Labo VinTree saps
Winemaking with tree saps is universal: Palm wine in Africa and Asia, sugar cane and Agave wines in South America, Maple wine in North America, wild cherry tree and birch wines in Eastern Europe.
The silver birch sap contains 4% glucose.
The boxelder (Acer negundo) sap contains 7% sucrose.
A 5-10 L bleeding will not harm the adult tree. In spring, after the young leaves appear, the descending sap contains the sugar formed in the leaves. It circulates in the bast, just under the bark. The hatch must not be deep.
Here is how to carry out:
- Drill a 10-15 mm diameter hole in the trunk, about 1.5 m high, sidelong upward, barely cutting into the living part.
- Knock in a cork in which a thin stiff tube is enshrined.
- Have a 5-10 litres disinfected and drained carboy. Pour in it 30 mL metaK [ Solution 0.25 M of potassium metabisulfite (K2S2O5, Mr=222), prepared by dissolving in water 55.5 g potassium metabisulfite (failing which, 47.5 g sodium metabisulfite - Na2S2O5, Mr=190) for 1 L solution.
10 mL of this solution equals 320 mg SO2 (5 millimoles).
This solution can be kept for a long time in a tightly sealed bottle. ] for 10 litres sap. Seal it up with a conical stopper pierced by two parallel stiff tubes, one of them stopped with cotton. - Put the carboy on the ground and connect it to the tree by means of a flexible plastic hose. When the sap amount is enough, seal up the hole with an integer stopper; check up the dressing next day. You can often use the same hole next year.