Every year when we tap the birch trees in the spring we always end up with more sap than we can drink fresh, so one of the ways I preserve it is by making sodas. The sap already contains a lot of wild yeast and a tendency to ferment quickly, so I take advantage of that by adding some sugars to feed the yeast and some flavors this batch is all spruce boughs and ginger. After a few days the carbonation starts going and I have to burp the containers a few times a day until it slows down after that you have a lovely bubbly beverage. I tend to make mine knowing I’ll mostly be using them for cocktail mixers and shy away from higher sugar content.

Wildcrafted cocktail made with raspberry shrub from last summer’s harvest, vodka, and spruce soda made this spring by fermenting birch sap with spruce and ginger, shaken with some birch sap ice and garnished with a spruce twig.