients are mixed and brought to a boil. After infusion for 5-6 hours, sugar and citric acid are added to the resulting liquid. The product is preserved in the same way as coniferous birch sap.
On a note! Canned preparations of a vitamin drink can be supplemented with various components that will be useful for the body in the autumn-winter period.
In addition, you can prepare a canned preparation of birch vinegar for the winter. For 2 liters of juice, 100 g of vodka or diluted alcohol and 50 g of natural bee honey are taken. The ingredients are mixed together and put on ripening in a warm place. Homemade birch vinegar will be ready in 70-90 days. The product is bottled and stored in the refrigerator.
Birch sap recipes
Medicine has proven that if you drink a glass of birch sap during the day, it will help the body cope with spring weakness (avitaminosis), fatigue, absent-mindedness and other disorders of the nervous system. The recipes below will help restore digestion, stimulate the immune system, and also relieve a person of other symptomatic manifestations.
Recipe number 1. Birch kvass. One liter of birch sap is heated to a temperature of 35–40 ºС. 20 g of yeast and 5 pieces of raisins are added to the healing liquid, as well as, if desired, lemon or orange peel. The glass container is tightly sealed and sent for 2-3 weeks in a cool room. After this period, a very tasty and healthy carbonated drink is obtained, which is recommended to drink chilled.
Recipe number 2. Fruit juice. A simple but very tasty drink can be prepared on the basis of birch sap. All that is needed is to add any fruit juice to the original component.
Recipe number 3. Refreshing birch drink. For 10 liters of natural juice, you need a liter can of sugar and dried fruits, such as apples and / or pears. Birch liquid is poured into an enamel bowl and mixed with sugar. A gauze bag with dried fruits is lowered into the prepared mixture. The workpiece is covered with a lid and sent to infuse in a dry and cool place. Within 2-2.5 months, the drink matures, after which it is bottled. Such a refreshing drink is stored in the refrigerator and consumed if necessary. The proposed recipes will be useful for both adults and children.
"Birch tears". Five lemons are crushed and, together with the skin, but pitted, are mixed with 10 liters of birch. To the resulting mass is added 5 kg of sugar. Everything is mixed and left for two months in a dry, dark place. After maturation, 1 liter of vodka is added to the product. The drink is bottled and sent to the refrigerator for another 3 weeks. Such an alcoholic drink with pronounced lemon notes will appeal to true lovers of homemade creativity.
In addition to the recipes mentioned above, there are a great many different drinks, kvass, lemonades and non-alcoholic cocktails that can be prepared based on birch sap. To maintain the original freshness of natural birch sap, always store it in the refrigerator!
With the onset of spring warming, from about mid-March, they begin to collect birch sap. It is especially useful fresh. From which birch trees to take juice and how to do it right?
It is difficult to determine the period of the greatest activity of sap flow outwardly, but this is the time before the onset of bud formation. It depends on the temperature of the air, on the intensity of sunlight.
Sap flow occurs during the day, in the evening its intensity decreases.
Fresh birch sap is transparent. When mid-April comes and the juice collection decreases, it changes color, becomes brownish. This juice is very small, but it is delicious.
How to collect birch sap
Sap is taken from healthy birch trees with thick trunks (you can get more juice from such trees, and they themselves suffer less from the loss of juice). It is necessary to collect birch sap only in ecologically clean forests, because the tree is able to absorb harmful substances and exhaust gases. In no case should you take from roadside birches.
Drill holes or make a deep incision in the bark should not be close to the ground, but higher, approximately at a height of 1 meter. If the hole made in the tree is higher, then the wood then heals faster. Although it is more convenient to put the dishes on the ground and so that the hole is directly above it.
A tube or a wooden groove is inserted into the hole made at a slight downward slope. On this groove, the juice will drip into drops attached to a tree or a dish installed nearby.
Juice continues to flow from the hole, sometimes for several days, then it is delayed. From one large tree during this period of time you can get from 10 to 40 liters of juice. A large hole should not be made, it is dangerous for the birch, it can dry out.
When the secretion of juice decreases, the hole is clogged with a wooden (birch) peg and covered with wax or clay. If nothing like this is at hand, use forest moss.
It is useful to drink birch sap fresh, only collected. It cannot be stored for more than two or three days, otherwise the liquid drunk instead of healing properties can provoke indigestion. Be sure to cover the container with juice to prevent its oxidation, and put it in the refrigerator.
What is useful birch sap?
