In addition to the distinctive appearance, birch is also known for the fact that it is used in cooking — beer is brewed from its juice, and young buds collected in winter are used in cooking. But the most important thing - it literally can be eaten - under the outer layer of the bark is the inner, which has a sweet woody aroma and pinkish hue.
Flour from the inner crust is dried, crushed and sieved. This edible part is called phloem-a layer between the outer, white bark and the wood itself. It consists of special cells-sieves, transporting water and nutrient storage, ensuring the life of the tree. It is on this layer that juice moves from roots to branches in early spring. Compared to the outer bark and sound wood, phloem contains less inedible compounds such as lingin and phenol. And besides, it is quite nutritious for a tree-1000-1200 calories per kilogram, although it has a rather bitter taste.
The bark and the wood itself consists of many separate layers: the outer layer of the bark is the dead cells called the rhytidome (crust), while the entire outer bark is called the periderm. The inner cortex is called phloem and consists of a conductive fabric through which nutrients are transported. Cambium is another educational tissue that creates a protective barrier against decay and disease. The sapwood (Podmore) is a young wood, consisting of living cells and water. The sound core, located in the center, is older and drier than the rest of the tree.
Birch bark (lyko) is widely used as a building material, and is also used to store products because of the contained betulin, which has antibacterial properties.
However, the use of phloem is almost not registered. One of the few groups that has historically used the inner layer of the crust — the Sami, inhabiting Northern Scandinavia. In their life birch occupies the same main position as, for example, reindeer. Usually bark is collected from trees which are cut down for preparation of firewood. Traditional practices do not allow bark to be collected from the entire circumference of the trunk, as this can lead to metabolic disorders. Such techniques, called banding, are used in agriculture for thinning forests, as well as to increase the yield of garden trees (for example, Apple trees).
Cut off and separated from the outer crust, the phloem is dried either in the sun or around a fire or wood stove. Then it is ground and the resulting flour is used for baking bread and cookies. Since birch flour does not contain gluten, it is usually combined with wheat or rye to obtain a good texture of bread. Such breads have been baked for centuries in Sweden and Finland.
Below is the bread recipe from birch flour. It has a beautiful reddish tint and a unique aroma, something reminiscent of raspberry.
Bread from birch flour.
Whole grain flour-600 gr.
Flour-400 gr.
Birch flour-75 gr.
Salt-20 gr.
Water-925 gr.
Leaven-200 gr.
Mix the ingredients and leave overnight. The next morning add 200 g of leaven. For the next 5 hours, beat the dough. Form the dough into tight cylinders and let them rest for 20 minutes. Then place under the film in the proofing basket. Give rise (about 2-3 hours). In the oven, preheated to 250 C, put a thick-walled pan with a lid (Dutch oven with lid). After it warms up to operating temperature, place the dough inside and reduce the temperature to 230. Bake 20 minutes under the lid and 25 without it until the crust is a beautiful Golden brown.
Pine flour.
In baking flour is also used from the bark of pine trees growing in Northern Scandinavia. The traditional method of bark preparation is to cut small (1/3 of the circumference of the tree) vertical stripes with a knife and scraper. The harvest takes place during the warm and snow-free months, mostly in June and is usually carried out by women. Until the early 19th century, the bark was cut off from the Northern (North-Western and North-Eastern) part of the trunk. In the future, the choice of direction stopped paying attention.
During the absence of means of communication, fresh slices of bark on the pine trees was a signal for travelling the Saami that they are near the settlements. Such marks (window-panels) are visible even on 700-800 summer pines, which allows scientists to draw conclusions about the active use of the crust from about 1450 to 1890. Unlike birches, pine is less often cut for economic needs, so it is appropriate to collect bark from a living tree. Moreover, many trees were sacred, which prohibited their cutting down, for example, for the preparation of firewood.
The consumption of bark in the Northern regions is often associated with hunger, but historical sources say the opposite: "we have no reason to believe that consumption of bark increased during the hungry years" (see also Niklasson et al. 1994). The use of bark among the Saami was described in the 17-18 century as part of the normal diet .(Schefferus 1674; Leem 1767; Rheen 1897; Graan 1899; Lundius 1905; Drake 1918). It was also noted that most of the bark was harvested in the homes of rich people who owned herds of deer. This is due to the fact that the bark was often mixed with milk before consumption.
Thus, in the Sami culture, the use of bark is more related to wealth than to poverty and hunger. However, the ingestion of bark in the 18th and 19th centuries was often referred to as evidence of extreme poverty. In the 19th century came out the relevant orders, which stated that the use of bark in food is dangerous to health. And in 1870 Swedish law expressly prohibited the collection of bark from trees growing on Royal land.
According to many researchers pine flour is obtained from phloem as well as birch. However, there is a recipe and from the outer crust, which is quite simple to cut with a knife . Similar to birch flour, pine bark is dried and milled with a stone mortar or electric blender. The flour is then mixed with wheat, spelt or rye and used for baking cakes (Swedish loaves). Small pieces of cambium, texture and sweetness resembling coconut flesh, can also be used in cooking.
Unlike phloem and cambium, the outer layers of the crust are not as nutritious because they do not contain digestible carbohydrates and starches. However, their composition includes tannins, called procyanidins, the positive impact of which on human health is now being studied. Aromatic carbohydrates, such as terpenes and phenols, provide antibacterial properties, so they can be useful when mixed with other types of flour, increasing their shelf life. Pine phloem is rich in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which allowed the Sami people to fight scurvy.
For one of our parties, we have developed a special recipe cookies made of pine flour.
Pine Oreos with white chocolate and celery cream.
You will need:
Sugar-75 g
Oil-113 g
Egg white - 1 PC.
Pine flour-60 g
Wheat flour-90 g
Baking powder-2 g
Salt-2 g
- Preheat oven to 180 C.
- Combine sugar and oil, add slightly beaten egg white.
- Sift dry ingredients and pour them into a liquid mass. Stir.
- the Mixture should be sufficiently greasy. Wrap it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator.
- Roll out the dough between sheets of parchment (here it will be convenient to slightly freeze the dough), and then using a steel mold cut out cookies.
- bake For 5 minutes
- Cool
For cream from white chocolate with celery.
Celery-300 g (cut into 5 cm cubes)
Milk for polerowania
White chocolate-90 g
Cream 36% - 50 ml.
Gelatin - 2 sheets.
- Boil celery in milk until it is soft
- let cool and strain (milk will make an amazing latte)
- Puree with a blender and strain through a sieve
4)pour hot cream into the chocolate and mix until smooth. - Enter the dissolved gelatin.
- Mix the mixture with celery and mix thoroughly. Pour into container and allow to cool.
- Collect cookies: spread one half with cream and cover the other.
- place in the refrigerator for half an hour, no more. Otherwise, they'll be dampened.