Walnut woes

[Lazarus]

This year we're trying walnut syrup - just 20 trees on bags. These few trees are outproducing my maples, averaging 2 gals of sap per day on many, and they aren't fussy about weather conditions. 1.5% sugar content. The first few gallons of sap I didn't use any pectin enzyme but did on all the rest. Let it work overnight. I have been boiling this down for a while, and have essentially made - walnut paste. Or maybe goop.

I'm completely flummoxed at this point. It is not at al like syrup - it has a texture. I can't boil it down any more, it's nearly solid, yet my refractometer still says only 60 brix. My "manual" hydrometer stands on its end in it, then sinks slowly over the course of about a minute. Temperature won't go over 212 but it is clearly way thicker than syrup at this point - you could set tile with it.


What am I missing here? Do I just cut my losses and mix it 50/50 with maple and call it a blend? By the way, it pretty much tases just like maple syrup.

Any help appreciated from those who have succeeded at walnut. I'm actually a little embarrassed to be outdone by a few silly walnut trees! I feel like a total newbie,

[220 maple]

I doubt I will be of much help for you, my friend has 709 walnut taps that was tapped no more than three weeks ago, at the present time he around 12 gallons of near syrup, has 11 quarts of pectin, the pectin clogs the filter very bad and he continues to remove from the filter with a spoon, with Grant monies Future Generations University purchased a centrifuge to remove or greatly reduce the pectin, it appears to work therefore they have been able to RO the sap, doubling the sugar content, the centrifuge in my opinion is the game changer in future commercial Walnut syrup production! Marshall University and the RC Byrd research center has been very involved with pectin removal in walnut sap. As stated I don’t know how to help your problem, just want to give a update as to walnut syrup production

[canaanmaple]

I doubt I will be of much help for you, my friend has 709 walnut taps that was tapped no more than three weeks ago, at the present time he around 12 gallons of near syrup, has 11 quarts of pectin, the pectin clogs the filter very bad and he continues to remove from the filter with a spoon, with Grant monies Future Generations University purchased a centrifuge to remove or greatly reduce the pectin, it appears to work therefore they have been able to RO the sap, doubling the sugar content, the centrifuge in my opinion is the game changer in future commercial Walnut syrup production! Marshall University and the RC Byrd research center has been very involved with pectin removal in walnut sap. As stated I don’t know how to help your problem, just want to give a update as to walnut syrup production

Rechlin stopped by the other night when i was boiling and he told me about his centrifuge and that he had no problems running it through the RO that had a 4 year old membrane! Sounds like a game changer.

to the original poster, I have been hearing the walnuts are really gushing this year also. As far as filtering, I just know a friend who taps about a dozen trees has found that filtering it a few times during the boil makes all the difference in the world and not just near the end of the boil. Walbut is the best tasting syrup Ive ever had!

[Lazarus]

Thanks for the info! I did make a little progress yesterday by thinning out the mixture (it's about 5 gallons of paste) with some additional sap, heated to boiling then ran it through my filter press with a ton of filter aid. I was surprised - my press filtered it like a champ. Much improved and looks more like syrup.

With that said, I still can't tell what's going on. Got it up to 219 degrees, and it was still at only 53 brix according to my refractometer, backed up by my hydrometer. Going on 225, and still only 63 brix. That can't be right. It's super dark and getting a burned taste at this point, probably from overprocessing.

Did the boiling cause more pectin to be produced and that is what is messing with my readings? How would anyone ever finish a batch this way?

For those doing walnut - At what brix this stuff is considered stable to bottle (no crystallization or mold)? Or should I just go with temperature alone? Haven't done that in years.

[PCFarms]

I know the feeling, we have a few dozen walnuts, I have yet to tap them, but they have been tempting me.
Last year we made birch syrup for the first time, all sort of weird problems that you dont get with Maple.
-We burnt 30 brix concentrate
-the sap spoils super fast because the season is after Maple season is over when temps are warm,
-we had sugar in the permeate of the RO,
-the syrup has a precipitate that cannot be filtered (similar to crystals in Maple) and when boiled, it disappears, but it is not a sugar crystal.
-the sugar content is a guessing game, there is no consensus on what the target is.
-it never spoils.

[Lazarus]

I have heard that birch syrup is really really hard. No birches here in southern Ohio.

I can definitely say I have no plans for this walnut to touch my RO, ever, after looking at what it does to my syrup pan. It's literally coated with goo, even after a first boil.

I did notice that my questionably is-it-or-isn't-it-finished walnut syrup did develop the slightest texture again after the test filtering and re-boiling, so you're probably right about multiple filter passes.