Birch juice: how much is the healing drink in Transcarpathia?

In the spring, birch juice traditionally becomes popular in Transcarpathia. 

When it is warmer and first buds appear on the branches of trees and bushes, birch juice becomes available in Transcarpathia. Uzhgorod residents already can buy the raw drink at 3.50 per liter. So, a hundred liters will cost 350 UAH, if you add sugar and citric acid, it is still cheaper than buying it in the store.

However, harvesting of birch sap is not very safe for the forest, if it is done improperly.

Do foresters keep track of this issue? At the press conference, the head of the Transcarpathian Regional Forest and Hunting Range Administration Valeriy Murha said that the issue is under control, but here, in Transcarpathia, it is not as acute as in some southern and central regions of Ukraine, where many birch trees grow (here, there are not so many). However, foresters control the situation. Murha says that every year Transcarpathians harvest about 15 thousand liters of birch sap.   

Birch trees in Transcarpathia predominantly grow in Perechyn, Berezny and Uzhgorod districts.  

Source: uzhgorod.net.ua.