OneTree Alaska selling luminaria to support outreach
December 21, 2017
OneTree Alaska is selling ice luminaria to raise money to support its upcoming birch
sap processing operations and its educational programs.
Luminaria will be sold for $10 each through February at OneTree’s STEAM Studio in
the Lola Tilly Commons.
OneTree coordinator Jan Dawe said the program planned to help support itself through the sale of caramels and fudge made from birch sap collected this past spring. Volunteers with a birch sap cooperative and OneTree staff collected 5,300 gallons of birch sap. The volunteers received a portion of the birch syrup that was made but the rest of the sap concentrate was lost in late October when a freezer failed.
OneTree Alaska is a forest education, research and outreach program affiliated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Natural Resources and Extension. OneTree has been experimenting with different processing methods and working with individuals interested in small-scale production of birch syrup or birch sap products.
Birch syrup made by OneTree Alaska won first place in an international birch syrup competition this spring that drew entries from Alaska, Canada and Russia. The competition, the Birch Syrups World Challenge, is coordinated by a Russian birch syrup producer. The organizer says the idea of the competition is to identify a consumer favorite.
Dawe said the syrup that was submitted was made from OneTree’s “first day reserve,” the first run of sap, which contains a little sucrose as well as glucose and the fruit sugar, fructose.
“That’s the really good stuff,” she said. Sixty-five testers in Russia judged the syrups, Dawe said.
To order luminaria, call 474-5517 or email Dawe at jcdawe@alaska.edu or OneTree at alaskaonetree@alaska.edu. Orders will be taken through the holidays. Pickup times will be 4-6 p.m. Thursdays or other times as arranged. OneTree Alaska is also accepting contributions through the University of Alaska Foundation at http://bit.ly/2kl8a7f.