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Caption: Birch Syrup A sweet taste of the arctic
Caption: Birch syrup is a favourite sweet treat of people in the Northwest Territories. In 2010, Arctic Harvest began work with the Dene First Nation and Sapsucker Birch Syrup was born.
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Caption: Tapping birch trees for sap is not new, The Dene people have harvested sap for generations. Traditionally they would collect it and boil it over a fire to make something similar to what we know today as syrup.
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Caption: The first step is collecting the birch sap. Healthy trees are tapped by drilling a small hole through the bark and hammering in a spigot which directs the sap into a bucket.
400 birch trees are tapped every year from a healthy birch stand just a few kilometres northwest of Yellowknife,
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Caption: Sap is clear when it flows from the tree and tastes like water. Only about 5% of the sap is collected from any one tree.
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Caption: Sap is collected from the buckets every day and poured into a large cistern. From here the sap undergoes reverse osmosis which removes a lot of the water.
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Caption: The concentrated liquid is held in a large tank and then gravity-fed into a large boiler in the sugar shack.
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Caption: The sugar shack is where sap is boiled to become syrup. A large boiler removes the majority of the water and the liquid starts to resemble syrup.
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Caption: Birch sap undergoes at least two boils to remove water and further concentrate the sugar content. The second boil is done in a double boiler so the sugar in the liquid doesn't burn.
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Caption: The “sugaring off” process is what results in syrup. Birch sap results in less syrup at the end of the process because birch sap has a lower concentration of sugar than maple sap. 400 gallons of birch sap make just 5-6 gallons of syrup.
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Caption: Birch sap has a unique flavour which is stronger and more bitter than maple. It is excellent for cooking and delicious on ice cream or on warm bannock.
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Caption: Birch syrup is delicious on bannock cooked over an open fire.
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