Medical studies have shown that taking at least one glass a day for 2-3 weeks (optimally drinking three glasses a day half an hour before meals) will help the body cope with spring weakness, beriberi, absent-mindedness, fatigue and depression.
Birch sap is contraindicated for those who are allergic to birch pollen. A large amount of birch sap is contraindicated for those who have kidney stones, and specifically oxalates. Since birch sap has a pronounced diuretic effect, it is able to push oxalate into the urinary tract.
Fresh birch sap heals stomach and duodenal ulcers, gallbladder, liver diseases, relieves headaches, treats scurvy, bronchitis, cough, and has a curative effect on rheumatism, sciatica, gout and arthritis. Also, birch sap is useful for skin diseases, it cleanses the blood, has a stimulating effect on metabolism, and flushes the kidneys. It is useful to drink three glasses during the day, 30 minutes before meals.
Birch sap can be preserved and consumed throughout the year. Although it loses its healing properties.
Birch sap storage recipes
How to cook birch kvass?
To preserve birch sap, kvass is prepared from it: heated to 35 degrees, 15-20 g of yeast and 3 raisins per 1 liter are added, lemon zest can be added to taste. After that, the jar or bottle is tightly closed and left for 1-2 weeks. It will turn out a very tasty, carbonated, invigorating drink!
Another recipe for kvass from birch sap: add the juice of 4 lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins at the rate of 2-3 pieces per bottle to 10 liters of birch sap. Pour into bottles and keep 1-2 weeks in a dark cool place.
How to preserve birch sap.
The easiest way is to pour the juice into enameled or stainless steel dishes and heat up to 80-90 degrees, pour into glass jars and roll up. Cover the jars with a thick cloth and leave overnight.
You can also use this recipe. Sugar (to taste) and citric acid are added to a saucepan with juice. Heat to a boil to completely dissolve the sugar. Hot juice is poured into jars. Jars sealed with sterilized lids are kept for additional pasteurization in water at a temperature of 90 degrees for 15 minutes.
Birch sap is preserved with pine needles. Take fresh summer shoots of pine needles. They are washed well, scalded with boiling water to wash off the wax coating, and washed again, first with hot, and then with cold water. 2.5-3 kilograms of such needles are placed in a vessel with a capacity of 50 liters. Fresh birch sap should be filtered, heated to 80 ° C and filled with needles to the top. Infuse juice with needles for 6-7 hours. Then drain the juice, strain, add 5 percent sugar and 0.1-0.2 percent citric acid. Pour the juice into jars and, after corking with sterilized lids, pasteurize at 90-95°C for 25 minutes.
Birch sap on mint. For 50 liters of juice, take 70-100 grams of dry mint, pour it with juice and leave for 5-6 hours. Canned in the same way as birch sap with pine needles.
Very tasty and healthy birch sap with honey, decoction of wild rose, hawthorn, lemon balm.
With the onset of spring warming, approximately from mid-March, they begin to collect birch sap. We especially need it fresh. From which birch trees to take juice and how to do it right?
It is difficult to find out the period of the greatest activity of sap flow from the outside, but this is the time before the formation of kidneys. It depends on the temperature of the air, on the intensity of sunlight.
Sap flow occurs during the day, in the evening its intensity decreases.
Fresh birch sap is transparent. While the sap is coming and the middle of April is decreasing, it changes color, becomes brownish. This juice is small, but it is delicious.
How to collect birch sap
Sap is taken from healthy birch trees with thick trunks (it is possible to take more juice from such trees, and they themselves suffer less from the loss of juice). It is necessary to collect birch sap only in ecologically clean forests, because the tree is able to absorb exhaust gases and harmful substances. In no case should you take from roadside birches.
Drill holes or make a deep incision in the bark not close to the soil, but higher, approximately at a height of 1 meter. If the hole made in the tree is higher, then the wood then heals faster. It is advisable to put the dishes on the ground and so that the hole is directly above it.
A tube or a wood groove is inserted into the hole made at a slight downward slope. On this groove, the juice will drip into drops attached to a tree or a dish installed nearby.
Juice flows out of the hole from time to time for a couple of days, later it is tightened. From one huge tree during this period of time it is possible to get from 10 to 40 liters of juice. You don’t need to make a huge hole, it’s scary for a birch, it can dry out.
While the secretion of juice decreases, the hole is clogged with a wooden (birch) peg and covered with wax or clay. If nothing like this is at hand, use forest moss.
