Sweet Birch Iced Tea

Some folks have asked about this tea since our last post.  Here's how we make it. 

1. Materials:  We use loppers, half-gallon jars with tops (Mason jars), and a jelly bag. 
2. Gather:  We prefer sweet birch, also known as black birch, (Betula lenta) to yellow birch (Betula lutea), but both make a wintergreen tea.  The other birches are not worth gathering in our opinion.  I cut a 2-3 foot branch with loppers. 
3. Cut:  We use the loppers to cut the branch and all of its twigs into 7 inch lengths so that they fit easily into our jar.  Sometimes we give Yub-yub a butterknife and have her scrape at the bark of the larger twigs to reveal the green living tissue beneath it.  This, however, is mostly a babysitting tactic and is not necessary unless your three-year-old insists on being part of the process.  
4.  Steep:  The molecule that gives birch tea its most important flavor is volatile.  Practically speaking this means that you don't want it to get too hot.  If it does, you're tea does not taste as good.  We usually pour not-quite-boiled water over the twigs or let the water boil first and then let it cool a bit.  Then, we put the cover on the jar.  This may be an old wives' tale, but I think it helps improve the flavor.  The key with birch teas is to let them steep for a long time.  We steep for about 45 minutes.  Arthur Haines (one of New England's premeire botanists and author of Ancestral Plants) recommends even longer, 2-3 hours.  We've recently taken to putting our tea in the fridge afterward.  It's very refreshing on a hot day. 
5. Filter:  If you don't mind solids in your tea, it tastes fine straight up.  We, however, screw a jelly-bag over the jar to catch all the bits. 

Sweet Birch Tea (Betula lenta)

Our little one, who's real name is Eva, loves to make sweet birch tea (Betula lenta). It is a fantastic, real life project that keeps her busy when I am cooking, giving her a way to contribute to our meals.

As far as winter edibles go, this is one of our favorites. Warm, delicious, and so satisfying on a cold winter evening around the camp fire or over the reading of a good book.

Our woods have a plentiful supply of black birch trees (yellow birch also makes a similar brew), easy to correctly identify because of its clear wintergreen smell when its twigs are scratched. You can break up small twigs, fill a jar, cover with almost boiling water and wait until the tea reaches your desired flavor. Eva likes to take the twigs and shave them with a butter knife. She finds this activity deeply satisfying; she will shave twigs for upwards of 40 minutes!

So if you have little ones (or if you do not) introduce them to sweet birch tea--a wild food that is sure to please.

Wild Food #1: Hemlock Tea

Fresh twigs chopped into small pieces.

Steeping.

The finished tea steeped for about 20 minutes, covered, then strained.

Thag:

It is common for the field guides to point out that this tree, Tsuga canadensis, shares the same common name as that uber-poisonous plant that killed Socrates. It would be impossible to mistake the two. Although it is most certainly edible, I throw this plant in with pine needle tea, Pinus strobus in our area, as a plant that we'll tolerate in the interest of our quest, but wouldn't go out of my way to gather. Euell Gibbons describes these plants with amusing diplomacy. He says, "My current taste in food gathering poses no threat of extinction to the white pine," and, "With a squeeze of lemon and a little sugar [the tea] is almost enjoyable and it gives a feeling of great virtue to know that as you drink it, you are fortifying your body with two essential vitamins [Vitamin A and C] in which most modern diets are deficient." A feeling of great virtue indeed. I'm feeling more virtuous already. We entertained similar comments from friends. "Well, that's very . . . piney."

Ooga:
Hmmm... Two sips was enough for me. Certainly drinkable, no need to spit it out, but it would never be described as yummy. If I were to describe the taste, I'd say it tastes like Christmas smells. In other words it tasted piney! However, if I were in danger of scurvy, I could get it down no problem.