From time immemorial, white trees were revered in Russia not only for their beauty, but also for that healthy juice, which they gladly share with people. Birch "tears" help strengthen the immune system, perfectly quench thirst and help get rid of many diseases. To get a truly healing nectar, you need to know how to collect birch sap, in what period it should be done and how to properly store the drink so that it remains useful longer.

When birch sap is harvested

The exact date for the appearance of birch sap depends on the region of the country and the weather conditions in each particular year.

Approximately after the spring equinox, which occurs on March 20 or 21, you can go to the grove to check whether sap flow in the white-headed trees has begun. To do this, you need to bring along a thin awl, which must carefully pierce the birch bark. If a drop of juice has appeared, it means that the process has begun and you can begin to collect the healing birch bark.

 

Experienced pickers know that the period during which you can get the greatest amount of juice is very short. It is necessary to have time to stock up on a healthy drink from the moment the swollen buds appear and until the leaves bloom on the trees.

In addition, the fastest juice goes in the daytime: from noon to six in the evening. But then the trees “fall asleep” and not so generously give their nectar.

How to collect a healthy drink without harm to the tree

Nature shares healing properties with us completely free of charge. We must value gifts, taking maximum care of fragile and vulnerable trees.

Juice collection cannot be carried out rashly, the only goal is to get as much drink as possible. Care must be taken not to harm nature.

 

How to collect birch sap?

    1. Choose not too young and not too old tree, with a trunk diameter of at least 20 cm.
    2. Make a shallow hole, given that the juice goes between the bark and the trunk. The distance from the ground is 20 - 25 cm, the depth of the gap is 3 - 5 cm.

Important! No need to use an ax, it is better to use a drill with a small diameter nozzle.

  1. One tree does not have to make many holes. With a trunk diameter of 25 cm, only one is allowed, from 30 to 35 cm - two, from 35 to 40 - three holes, for thicker trees - a maximum of four.
  2. In the slot made (or underneath) it is necessary to place a device through which the juice can be dug into the container installed from below - a plastic bottle, a plastic bag, a glass jar, a canister. This can be a wooden gutter, a polyethylene tube, a bundle of dry grass, or other improvised materials.
  3. Do not be lazy, you should go around more trees to collect one liter per day from each, and not completely dry one birch. All juice is unacceptable to drain, it will kill the tree. Therefore, the collection should be stopped in the evening.
  4. Be sure to close the hole after collecting the birch. To do this, you can use moss, clay, wax, a wooden cork.

 

Observing these simple rules, you can not only profit from healthy nectar, but also maintain healthy white trees that will be able to treat people with healing juice next year.

Is it possible to collect birch sap in urban areas

All trees, and Russian beauties in particular, are very sensitive to changes in the environment. They absorb literally all the substances that are in the air and soil.

If the growth occurs in a favorable environment, in the depths of a forest or grove, away from motorways, factories and other "benefits" of civilization, the juice is especially useful there.

 

But if you collect birch sap from trees that grow in the city, then the nectar will include, among other things, decay products, combustion, salts of heavy metals and other “pleasant” consequences of the active life of Homo sapiens.

Therefore, it is better to go deeper into the forest to get a truly healing birch.

The benefits of birch sap for the human body

Few drinks have such an effect on human health. At the same time, the juice has practically no contraindications, it suits everyone, regardless of age and the presence of any disease.

 

Birch birch tree is not only perfectly refreshing, but also helps to improve well-being. Among other things:

  • relieves sore throat;
  • normalizes metabolic processes;
  • improves digestion;
  • boosts immunity;
  • removes toxins, toxic substances;
  • possesses diuretic properties, removing edema;
  • normalizes blood pressure;
  • improves liver and kidney function;
  • prevents the development of anemia, vitamin deficiency;
  • normalizes hormonal levels;
  • improves potency;
  • increases vitality;
  • struggles with stress, depression;
  • inhibits the development of tumors;
  • improves skin and hair.

The range of healing properties is impressive. All of them are actively used for the prevention and treatment of various diseases.

How to drink a health drink

As mentioned above, “birch tears” is a safe drink. But not everyone can drink it.

 

To stay healthy, you need to limit yourself in drinking juice:

  • people allergic to birch pollen;
  • persons with kidney stones;
  • patients with diabetes.

And everyone else can enjoy a pleasant sweet woody taste, drinking no more than 2 glasses of a healthy drink per day.

Traditional medicine offers its own recipes that help to improve the well-being of patients with various ailments.

    1. To clean the kidneys, use a cocktail of birch and parsley juice, and also honey (1: 1: 1). This mixture should be consumed three times a day for 2 tablespoons. This course lasts a month.
    2. To normalize blood pressure, it is useful to drink half a glass of fresh birch bark twice a day for a week.
  1. Rinsing with hot juice will help relieve sore throat. They must be done several times a day, after meals.
  2. Especially useful for children will be a vitamin mixture of several juices at once. In addition to birch, you need to add the same amount of nectar from apples and carrots. 2 glasses a day will help strengthen immunity and prevent anemia.
  3. Birch bark effectively reduces body temperature during fever. To do this, put gauze soaked in juice under the armpits, on the forehead, under the knees on the bends of the elbows.
  4. Half a glass of juice mixed with cow's milk significantly strengthens the immune system. To do this, you need to undergo a weekly course of treatment, using the drug three times a day.
  5. Birch berry infused with oats improves digestion and helps to eliminate toxins. To do this, it must be boiled in a water bath until the amount of liquid is reduced by half. For the proper effect, you should drink a glass of healing elixir 3 times a day for a month.

Proper storage of birch sap

A sweet, healthy drink cannot stay fresh for long. Juice must be drunk for two days, otherwise it will deteriorate.

For longer storage of healing birch bark, you can resort to various methods.

  1. Quick (it is also called shock) freezing of juice will maximize preserve all the beneficial properties of the drink. Not every ordinary freezer is suitable for this method, since it is necessary to lower the temperature by
    high speed. It is necessary to freeze in small portions, so that later it is convenient to defrost and immediately use the entire volume of liquid.
  2. Evaporation of the juice allows you to make it a saturated concentrate. To do this, boil the liquid at a temperature of 60 - 70 degrees, until 75 percent of its volume evaporates. Roll up the resulting concentrate in sterilized jars. Only be sure to drink such a drink with pure water before use.
  3. Sterilization will also preserve the birch tree for a long time. To do this, the juice must be brought to a boil, but not boiled, poured into jars and sterilized for 15 to 20 minutes, then rolled up with lids.
  4. Canned birch sap is the most popular way to store a drink. There are several recipes for cooking. The first option is to add sugar and citric acid to the heated juice, boil and pour into jars, and then sterilize them for 15 minutes. The second recipe allows you to cook kvass, with a pleasant sour-lemon taste. For it, you need to add yeast and raisins with lemon zest, and then insist the drink in closed cans for 10 to 14 days.

You can add mint leaves, lemon balm, rosehip berries, currants or lingonberries to the birch. They give nectar new shades.

Fresh juice has the maximum beneficial properties. During shock freezing, it almost does not lose its healing properties, but preservation, preparation of the concentrate and sterilization make a useful birch bark just a sweet and tasty drink, nothing more.

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