It is useful to drink birch sap fresh, only collected. It is forbidden to store it for more than two or three days, otherwise the liquid drunk instead of healing features can cause a stomach disorder.
Be sure to cover the container with juice to prevent its oxidation, and put it in the refrigerator.
Why do you need birch sap?
Medical studies have shown that taking at least one glass a day for 2-3 weeks (optimally drinking three glasses a day half an hour before meals) will help the body with spring weakness, beriberi, absent-mindedness, depression and fatigue.
Birch sap is contraindicated for those who are allergic to birch pollen. A lot of birch sap is contraindicated for those who have kidney stones, and specifically oxalates. Since birch sap has a pronounced diuretic effect, it is able to push oxalate into the urinary tract.
Fresh birch sap heals duodenal and stomach ulcers, gallbladder, liver diseases, relieves headaches, treats scurvy, bronchitis, cough, and has a curative effect on rheumatism, sciatica, gout and arthritis. Also, birch sap is needed for skin diseases, it cleanses the blood, has a stimulating effect on metabolism, and flushes the kidneys.
It is useful to drink three glasses during the day, 30 minutes before meals.
Birch sap can be preserved and consumed throughout the year. Despite the fact that he loses his own healing features.
Birch sap storage recipes
How to cook birch kvass?
To preserve birch sap, kvass is prepared from it: heated to 35 degrees, 15-20 g of raisins and 3 yeast per 1 liter are added, lemon zest can be added to taste. Then the jar or bottle is well closed and left for 10-15 days. It will turn out to be a very tasty, carbonated, invigorating drink!
The second recipe for kvass from birch sap: to 10 liters of birch sap add the juice of 4 lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins at the rate of 2-3 things per bottle. Pour into bottles and keep 1-2 seven days in a black cool place.
How to preserve birch sap.
The easiest way is to pour the juice into enameled or stainless steel dishes and heat up to 80-90 degrees, pour into glass jars and roll up. Cover the jars with a thick cloth and leave overnight.
You can also use this recipe. Add sugar (to taste) and citric acid to a saucepan with juice. Heat to a boil to completely dissolve the sugar. Warm juice is poured into jars. Jars sealed with sterilized lids are kept for additional pasteurization in water at a temperature of 90 degrees for 15 minutes.
Birch sap is preserved with pine needles. Take fresh summer shoots of pine needles. They are washed well, scalded with boiling water to wash off the wax coating, and washed again, first with hot, and then with cold water. In a vessel with a capacity of 50 liters, put 2.5-3 kilograms of such needles. Strain fresh birch sap, heat it up to 80 ° C and fill it with needles to the top. Infuse juice with needles for 6-7 hours. Then drain the juice, strain, add 5 percent sugar and 0.1-0.2 percent citric acid. Pour the juice into jars and, after corking with sterilized lids, pasteurize at 90-95°C for 25 minutes.
Birch sap on mint.
For 50 liters of juice, take 70-100 grams of dry mint, pour it with juice and leave for 5-6 hours. Canned in the same way as birch sap with pine needles.
Very tasty and necessary birch sap with honey, decoction of wild rose, hawthorn, lemon balm.
Birch sap is a clear liquid that flows out of cut or broken birch trunks and branches under the action of root pressure. Sap flow begins in the spring with the first thaws and continues until the buds open. The exact period of release of birch sap is difficult to establish, because it depends on weather conditions. For example, if during the March thaw the juice has already begun to flow and frost suddenly hits here, then it may stop flowing for some time.
However, as a rule, the juice begins to run around mid-March, when the snow melts and the buds swell. To determine the beginning of sap flow, it is enough to go out into the forest and make an injection on a birch as thick as a hand with a thin awl, if the juice has gone, then a drop of juice will immediately come out at the puncture point, you can start collecting and harvesting it. Collecting juice is stopped in the second half of April, when the leaves are already blooming.
The most intensive sap flow through the tree occurs in the light half of the day, so it is better to start collecting in the morning, at night the juice "falls asleep". The best time to collect the juice will be between 10.00 and 18.00, when it flows most strongly. The number of holes that are recommended to be made depends on the diameter of the tree, if 20-25 cm - then only one, with a volume of 25-35 cm - two, with 35-40 - three, and if the diameter is more than 40 cm - it is quite possible to make four holes.
