Old Fashioned Birch Beer Soda
Memories from childhood, flavors of the past, stay with us a lifetime. This birch beer soda is one of those flavors for me. As children in the 1970's, my aunt would send us out to collect young Black Birch branches from our woods and we would prepare them for her. She would boil them down and we would excitedly wait for it to finish so we could have a glass of uncarbonated birch soda. Recreating those childhood memories into a recipe we can pass on to the next generations is why this recipe is important to us, we hope you like it as much as we do!
Equipment
- 1 Snippers for cutting branches
- 1 1 gallon container
- 1 3-4 gallon pot to boil branches
- 1 sauce pot to boil down final mixture
- 1 large spoon
- 1 jar or container for storage
Ingredients
- 1 gallon 2-3 inch cut birch branches no larger than a pencil, leaves and buds removed to fill a gallon container
- 3 gallons water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 liter seltzer water
Instructions
- Collect small black birch branches no larger around than a pencil. Strip the leaves and any buds from the branches and cut into lengths 2 to 3 inches long.
- Fill one gallon container with cut branch pieces, rinse and then pour into large pot with 2 gallons of water. If you press down the branches and they are not covered with the water, pour more water in until the branches, when pressed down, are completely covered with water.
- Bring to a rolling boil, remove from heat and let sit over-night. This step makes the branches water logged to get a better extraction.
- Return pot to heat, bring back to a boil and reduce liquid to approximately 4 cups. If you have boiled it down to a point that you have a little more than 4 cups, you can strain the mix and finish the boil in a smaller pot. Otherwise, when you're down to 4 cups, remove from heat and strain over muslin or cheesecloth or a coffee filter to remove any sticks or sediment from the liquid.
- Pour into a smaller pot and add two cups sugar and stir over medium heat until the sugar has completely melted and incorporated into the mix.
- Remove from heat and pour into a container, cover and store in the fridge to get cold.
- Once cold, you can add this to seltzer water for a soda. Soda or drink mix ratio can vary from 1:4 to 1:2 depending on the strength of the final birch syrup. You can also mix the syrup with tea as a sweetener or use to flavor cookies, cakes or frostings. Will store up to a week in the refrigerator.