Maple walnut topping?

[relseek]

Has anyone made Maple walnut ice cream topping? Is it just syrup and walnuts or other ingredients? Do you bottle it the same way as you would syrup? (heat to 180 ish and put into jar to seal?)

[happy thoughts]

I've never made it. Cornell has a pretty comprehrnsive download for maple confections. Download it for free here and see if they have a recipe or guidelines.

http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/pubs/confections/

I think you'll need to do it in sections.

That said, canning the walnuts with syrup would make me nervous because of the risk for spoilage... and possibly nasty spoilage because the lack of air sets up anaerobic conditions for growth. Botulism is a particularly well known anaerobic bacteria that especially flourishes under those conditions.

JMHO but it might be better to mix walnuts in fresh with your syrup at the time you want to eat it,

[relseek]

Thank you for the reply, Some of the producers around me offer these as one of their products in half pint and pint size jars. I was hoping to try my hand at it.

[happy thoughts]

I'm sure it can be done but it might require pressure canning. I know it's going to take a lot more than just adding them and heating to 180*F. That's not going to be high enough to kill off any organisms on the walnuts,

I'd also check with your state to see if a value added product like that still falls under your state's guidelines for small producer sales. As I remember NY does not require licensing/ inspection for small syrup production and sales, right? But adding something to canned syrup is going to put that product into a different class. You might be better off with a safer product like maple coated walnuts. A lot of people on the forum make them for sale. They get a good price for a snack size amount of nuts and sell lots of them at farmer's markets and such.

Good luck!

[happy thoughts]

If Cornell doesn't have the recipe you want and no one else can give you one here, you might be able to adapt this one from Ball. I couldn't find any that used pure maple syrup alone.

http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipe.aspx?r=129

[Run Forest Run!]

Hi Rob. The recipe from the Ball home preserving book would be excellent. Absolutely everything that I have made from that book (and I've tried dozens and dozens of the recipes from it) is top-notch fabulous. The online reviews that I have read about that syrup recipe have me itching to try it myself.

One thing however, never fiddle with the ingredients, or the amounts stated in the recipes from that book. They have been calibrated to ensure that the final product has the proper sugar/ph levels to inhibit bacterial growth. If you mess with the recipe all bets are off when you eat the contents from the jar a couple of months from now. Feel free to be creative with the ingredients if you are planning to eat the product right away. Refrigerate any leftovers and eat them within a couple of weeks.

Go for it!

[happy thoughts]

Karen- for the most part I would agree with you but think this recipe *could* be adapted. Only types of sugars would be replaced, not anything that would affect the pH greatly (the pH of corn syrup and maple syrup are similar as is their caloric value from sugars cup for cup). There's no pectin so no need to worry about acid/sugar/pectin ratios for proper setting. The trick would be in getting this to thicken enough if all maple. I think the corn syrup may be needed for viscosity. Cooked too dense, the pure maple in still liquid format may form crystals quickly in the jar.

Relseek, any luck with the Cornell recipes?

[relseek]

Happy Thoughts and Karen, I appreciate your responses. I downloaded and printed the cornell papers but haven't had a chance to read over and digest them yet...been a rather busy afternoon. My wife had promised some syrup gift baskets for a charity event this weekend which is what I wanted the recipe for but have decided to hold off including that until we have had a chance to perfect it. (And to be on the safe side from a canning stand point) We did do some maple coated pecans and walnuts to include in the baskets as they are always well received. But I would still like to get the maple walnut topping figured out.