The collection of birch sap should be started in the most sun-warmed places, where the birch wakes up even if there is still snow around. As the forest warms up, one should move deeper into the thicket, to where the forest wakes up later than on the southern edge. Usually, 2-3 liters of juice per day are obtained from a birch. A large tree can produce about 7 liters of juice per day, and sometimes more. It is preferable to collect the sap where the felling is planned, and it is not recommended to take it from young trees.
Due to the fact that birch roots go far into the ground, it does not absorb poisons from the surface layer of the soil. Therefore, all places where birch grows are equally good for collecting sap, but it is still better to collect sap, attention, only in ecologically clean forests, because the tree itself is able to absorb harmful substances and exhaust gases.
How to extract birch sap.
The choice of dishes for collecting and storing birch sap must be approached selectively. In the old days, birch sap was collected in special boxes made of birch bark, it was believed that in them it retains its properties better. But it is quite possible to collect juice in ordinary glass jars or even in plastic bottles, but remember that chemistry can give the juice its specific flavor, and sometimes it dissolves in it itself.
Juice is usually obtained by cutting, cutting or drilling the bark of a tree, the diameter of which is not less than 20 cm, with a well-developed crown. It is better to make a slot or a hole in the trunk from the south side of the tree, where the sap flow is more active, at a distance of 40-50 cm from the ground, downward (the movement of your knife should be from the bottom up), the depth of the hole is 2-3 cm to penetrate under the dead bark, and if the birch is very thick, then even deeper. An aluminum, plastic groove, birch bark tray or other semicircular device is inserted into the slot, through which the juice flows into the container. Sometimes the juice is extracted by cutting off small branches and attaching a plastic bag to the place of the cut.
No need to strive to "Drain" all the juice from one tree, it compensates for some of it, but if you bleed the tree completely, it can dry out. It is better to take a liter of juice per day from 5-10 trees than to take 5 liters from one, dooming it to death. After the collection of birch sap is over, it is necessary to take care of the tree itself and tightly close the holes made with wax, cork or moss so that bacteria do not get into the trunk, which can seriously threaten the life of the tree. After birch trees are cut, sap collection can be organized from stumps.
How to store birch sap.
In the event that you do not want to drink the juice immediately, but want to keep it longer, pour it into a glass jar and refrigerate. So the drink will be less oxidized, that is, spoil. However, it is better not to store the juice for longer than 2-3 days, otherwise it will ferment and turn from healing nectar into poison. But if you preserve the juice, then it will stand for a few more months. A few recipes:
Fresh birch sap is fermented in glass containers of any volume. After washing with hot (preferably boiled) water, they are filled with fresh juice. For every half liter, add an incomplete teaspoon of ordinary or glucose sugar, 2-3 raisins washed in cold boiled water, and if you like, a little lemon zest. The container is closed with a cork or lid and secured with wire or bandages. The pressure of carbon dioxide during fermentation is quite high, and so that the glass does not burst, putting more than the indicated amount of sugar is not recommended. After a few days, you will have a pleasant-tasting, sour, highly carbonated drink.
To preserve the juice, heat it in an enamel bowl to a temperature of 80 degrees. Pour into glass bottles and jars. Fill almost to the top and cork with lids, and bottles with corks, followed by grinding. Then soak for 15 - 20 minutes in water at 85 degrees for pasteurization.
To preserve birch sap, kvass is made from it. Heat up to 35 degrees, add 15-20 g of yeast and 3 raisins per 1 liter, you can add lemon zest to taste. After that, the jar or bottle is tightly closed and left for 1-2 weeks.
Kvass can be cooked differently. To 10 liters of birch sap add the juice of 4 lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins at the rate of 2-3 pieces per bottle. Pour into bottles and keep 1-2 weeks in a dark cool place. Kvass can be ready already in 5 days, but the fact that it stays longer will not spoil the drink, it can be stored for the whole summer.
Another kvass recipe. A bag with burnt crusts of rye bread is lowered on a rope into a barrel with birch sap. After two days, yeast will pass from the crusts into the juice and fermentation will begin. Then a bucket of oak bark is poured into the barrel as a preservative and tanning agent, and for aroma - cherries (berries or leaves) and dill stalks. After two weeks, kvass is ready, it can be stored all winter.
Our ancestors drank birch sap fermented in barrels without added sugar - it was a traditional low-alcohol drink at Russian feasts. Birch juice itself is a pleasant, refreshing and strengthening drink for the body, but you can add juice of chokeberry, lingonberry, blueberry to it or insist on various herbs (thyme, chamomile, cumin, linden flowers, rose hips) in a jar covered with gauze for about 2 weeks . You can add to it infusions of St. John's wort, mint, lemon balm, pine needles, cherry juice, apples, currants.
