Shagbark Hickory Syrup

[The Birdman]

Article in Amarican Profile. An Indiana couple extracts hickory syrup from age-old recipe. www.hickoryworks.com. Just thought some of you addicts may need a new drug. lol

[Amber Gold]

It's pretty cool, but it's not a natural product. They add sugar to it.

[C.Wilcox]

I wonder how it would work with other types of trees?

[The Birdman]

they also have poplar bark syurp.

[3rdgen.maple]

Guy is sitting on a nice little recipe there. I bet it would make a world of difference if he was using maple sugar:D someone should tell him and supply him with it.

[PATheron]

Guys- I had a friend down here cut a shagbark down last year and it had sap all over the stump and he tried it and it was real sweet. You guys think you could tap them and make it like we make syrup? I actually thought about trying it sometime. Theron

[The Birdman]

All trees can be tapped maple are use because of sugar content and flavor plus they produce alot more sap. I have cut oak trees down and sap would pour out it smells bad real bad. I don't think it would taste very good. the sap has an acidic bitter taste.
Pat

[red maples]

very interesting. So they should be able to produce this year round. wonder what it tastes like?? Basically a water based extract syrup. Simialr to using fruit juices, or what ever you would use for flavoring then add sugar. I could be wrong but it could be technically all natural if the sugar was all narual right? I think if you had any sort of pallet at all it would be easy to duplicate. I don't think you would be able to use maple sugar because it would really change the flavor. where as sugar just makes it sweeter. but it might make the flavor that much better. Who knows. I have to get this maple thing down before I go into something else anyway.

[3rdgen.maple]

Theron they don't tap the shagbark's they boil down the bark the tree sheds. I only have one shagbark hickory on my land and maybe someday I will go play around when I have nothing to do.

[KenWP]

I have a book that says that you can tap a hickory tree also. thats all 3 kinds of hickory trees. Most I ever knew a hickory tree was used for was switchs for Granny to use on Jethro. Not any hickory trees around here that I know of. You can also tap walnut trees

[The Birdman]

wish me luck everyone Im getting ready to try and make it. I didnt like the way he said he was the only one in the known univirse that could produce it. Theron I will tap a few hickory this year and try that also Ill keep everyone posted on progress Pat

[dschultz]

Do the hichory run the same time the maple's do?

[red maples]

I have about 15-20 shagbark hickories, and a bunch down the road. the park peels best now when there is a heavy frost there's lots on the ground now maybe I will pick a few pieces and see what the big deal is. I wonder what the raw extract tastes like before you add sugar.

[The Birdman]

I would think the hickory / all trees do run about the same time I'll let you know. Pat

[C.Wilcox]

I was out marking maples this morning and collected a fistful of hickory bark as well just for the heck of it. Anyone got any ideas on how to go about this? The only reference I read on the web said to boil the bark in a med. saucepan for 20 min., strain, and continue to reduce. Add sugar to taste. That's pretty vague. Anybody want to venture an opinion on how much bark to how much water?

[KenWP]

That's the best I can find also. Guess you just have to boil it down like maple syrup and try for the same thickness and call it syrup. They say they should grow around here and as far north as Three Rivers so I am going on a hunting expedition for them today or tomorrow.

[The Birdman]

I put 5lb of bark in 2.5 gal water in presure canner at 15lb presure for 30 min just now took bark out. thinking about how much sugar to add. how much sugar do you think I sould add.

[dschultz]

If you have a sap hydrometer add sugar till its 3 or 4% and then cook to syrup

[The Birdman]

sounds good to me

[C.Wilcox]

Bark is washed and boiling in pot.

[The Birdman]

added sugar working on boiling down. Time will tell

[C.Wilcox]

Birdman,

How dark did your extract get? After 15 minutes of boiling the water in my pot still looks pretty clear with a slight yellowish tinge.

[The Birdman]

it has a nice light amber

[The Birdman]

It seem to be getting darker as it boils I put 12c sol and 2c sug for the first run.

[C.Wilcox]

Here's what it looks like after 20 minutes of boiling.

[The Birdman]

thats about what mine looked like it get a little darker as it boils

[The Birdman]

wilcox have to step out for about 20 min kept me posted

[The Birdman]

Back how much sugar are you adding

[C.Wilcox]

I figured I had about a gallon of extract so by my very rudimentary math I calculated that approx. 4 oz. of sugar would make a 3% solution, give or take. It seems about the sweetness of maple sap in the spring so I guess I'm fairly close.

[The Birdman]

I went heavy on the sugar to cut down boil time plus 4% will not leave much finish product

[C.Wilcox]

Yeah, I'm just reaching that realization right now. I might up the sugar a bit, but I still want to reduce the amount of extract quite a bit so that I get more of the actual hickory flavor and less plain sugar water. I have to take off for a while, but I'll finish this up tonight and post the results. Good luck!

[KenWP]

I am trying to figure which is worse your minute by minute replay of this event or me reading because I have nothing better to do also. Let us know if its edible. I went searching for the trees today but not much luck. Only tree I have that has loose bark only has it in small peices not long strips. I have no idea what kind of tree it is.

[The Birdman]

ken I have finshed . My neighbor tried it wants to buy some wife likes it better than maple. I think it would make a great bbq sause

[sapman]

There are lots of smooth-bark hickory at my sugarbush. I tasted the sap last season from a small one we had to cut, and I couldn't believe how sweet it was! I tried tapping a couple, but nothing ever really seemed to come out. Then this summer at the farmer's market, a man was telling us he has read that the Indians used to tap hickory, and preferred it over maple.

