Category: Birch Syrup

Birch sap flows for three weeks in February/March. A typical tree will run for 8-10 days so you can add extra trees as the first start to dry up.

Turning sap in to syrup involves concentrating the sugars in the sap by removing water. Since the fresh sap is around 1% sugar and syrup should be >60% sugar, 100 litres of sap will yield around 1 litre of syrup. This is a lot of water to boil off!

Birch is the third most common broadleaf tree in Wales. Forestry Statistics for 2019 estimate that 2,000 ha of the Welsh Government Forest Estate (NRW) and 11,000 ha of private woodland is dominated by birch. However, in Wales birch is generally considered to have little or no commercial value and is seldom actively managed.