Expensive Aggie: A buddy gave me some birch syrup. Is it much like maple syrup?
Birch syrup is a cousin of maple syrup and is often derived from white or yellow birch. Most bushes have a candy sap that may be made into syrup. Maple syrup is the commonest due to its taste, the abundance of sugar maple bushes, and since the sap has the next sugar content material than different species. Due to this fact, much less sap must be boiled right down to create syrup.
Birch bushes are tapped and the sap is collected in the identical manner maple sap is collected. Since birch sap shouldn’t be as candy it takes about 70 gallons to make one gallon of syrup. About 35 gallons of maple sap will yield one gallon of syrup. Because of this, birch syrup is much less widespread since extra time and power are wanted to boil down the sap. The flavour is usually described as much like caramel, honey, or molasses with a spicy and acidic aftertaste.
Syrup will also be constructed from a number of different native tree species. Not too long ago there was elevated experimentation and demand for syrup flavors past maple. Black walnut syrup is turning into extra widespread. The flavour is nutty, wealthy, and considerably bitter. Maple-walnut syrups are extremely popular. Butternut sap has about the identical sugar focus as maple sap. The syrup has a nutty style with fruity overtones.
Beech syrup has a darkish caramel-raisin taste and makes a great substitute for molasses. Sycamore sap boils right down to a light-yellow coloration and has the flavour of butterscotch. Different species which are appropriate for tapping embody basswood, alder, and ironwood. Remember that past maple, walnut, and butternut, the opposite species have a decrease sugar content material of their sap. Far more sap have to be collected and boiled to make syrup.
Different tree syrups that aren’t derived from sap embody pine syrup which is constructed from the younger, tender needles on the tip of branches. Collected within the spring, the ideas are steeped in a sugar answer; the ensuing liquid is then strained and generally utilized in cocktails.
Shagbark hickory syrup is constructed from bark. In case you are acquainted with shagbark hickory the bark is shed in lengthy plates. These are collected, cleaned, and roasted; a tea is then extracted. For the reason that bark comprises no sugar, the tea is blended with a easy sugar answer to create a smoky-flavored syrup.
Written by Sue Gwise, horticulture educator.