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Tag Archives: preserving

Sourdough Sunday: Birch Sap Harvest 2023

It was a short week, 6 days ago, that I tapped our Birch tree. I probably could have tapped it a few days earlier if not for just being too busy. But better some sap than none!

With the speed of the melting snow the Birch sap has slowed it’s flow.

Me
Checking my Sap Bucket.

Our first gallon I poured into individual collapsible water bottles for drinking later. I found these new at the thrift store, a great find! They came with mini carabineers to clip onto your pack or belt while hiking this summer. Into the freezers they went.

Hiking refreshers.

Next, I used 3.5 gallons to try our version of Birch Beer, similar to root beer, and made about 3/4 of a gallon of flavored concentrate. I slow-simmered the sap in my turkey roaster until about half with a few Birch twigs. Once done I turned off the heat, added a vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and 1/2 cup xylitol to sweeten it a bit more. To serve, pour concentrate into a glass, half full, add a squeeze of fresh lime, a little more sweetener (to individual taste) and top off with seltzer. It’s got an earthy taste, faintly reminiscent of a root beer but not as herbal. I like mine less sweet, the kids like it more sweet. But they like it, that’s good.

It’s nice to have a natural soda alternative that’s not 44 grams of sugar per serving or full of who knows what.

I also put about half a gallon into some reusable popsicles for a cold summer treat. I made 20 of these, Alaskan style Otter Pops, all natural, no artificial dyes, flavors or sweeteners.

Birch pops.

I did learn that we have another native tree here that can also be tapped: Alder. I experimented and tapped a couple larger trunks (they aren’t very big here, 3-5 inches in diameter). I wasn’t set-up properly for collecting the sap so missed a lot. I did get enough to taste it. It’s similar to the Birch water, less flavor tho. Overall good to know in an emergency but not likely to try it annually.

What remains of our harvest is apx 3.5 gallons, which I’ll turn into ice cubes and jugs of sap to freeze and use later. I’m going to try brining my salmon in Birch sap and salt this summer.

Overall we harvested about 9 gallons from a single Birch tree in 6 days, 1.5 gallons a day on average. This is important to know if we want to harvest enough for a larger batch of syrup or beverages. Since Birch water doesn’t keep for more than a couple days without spoiling, it has to be used or frozen quickly. So if we needed 5 gallons to process into wine we would need to tap 4-5 trees for a larger daily quantity.

I pulled the spile early Saturday morning. And another foraging season has come & gone.

Next up for wildcrafting is cottonwood buds, fiddleheads, fireweed shoots, spruce tips and morels. Oh boy, I can’t wait!! So much to do, so little time!

Canning Frenzy

It all started with getting that moose, losing our freezer drawer and needing to restock our lunch soup supplies.

But once I got started I couldn’t stop processing like a mad woman.

We had some pumpkins from fall decorations that kept well plus an extra one a friend gave us. I loaded a full canner, two cases worth, of plain pumpkin and then made a batch of pumpkin butter. Which is like eating pumpkin pie on your toast!

I had three turkeys 🤷🏼‍♀️ and some miscellaneous fruits from wildcrafting the last time Niki was here. Which I turned into Crabapple, rosehip & cranberry chutney. It’s so delicious!

With the turkeys I made 2 gallons of turkey broth, a few quarts of turkey bone-in meat and two cases of turkey veggie soups. And I even had a little bit left over to cook and eat for dinner. Along with the aforementioned moose stew, we have some great tasting lunch options now!

Since we’ve been trying to get better organized and had all our canning jars stored in one place the kids have been saying that we have too many jars. Ha. No such thing as too many jars! Now there are empty places on the jar shelves but no empty places in the pantry! What a great feeling!

(I canned a total of 13 cases plus a few singles over the course of the last 4 weeks. Time to restock lids and maybe buy some more jars!)

Shopping last weekend I scored a box of tomatoes at IGA so I made salsa and canned some raw pack tomatoes!

Recap of what’s in the pantry now:

Moose broth, moose stew meat, turkey broth, bone-in turkey, turkey soup, dog food, pumpkin, pumpkin butter, fiesta salsa, jalapeno salsa, cranberry-rosehip-crabapple chutney & tomatoes.

Tomatoes
Jalapeno salsa
Fiesta Salsa

Once A Month Canning, June/Salmon

June is always salmon canning season. It seems a little redundant posting about it. But here goes.

I canned three cases of fresh sockeye salmon for human consumption. I also canned 5 jars for the hound dog. I’ve reserved two gallon bags of scraps, skins and bones for more dog food at a later date. Which should get her a full case+.

For the dog food I simply raw pack meat scrapes, bones, skins and a tiny piece of egg sack, no salt. I process it the same as human food, 11# for 110 minutes. To serve it I open the jar, stir it up and place a couple spoonfuls into her regular dry dog food. It adds flavor and nutrition and she loves it.

I had high hopes of utilizing all of our camp’s fish waste this year but with the crazy schedule and setup that just didn’t happen. I had planned to put a big pot on the fire and just make a soup of carcasses, heads and scraps to cook down and hot pack into jars for the Panda Bear. Maybe next year!

For the human food I filet the skin off my fish and roll the filets into cylinders to place into jars. I put in a little salt, 1/2 tsp maybe. Sometimes I put jalapeno peppers or chipotle peppers like I did this year! Can’t wait to give those a try. On e the canner is full (it holds two cases completely full) I process as mentioned above.

Running the canner at midnight

I’m so very thank for this big ole canner. It’s been very helpful!! I can preserve a lot of food fairly fast. I also prefer it to the lighter weight aluminum canners.

First Canner Full

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First Canner Full
3 fish yesterday plus two today equals one case of human food and half a case of dog food.

Fermenting

I scored a big box of mixed citrus at the local IGA today so I thought I’d try out my new fermentation weights I got for my birthday!

Thanks Mo, best gift ever!

The box had lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit. We’ll eat the oranges and grapefruit fresh but I have way too many lemons and limes to use up in time. So what better way to preserve them but to ferment them! Fermented lemons are so delicious! But I haven’t tried limes yet. No time like the present!

I used this recipe as my guide/inspiration.

I sterilized my quart jars and weights and started prepping my lemons & limes. I washed them thoroughly and quartered them not cutting all the way through. I kept them attached at the base, like little blooming citrus flowers.

I packed them tightly in a jar layering salt liberally in-between the fruit. I used about a half a cup of pickling salt per jar. I filled in gaps with quarter slices and topped off the jar with fresh squeezed juice.

Weight in place, submerged in the salty lime juice.

I had some jalapeno peppers in the fridge that needed attention so I threw those together with some sliced onions, garlic and sliced lime, covered with saltwater brine. I’ll leave my jays on the counter for about a month then move to the fridge.

Now the hard part, waiting until they are ready. Fermented lemons are so good and have such intense flavor. Perfect in recipes calling for lemon juice, rind or flavoring. Once fermented, the rinds are edible. Chop them up in tiny dices and add to any dish calling for lemon something or other. Add the juice as well. It’s all good. I hear that fermented limes make a killer margarita. I’ll be trying that out sometime this summer I’m sure!

They’re so pretty!