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Birch Sap Wine
Ingredients
1 gallon birch sap
2 lemons
1 sweet orange
½ lb. raisins
3 lb. white sugar
1 seville orange
Yeast
Method
Peel the oranges and lemons thinly, avoiding the white pith. Boil the peels in the birch sap for twenty minutes, adding more water if necessary to restore the original volume, and then pour into a jug containing the sugar and chopped raisins. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and when cool add the yeast and fruit juice. Cover the jug with a thick cloth and keep in a warm room until fermentation ceases. Strain through muslin and store in a filled and sealed jar for six months. Syphon off the wine without disturbing the yeast deposit and bottle. Cork tightly, wire and store the bottles on their sides for at least a year before sampling.
Another recipe recommends replacing the orange with two dozen young birch leaves and this wine is said to recapture the lemony fragrance of a birch wood on a showery spring day. Sycamore- and walnut-sap wines may also be made in the same manner.
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