The making of Alaskan Birch Syrup

As it drips from the tree, 50 gallons of Maple sap will produce one gallon of syrup. in Homer, Alaska this spring Jake Beaudoin has had to evaporate 160 gallons of birch sap to produce a single gallon of the precious Birch syrup. That’s a lot of evaporating.

Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed helping and watching Jake tap into this little miracle of spring. For about 10-20 days each spring birch trees push an amazing amount of sap up from their root system into the branches to supply their first budding leaves. It’s a short window that depends on day and nighttime temps, amount of sunshine and how frozen the ground remains. Once the ground and air reach a certain temperature the sap begins to contain too much yeast which eats the sugars before the excess water can be boiled off. Not unlike his other work as a commercial fisherman, Jake has to be ready when the run is on.