Beržų sula: Birch Tree Water.
First time I saw this “water” in two large glass bottles I thought “cool, that’s new…let’s try it!”. To be honest it was not so different from common water yet slightly sweet. It never occurred to me that this kind of sap is something very special in Lithuania. Not only is it directly tapped from birch trees, precisely Betula Alba, but it is also a source of vitamins, proteins, amino acids, and minerals. It provides detoxifying, anti-inflammatory and cleansing properties. Too bad that it is collected only at the break of winter and just for two weeks. Its extraction is done by drilling a hole into its trunk and leading the sap into a container via some conduit: a tube or simply a thin twig. The sap will flow along it because of the surface tension.
P.S. On Sunday 15th of April I planned to go to the Castle of Trakai with my friend Julija. But reaching that castle….well to sum it up, we had to go on foot from Senieji Trakai (the only closest city we could reach by train from Marcinkonys) to this popular Castle. If you want to hear something about the history of Trakai Catle click here http://www.trakaimuziejus.lt/island-castle. That meant about 8 km either on the way to and from. SULA was godsend!
adrygoestodzukija 