Birch sap can be evaporated to a syrup containing 60% sugar. This syrup has a lemon-white color and the density of honey.
Belarusian drink. Pour the juice into a large bottle and put in a dark, cool place for 2-3 days. Then barley malt or toasted crushed crackers are added to it. For 5 liters of birch sap - 30 gr. Barley malt or breadcrumbs.
Balm is also prepared from birch sap. For a bucket of juice, you need 3 kg of sugar, 2 liters of wine and 4 finely chopped lemons. All this must be put to ferment for two months in the cellar, and then bottled and kept for another three weeks.
Medicinal properties of birch sap.
Birch sap contains organic acids, tannins, minerals, iron, potassium, calcium, glucose, fructose, phytoncides. The use of birch sap promotes the breakdown of stones in the bladder and kidneys, cleanses the blood, enhances metabolic processes, and removes harmful substances from the body in case of infectious diseases. It is useful to drink juice for stomach ulcers, diseases of the liver, duodenum, gallbladder, low acidity, sciatica, rheumatism, arthritis, bronchitis, tuberculosis, scurvy, headache and sexually transmitted diseases.
Birch sap increases the body's resistance to colds, infectious and allergic diseases, has an anthelmintic, diuretic, antitumor effect, birch sap is useful to wipe the skin with eczema, acne, to moisturize and cleanse dry skin. It is very good to apply the following mask on the skin of the face: mix 1 tbsp. l. sour cream with 2 tbsp. l. birch sap and 1 tsp. honey. You need to keep such a mask for about 15 minutes, rinse with cool water, the skin after it will acquire a beautiful matte shade.
It is also useful to wash hair with birch sap in case of dandruff, to enhance their growth and the appearance of shine and softness (an infusion of birch leaves has the same property. Birch sap is a good remedy for impotence. Birch "Tears" work very well for people during menopause, if you drink even a glass of juice a day, then drowsiness, fatigue, irritability and other accompanying menopause phenomena will disappear.
The systematic intake of birch sap has a general strengthening and tonic effect. Birch sap is contraindicated for those who are allergic to birch pollen. For medicinal purposes, birch sap should be drunk fresh. It is recommended to take 1 glass 3 times a day 20-30 minutes before meals for 2-3 weeks.
Good day, friends! Do you know that birch sap is very useful and is used in cosmetology and for weight loss? It was my favorite drink as a child. They begin to collect it in the spring and close it in jars.
In this regard, many are interested in what is its use, how to collect and how much birch sap is stored in the refrigerator. Let's try to find out the answer to this question in more detail.
First, let's find out what the benefits of this drink are. Due to the excellent vitamin content and high energy value, jays are recommended for use in children's and preschool institutions.
The product contains sugar, ash, essential oils, saponin, vitamins of the group and B 6, as well as water.
It is worth noting the following useful properties of the drink:
- In diseases of the throat, it is recommended to take it with milk.
- For digestive problems, you can add a little lemon to the juice. This drink is effective for constipation.
- This product is recommended for various inflammatory processes.
- Used for disorders of the renal system.
Interestingly, in recent years this drink has become especially popular in America and England. But remember that birch water can also cause some harm.
It should not be drunk for people with chronic diseases of the stomach, as well as in the presence of allergies.
Juice is also used in cosmetology. It is effective, so it is rubbed into the skin and then the hair is washed with water.
Hair will be less greasy and grow faster.
If there is acne, then birch water can wipe the skin of the face. To do this, you can use frozen juice in ice cubes.
As a result, the skin will become more elastic.
Properly collected juice is obtained from an incised tree trunk and from broken branches. Under the pressure of the root pressure, the liquid comes out.
From one tree you can get up to a day 2-3 liters.
How to store birch sap
Now we will find out how you can store birch sap at home. First of all, only glass containers are suitable for storage.
For two or three days, the drink retains all its useful properties, and then it deteriorates without a refrigerator.
It may be in the refrigerator. no more than 7 days.
After this time, birch water becomes not so pleasant to the taste.
To increase the shelf life of the drink in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks, you can add sugar and citric acid to it.
At the same time, half a teaspoon of citric acid and 100 grams of sugar are taken per liter of drink.
All ingredients are mixed, and the composition is sent to a cold place. It does not require sterilization.
