Learn how to make this Birch Beer Recipe using food foraged from the wild.
Birch Beer Recipe
Here is a recipe for birch beer that I got out of an old cookbook. I haven’t tried it but it’s enough like one in Euell Gibbon’s book, Stalking The Wild Asparagus, to reassure me.
- Place four quarts of black birch twigs cut into small pieces in the bottom of a five gallon crock.
- Add eight pounds of brown sugar to four gallons of water in a large kettle.
- Stir until the sugar dissolves, heat to boiling, boil for ten minutes and pour the bubbling mixture over the chopped birch twigs in the crock.
- Stir in one cake of yeast dissolved in a half cup of warm water.
- Cover and let it work for ten days, or until the cloudiness is gone.
- Bottle and cap tightly. It’s ready to serve immediately. Chill before serving.
Caution: This is an alcoholic drink and some hemlock needle tea might taste good the next morning.
Read more about wild food recipes and preparation: Foraging for Wild Foods in Winter.
