Potensial plam sugar

[jens183]

I brewed with maple sugar and that was very nice. Was therefore wondering if any other tree saps had any potential.
I only found limited information about the potensial of palm sugar in wine/mead making. Anybody got any experiences? Experiences with fermenting on its own or in combination with other ingredients.

[fatbloke]

Europe is a big place jens, but I doubt you're anywhere near somewhere that you'd get unprocessed palm sugar sap.

Though there are recipes for wines made with Birch tree sap, you just have to tap the tree's in the correct way at the correct time. A quick google search would give more info....

[jens183]

The title was suppose to say "Potensial palm sugar" and not "Potensial plam sugar".

Originally Posted by fatbloke

Europe is a big place jens, but I doubt you're anywhere near somewhere that you'd get unprocessed palm sugar sap....

Acctually I was just wondering about the tradition/experiences of using palm sugar.
One of my "sources" : "radical brewing p.198" says about palm sugar: "...This sugar has a history in British brewing beginning in the early nineteenth century when it was used to make up for some disastrous barley harvest..."
The palm sugar I have says "...sugar is unbleached, unfiltered..." I dont know for sure if its true, but anyway it was just for the knowledge of how to use it.

Originally Posted by fatbloke

...Though there are recipes for wines made with Birch tree sap, you just have to tap the tree's in the correct way at the correct time. A quick google search would give more info....

I never used birch sap, that would be intresting to taste too. Is it early spring when the birch start getting leafs that the sap should be collected?

[TAKeyser]

There is some talk of Birch Sap in this thread http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthr...ight=Birch+Sap

[TheAlchemist]

I was itchin' to do a Birch mead this year, but I missed tapping season!

[Wolfie]

I was also looking at palm sugar. I found it at the local Asian market, it came ressed into blocks. It was fast to dissolve and easy to pull off with a cheese grater. It is a little waxy in appearance, I am guessing it has a little oil in it yet? I loved the flavor and took to adding it to my coffee and tea for quite a while.

I was considering it in brewing as an agent for bottle carbonating. But a baseline experiment of a micro batch of fermented palm sugar (<1 gal.) would be a good idea too.

My curiosity was particularly from it's texture, I wonder3ed if aside from carbonating it may actually aid in head retention (I think licorice is used to this effect in some beer and soda making).

So I know a very very little about it, but I suggest you make a small batch and share if you've got the time, maybe I will too.

good luck

/wolfie

[Sadie Lady]

I use palm sugar in Thai curries. Got it at the Asian market also. Mine came in a jar and I'm out of it now, but don't remember it saying anything about additives. Definitley a different flavor than like brown sugar. Seems a try would be interesting.