Lenten birch menu

Text Kristel Vilbaste
Photos Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Blackbird
 
On Thursday, March 20, spring began. For us here in Tartu with 10 centimetres of  snow cover and a blistering minus 5 degrees of cold, that after last week’s pleasant spring weather jumped at one’s nose.
 
But regardless of the snow, there is no turning back of time and spring can begin.
 
On the backdrop of snow blackbirds were the most eye-catching, with their black feather coats and bright golden beaks. And the angry-sneering cries if I on stepping out chased them off from their feeding ground that is cleared of snow. Because blackbirds can truly be described as rooting miniature wild boars. Using wings, legs and beak they skilfully clear  the ground from thick snow, picking out from among the leaves hundreds of snail shells. On their action area there is plenty of snail shell debris, but also other birds – robins, wrens – who enjoy the upturned ground as a paradise garden.
 
Thick new snow falling on such a lark winter or already thawed ground occurs every two-three years. Most winged migrants quietly move back beyond the snow line; some stay here because the March-time warmth at midday entices insects to come out again.
 
Black grouse on lekking ground
 
The black grouse lek is especially beautiful against the background of white snow, all wing streaks and wing fan traces are now clearly outlined on the snow. And the breath of the birds rising as a mist from their lek cries into the red sunrise is also bewitching.
But most special in spring is still  the magic of the opening buds. This, how a tiny sleeping bud suddenly becomes a resinous thing yearning for spring and bursting with desire to live. How it swells and swells, stretches its green nose out from inside the bud scales and in a few weeks nature manages to conjure a palm-sized new leaf out of it. How is this possible?
 
We can learn in school about rising and descending flows, osmosis and concentration differences, light amount and warmth that sets the whole of a plant going. But all the same it seems that somewhere trees have a brain that tells them at some point – better start growing now. Something starts sucking water out of the ground and sending sweet sap up into the buds. How does the tree know that it is the right time? And when a birch is felled in spring, why then does sap still flow from the stump for a  long while?
 
This time I will write just about birch sap. Because for tapping birch sap now is the best moment, not later.
 
Birch sap flows
 
Drinking birch sap is an ancient custom in Estonia but the methods to get this spring pick-me-up have varied through the ages.
 
In my childhood  the custom was to drill a new hole in a large old ”sap birch”, with a diameter of 2 cm and depth 5 cm, and let the sweet sap flow from the tree through a spout into a bucket covered with cheesecloth. Each morning the bucket was full and in fact nobody managed to drink it all.
 
10 years ago however forestry people taught us that the simplest way was to drill a narrow hole at about 2 metres height and from there conduct the sap directly into canisters, by enema tubes that could be bought in pharmacies. Higher up the sap would be sweeter. And from birches growing high up on a hillside the sap will be sweeter too.
 
Into the same canister blackcurrant twigs, a lemon half, some slices of bread and raisins were added,  and the whole was allowed to ferment. Stored in cold it was a real energy drink until Midsummer on long motor trips.
 
But this time I will share with you a one hundred years old recipe. The book ”Kodumaa marjad – Native fruits” from the end of the 18th century by Wormsi inhabitant Jaan Spuhl-Rotalia says as follows: ”Birch sap is collected at the end of March – beginning of April, before the leaf buds open, but when the ground around the birch roots already has thawed. For this a 6 centimetres deep hole, the size of a goose feather, is drilled with a fine drill into the southern side of the birch trunk, so that the hole is tilted slightly upwards. Into this hole a goose feather shaft is placed, with both ends cut open, or a stick made of willow, the upper surface of which is hollowed out like a trough, by which the sap can drip into a bottle or other vessel placed under it. From a strong birch 8-10 toopi sap can be taken, but only every third year. As soon as the sap is taken, the hole must be carefully closed with a stick made of dry wood and coated with wax. If the hole is left unstoppered sap will flow until the end of spring and the tree will decline. Taking sap must not last too long because of this: the hole must be stoppered well before the opening of the buds. The sap collected each day should be poured into a clean cask or bottles and left securely stoppered in a cool place until a suitable amount has been collected.”
 
The recipe for champagne made from birch sap and recommended by Spuhl–Rotalia is exciting too. Exactly champagne because bubbly drink in the glass was appreciated by country people too. For this the sap from three birches is needed or about 30 litres of birch sap. It is put to boil with 4 kilos of sugar in a copper kettle. Boil for about half an hour, skimming off any foam that rises on top. After this strain through a linen cloth. The cooled liquid is poured into a beer cask with 4 tablespoons of warmed brewer’s yeast so that there will be space for the fermenting. It must also be said that for this volume it is recommended to add little by little during the fermentation 5 litres of good French wine or 2,5 litres of brandy, along with 4 peeled and sliced lemons. When the fermentation is finished the cask, filled to the brim, is securely stoppered and put in the cellar for four weeks. Then the drink is mixed with 2 teaspoons of blackcurrant syrup is drawn into champagne bottles with corks and wires and kept in the cellar standing upright in sand. The drink is said to foam in the glasses quite like real champagne.
 
Birch buds
 
Who doesn’t want to play around with birch sap can make a spring pick-me-up from birch buds. For picking them all kinds of stratagems have been thought out, to get a bigger harvest. But there is nothing more pleasant than fingertips fragrant from birch resin after picking buds. It is worthwhile picking buds from birches roughly your own height in a field ready for clearing, or from under power lines.
 
1 teaspoon of birch buds in a glass of hot water per day flushes away waste products accumulated in the body during winter and is an entirely appropriate drink in the Lenten period. In addition it makes the whole digestive tract work better. But no herbal treatments should be used for longer than two weeks, or there might be more harm than help.
 
An enjoyable birch Lent!


 

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