Also, the juice can be stored frozen in special bags, and an excellent cider is made from the fermented product.
In a cold cellar or in the snow near the house, the product can be stored for two weeks.
But at the same time, the sun's rays should not fall on the container.
How to determine the condition of the product
If you decide to put the juice in storage, then you will definitely need knowledge of how to determine the condition of the product.
Since even a frozen drink can go bad if the freezer malfunctions.
It is especially necessary to track the condition of the product when stored in a refrigerator or in a cellar.
Here are the typical signs of a poor-quality drink:
- Weigh. If the sediment is at the bottom, then this is normal for good juice. And if it is distributed throughout the container, then this is a sign of fermentation. If the lid is swollen, then you can not drink the drink.
- Mold. If mold appears, then the juice is unusable. Even a small amount of it in a drink indicates the presence of harmful toxins.
- presence of vinegar. Transparency is not always an indication of the good condition of the product. The solution can become transparent even at the stage of vinegar formation.
In order for the product to be stored in the refrigerator for a long time, you need to know how conservation is done.
Freeze usage
To preserve the juice, a method such as freezing is used. Even after the freezer, the drink retains its medicinal and taste qualities. Freezing should be done in small batches.
After defrosting, the product must be used immediately, as thawed products lose their healing properties very quickly and deteriorate.
A thawed drink can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.
To freeze, do the following. Pour the prepared product into bags and place in the freezer.
Follow these rules:
- Packages must be tight. You can insert one into the other.
- Each container should contain no more than 0.5 liters of drink.
- Tie tightly so that there is no leakage.
- You need to place it so that the juice can fill the widest part of the bag with a thin layer.
This method is suitable for long-term storage of perishable products. Frozen products with high-quality tightness can be stored for 3 to 5 years.
conservation methods
Now let's figure out how to close a canned product.
Here are the main ways to preserve delicious wood liquid:
- Fermentation. This recipe with raisins is made from three liters of juice, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a handful of raisins. First sterilize the jar, then pour the juice into it, add sugar and put the washed raisins. Cover the jar with a plastic lid. Put the container in a warm place, and after three days the mixture will ferment. You can store such a drink for 10-15 days.
- Pasteurization. First, heat the drink in a saucepan to 80 degrees. Pour it into hot and sterilized jars. Cover with lids and place in a water bath. Pasteurization should last 30 minutes. Then the jars are closed with lids, and after they have cooled, they are placed in the cellar.
- Kvass with yeast. Per liter you need to take 15 grams of yeast and 5 raisins. Heat the drink in a saucepan to 40 degrees. Then add raisins and yeast to the drink. Pour into jars and store in a cool place. This juice can be stored for up to six months.
- Russian balm. For adults, you can prepare an intoxicating drink. 10 liters of juice need to be heated, and then pour 3 kg of sugar and 2 liters of dry wine into it. Lemons are cut along with the peel and added to the mixture. The vessel must be closed with gauze and put in the refrigerator for 60 days. The liquid is then filtered and bottled. After 20 days the product is ready.
Consider another juice preservation option:
- First, a concentrate is made. To do this, the liquid must be heated and evaporated 75% of the total volume.
- The hot concentrate is poured into jars, which are sterilized in a water bath for 30 minutes.
Such preservation is stored even at room temperature.
Popular Recipes
The effectiveness of birch sap increases when combined with other products.
Consider some recipes:
- You can add lingonberries to the juice. To do this, juice is squeezed out of 150 g of berries and boiled in a water bath for about 5 minutes. A birch drink is added to the strained broth. You can make it with honey.
- Birch water with the addition of mountain ash has a diuretic and laxative effect. It also helps with rheumatism and kidney stones. To make the drink even more healthy, add lemon juice to it.
- Here is another recipe for a healing drink. Grind 6 lemons through a meat grinder and add a liter of juice to them. The composition should stand for 2 days in the refrigerator. Then boil it until the volume is reduced by 2 times.
- To prepare a refreshing drink, you need to put 1 kg of sugar on a bucket of juice. Then add dried pears and apples to the juice, which should be tied in gauze. The container must be placed in the cellar for maturation.
- Roasted golden barley is also added to the juice. 2 spoons per liter of juice. The composition is placed in the cellar for a month.
Now you know all the secrets of storing this miraculous drink and you can enjoy its amazing taste for a long time.
If you want to supplement the information with interesting facts or useful tips - write in the comments.
Drink to your health and see you soon!
