Black Walnut brix surprise

[Homespun]

I finally tapped my trees yesterday & got 2.6% from Silver Maple and 3% from Black Walnut! Everything I've read said expect very low brix from Black Walnut, so this is a surprise. I recalibrated my refractometer twice and came up with the same results. I did notice a very slight amber color to the walnut sap (almost not noticeable). I don't know if that's normal...

[maple marc]

Homespun--very interesting. Please let us know about the taste of this walnut syrup. I have a lot more walnuts than maple trees. I haven't tested a walnut tree yet.

[noreast maple]

Tap them walnut trees , boil to syrup, then sell to one of the big outfits to blend with maple. lot more money for walnut than maple im told.

[Ittiz]

There are walnuts in my area but I have none on my property. I'm stratifying some black walnuts right now to plant. Glad to hear they can be as high as 3%.

[Homespun]

I've heard Black Walnut syrup has a slightly different taste than Maple & that most that try it really like it, so we'll see how it works out. I'm tapping primarily Black Walnut not because of choice, but because that's the what my small, city property has in abundance. Another surprise for me was as the temperatures dropped to freezing yesterday the Silver Maple taps stopped flowing (not surprising)...but those Black Walnuts kept flowing well, although their sap brix dropped from 3% to 2.5%.

[happy thoughts]

I'm going to tap a few hickory trees today. Hopefully they'll be as sweet as your walnut. Good luck with them and please let us know what the final syrup tastes like.

[Run Forest Run!]

There are several species of walnuts that grow in North America. Can you safely eat the nuts and syrup from all of them? I don't want to find out the hard way. Does anyone know?

[happy thoughts]

Karen, I believe all of the walnut species are safe, including butternut. I have a link to an article somewhere that I posted in another thread. If I can find it, I'll repost it.

[heus]

I'm going to tap a few hickory trees today. Hopefully they'll be as sweet as your walnut. Good luck with them and please let us know what the final syrup tastes like.
Didn't know you could get sap from hickories. I know that hickory syrup is typically made by boiling the bark then adding sugar.

[happy thoughts]

Didn't know you could get sap from hickories. I know that hickory syrup is typically made by boiling the bark then adding sugar.

Yes, that's true. The bark can be used to flavor a white sugar solution but they can also be tapped for sap from what I've read. Sycamore can also be tapped but the flavor of the syrup is supposedly more like molasses.

[heus]

That's good to know thanks.

[happy thoughts]

Karen and others- Found the link: http://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/sugar-tree-sap-zm0z13mazgou.aspx#axzz2w8p2i62l


All members of the walnut and hickory clans produce good sweets, even those that produce inferior nuts.

The black walnut and the butternut, or white walnut, produce earthy distinctive syrups and sugars that some prefer even to the maple products. Hickory syrups and sugars are very good sweets but not as distinctive as those of the maples and walnuts. All walnut and hickory species are good sugar trees, including the Eurasian species. The only members of this group from the Old World that I’ve had the chance to try are the Persian or English walnut. They produce sugars and syrups that are more like our hickories than our walnuts.

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks for the info!