In a community woodland deep in the heart of East Lothian, lies the playground for flavour alchemists, Buck and Birch. This woodland provides the perfect conditions for Birch trees to thrive and it is these Birch trees that Tom and Rupert tap in a short five week window to obtain as much sap as possible to create their range of wild botanical spirits.

DRINK : BUCK N BIRCH, BIRCH TREE TRAPPING

I headed out to Gifford Community Woodland to join Tom and Rupert from Buck and Birch to learn more about Birch tapping and have a go at it myself.

Birch trees are quite spectacular. Beacons of the forest, they are easy to identify with their silver white bark and the very clear distinctive scratch like marks across the trunk. They are relatively short lived trees, which are quick to colonise open areas: they are a pioneer species.

Birch trees make great furniture - its heavy, tough and hardwearing. It makes excellent fire wood as it catches fires quickly but takes a long time to burn and it provides an excellent food and habitat for over 300 insect species. Birch trees are used to improve soil quality. Its widely spread roots bring otherwise inaccessible nutrients into the tree, which are recycled on to the soil surface when the tree sheds its leaves. And the leaves, buds and bark are used to make medicine. Like many trees, birch was a large edible plant in times of famine. The bark was stripped and ground to make meal for flour and the young leaves added to salads for a bitter, aromatic flavour. The twigs also made a quick snack for foragers; leaves are diuretic and antiseptic and ii is the source of Xylitol which many of you will know as a sweetener and used in many diet foods!

But on this day, with Tom and Rupert, we were after the sap which can be used in teas, vinegars and syrups, and in Back and Birch’s case, alcoholic liqueurs.

To tap a birch tree, you need to take a hand held drill and drill at approx 30 degree angle up into the bark, about 1 inch deep. As soon as you remove the drill, the sap will begin to pour out. A bucket is the held up to the hole and a ‘tap’ fitted from inside the bucket into the tree. The tree will then use the tap as the sap outlet and drip the sap into the bucket for collection.

I am no tree hugger, and I respect nature but I was not prepared for the emotions I felt once I had tapped the tree. I felt sad, as it looked as if the tree was weeping. Tom and Rupert reassured me that we hadn’t done any harm to the tree and that giving up their sap doesn’t harm them in anyway.

Tapping and using birch trees has been going on for hundreds of years, not only as food and medicine but in rituals and folklore. The birch tree is a symbol of new beginnings and came to symbolise renewal and purification. It is celebrated during the festival of Samhain (Halloween) and Beltane, due to its strong fertility connections. In Scottish Highland folklore, a barren cow herded with a birch stick would become fertile, or a pregnant cow bear a healthy calf.

Tom and Rupert collect Birch sap every morning from the trees in the woodland over a five week period in March/April. They then mix the sap with white spirit and other botanicals, producing syrups, toffee lollipops and even shortbread from the birch sap.

Buck and Birch now have a range of five spirits and liqueurs

• Birch - wild botanical spirit. Pure spirit is married with raw sap and seasoned with wild birch flavours harvested throughout the seasons for a smooth yet complex drink to be enjoyed neat or mixed.

• Aelder - wild elderberry liqueur. Dark stone fruits with hints of bitter chocolate and spice. Gently warming with a texture of crushed velvet

• Amarosa - rosehip rum liqueur. Juicy green apples, honey and herbs with spiced vanilla and molasses to finish

• Ana - birch syrup caramel liqueur. Sweet, butter caramel, toasted nuts and mellow glow of spirit. Light and clean on the palate

• Rum and Cake - wild spiced sipping rum. The finest dark rum is infused with our incredible hogseed parkin, then cold filtered for a sumptuous sipping spirit laced with molasses and Scottish spice.

Their latest spirit - Birch is an alternative to gin or vodka and makes for some great cocktails. Buck and Birch run Foraging/Birch Tapping workshops in the Community Woodland annually but the window for tapping has now closed for this year, so you’ll have to wait for 2023. They do however have Wild Distillery Tasting Sessions where you will get to taste their liqueurs and spirits along with some tasty wild nibbles.

All information is available on their website - www.buckandbirch.com

It’s a really great experience and if you have the opportunity, do go!