Birch Syrup…a Sticky Business
Posted by Mark Busse on Monday, August 10th, 2009Tags for this Article: bc, birch syrup, maple syrup, mark busse, Quesnel, Sweet Tree Ventures
On our recent drive up to Clinton, BC to visit our lambs at Cutter Ranch we stopped at a roadside store to buy some local produce, dairy, and meat for the weekend. While browsing the shelves, something called birch syrup caught my attention. The friendly woman behind the counter offered up a spoon to taste and I was immediately hooked. I had to have some.
I love maple syrup and cook with it often, but I’ve never tasted birch syrup and don’t think I’ve ever seen it at local stores. Maybe I just wasn’t looking? The jar I picked up was from Sweet Tree Ventures, a family-run 2000 acre ranch in Quesnel, BC—one of the few birch syrup producers in BC as most comes from Alaska and Yukon. I understand that harvesting and producing syrup must be a sticky, time-consuming business and likely difficult to do profitably, but aren’t birch trees quite common in BC? What’s the problem?
According the Sweet Tree’s website, birch syrup is not only sustainable, but is an all-natural and delicious product. Similar to its cousin maple syrup, birch syrup is produced by collecting tree sap and concentrating it by evaporation into a dark, thick syrup. But that’s where the similarity ends.
Whereas maple syrup takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, with birch syrup the ratio is 100 to 1. Birch syrup is predominantly fructose-based, so it tastes less sweet and is easier to digest than maple syrup, which is primarily sucrose. And birch syrup contains many more vitamins and minerals than maple.
When we used it to glaze local garlic scapes with dinner, we were really pleased with the rich, spicy, woody flavour— really rather incomparable to maple syrup. I can’t wait to try it in sauces or dressings, as a glaze on pork chops, or drizzled on top of ice cream.
They have it at Edible BC on GI. I had some the other day and they recommended it mixed with a smoky whisky as a sauce for ribs.
I’ve tried it at a couple of food tastings and have been delighted by it. While it is sweeter, I find the flavour to be more complex. Degan’s whisky & birch syrup idea sounds fantastic! Perhaps on salmon… mmmm
Thanks for the inspiration Degan.
As I type this I have a good dose of birch syrup mixed with of small handful of shallots, dab of butter, another dab of whole grain dijon mustard, a splash of chicken stock, a gush of orange-banana-strawberry juice, a sprinkle of chilies, a pinch of S&P, and a glug of smokey Laphroaig scotch whiskey, thickening in preparation for glazing my pan roasted pork tenderloin.
Smells and tastes like heaven I tells ya.
oh yum, that sounds good.
Mmmmm,Im going to try the whiskey. We are up in Northern BC and tapped our own trees last spring, we ordered the birch tapping manual from Moose Meadows.Check out their agrotourism business. While I love it on salmon and over icecream with ripe berries my favorite is in a vinaigrette dressing!
Just wonderful comments about birch syrup. We know Laura and Gerry of Sweet Tree Ventures and they too make a fantastic product. It is an exciting time for non-timber forest products and agroforestry. Birch syrup fits right into these 2 emerging sectors. It is fun to do, great to use, delicious to taste and a great way to generate some income. Any questions about birch syrup… just ask. We are hoping that some standards for birch syrup production will be forthcoming to assist all producers make a better and safer product. Cheers, Heloise Dixon-Warren
Thanks for the inspirational comments about Sweet Tree’s syrup. We are very excited about the product and being a farm girl I am always trying new things in the kitchen. A Spicy Birch Barbecue Sauce is our newest creation. Great on chicken, ribs, salmon etc. Check out our website at http://www.sweettreeventures.com. Regards Laura
WHERE CAN I PURCHASE SOME BIRCH SYRUP?
Birch syrup can be purchased directly from the producers – there are 3 in BC. The important thing about purchasing birch syrup is to become informed and ask the right questions. Birch Syrup is sold either PURE or as a BLENDED; the latter where fructose / sucrose or another sweetener is added to concentrated sap to bring the sugar density to about 66 deg. Brix. Adding a stabiliser (e.g. sugars) is quite an acceptable method but it does result in a milder, less bold, and often sweeter product. Unfortunately, not all producers state whether their birch syurp is bold or not as they do not include a list of ingredients. Looking forward to chatting about birch syup!
If you like the syrup, then you have got to try the birch wine & the birch vodka from http://www.sapworld.ca Tell Craig that Dwight sent you. Cheers
I have to agree with Dwight (above). We’ve tried Sapworld’s “Lady of the Woods” and it was fantastic!
if you are in Manitoba then we are the producers in that Province. check out our web site at http://www.rockylakebirch.com. we have retail outlets throughtout the Province
Thank Dwight:) Hello to all. It is wonderful to see people talking about birch. After 7 years of research and seeing this industry moving forward it is inspiring to know that we are all doing well. You can look forward to getting birch syrup from Newfoundland next year:) Craig CEO Sap World.