Guess I'll try tapping some next season since I'll have lots of buckets not in use, and see if we get anything (yeah, may be cutting out the buckets for a season and see how things go).

Tim

[dschultz]

Birdman, How much syrup did you get out of that?

[The Birdman]

I got a pint from 12c sol 2c sug neighbor came back and got half pint. Said he was going home make a pancake.

[Maple Hugger]

The hickoryworks website says they also age the syrup... Maybe it gets thicker over time. I wonder how much aging they are talking about and what it actually does to the taste/consistency... Birdman, you should try setting some aside for a while and see what happens.

So how would you guys describe the taste of your own homemade hickory syrup? I am envisioning a really sugary tea. I just read a review of the hickoryworks syrup that says that it is "delicate yet complex". Sounds pretty fancy.

Does it harm the trees to peel the bark off of them? Or do you guys just recommend taking bark that's already naturally fallen to the ground?

I'm intrigued. Thanks for sharing your findings!

[The Birdman]

It has a slight hickory nut taste with a hint of like a hickory smoke flavor. It would better to cook with. The bark will grow back if you pull it off the tree. It also sheds it you can pick it up off the ground .

[C.Wilcox]

Just finished up. We ended up with just a bit over a pint of syrup and I have to say that it's pretty good. I was fairly skeptical to begin with and am still not certain if I think it's good because of the hickory nut flavor or because of the fact that I'm drinking syrup. I'll have to try it again tomorrow and see what I think then. The picture I attached isn't very good. It's too dark in the house to get a good photo without the flash, but as you can see, it's pretty dark stuff.

[The Birdman]

Wilcox he's not the olny one now we' can also. Another plus let the bark dry out and we can grill with it, throw in evop when making syrup.

[C.Wilcox]

Does it harm the trees to peel the bark off of them? Or do you guys just recommend taking bark that's already naturally fallen to the ground?


I just picked off a few strips of bark from a couple of different trees so as not to cause any damage to a single tree. Provided you don't strip bark off to the point that you're exposing the cambium you shouldn't really be doing any damage to the tree. If you've ever seen a mature shagbark hickory you'll know exactly why they were given the name shagbark. It hangs off of the trunk in great big strips.

As you can see in the earlier photos that I posted, I really didn't use much bark. I think that I'll increase the amount I used next time and see how that affects the flavor.

Birdman- Better be careful peeling shagbarks in Indiana....the IDNR will come get you for destroying Indiana bat habitat! :)

[The Birdman]

Im short the can have every thing above 6 feet. Come to think about the bat I have'nt seen any around the last 2-3 years guess I should finsh the bat house.

[Randy Brutkoski]

I would really like to know more about this shagbark hickory. The maple bush i am setting up right now has between 4000 to 5000 taps and there are is way more shagbark hickory than maples and the rest is all hardhack. But the downfall with hickory is that there are so many squirrels. I am winning a battle with them every day but the war has just begun.I have shot 35 greys in the last 2 1/2 weeks in that bush. Almost all of them were in a 60 yard radius.unreal...

[The Birdman]

Randy did you check out the web site www.hickoryworks.com .This is where we got the idea. He has a video that will explain a little better.

[red maples]

I am trying it!!! got 6 lbs of bark got out the latter and got some big slabs up high some were like 3 feet just haggin'out. the hardest part was the cleaning sop far a brush don't have one of those fancy tumblers that that guy made.

The house smells pretty good. like the water you just soaked your hickory chips in for the smoker, but through the whole house.

My wife came home while I was putting the bark in the pot and didn't say anything just walked away shaking her head with an OH NO little smile.

anyway boiling it right now used about 3 gallons of water and I guess I'll put in 2 Cups sug / 12 C solution like the birdman...did you add any type of acid to it??? that would help to break down the wood a little faster and bring out more flavor maybe a few drops of lemon juice??

how long did yuou cook the bark for??

[The Birdman]

I cooked bark 30min wilcox said 20min. a few drops of limon juice could work may want Tbl sp of corn syrup to help with granulation. Pat

[C.Wilcox]

anyway boiling it right now used about 3 gallons of water and I guess I'll put in 2 Cups sug / 12 C solution like the birdman...did you add any type of acid to it??? that would help to break down the wood a little faster and bring out more flavor maybe a few drops of lemon juice??

how long did yuou cook the bark for??

I put 3/4 to 1 pounds of bark in a gallon of water and then brought it up to a boil for a full 20 min. I don't think going longer would hurt, but I wouldn't go less. Once we removed the bark we added 1 1/4 cups of sugar and it seemed to work out pretty good. I'm thinking even a little less sugar would be good because it would let the hickory tea concentrate a little more before you reach syrup stage. After you remove the bark you'll notice that there's a slight oil sheen on the surface of the water, kind of like coffee has. I think that oil is what gives it flavor so I'm not sure if adding lemon juice will help or not, but by all means, give it a shot and see what happens. Apparently there are no rules or established recipes out there except for a, "...tattered yellow piece of parchment" owned by only one man in Indiana so trial and error is the way to go.

We're just starting a second trial batch right now to see if we can repeat our results. So far my wife says she really likes it and prefers it to the box elder syrup I make in the spring. It has what I would call an "earthy" flavor, not like maple syrup at all so you can't compare the two really. Take a handful of bark and stick your nose in it. That smell is a rough approximation of what it will taste like.

[red maples]

I did like I said...

6 lbs bark
3 gallons water(which was just enough to cover the bark)
1 T lemon juice

5 cups sugar
1/2 brown sugar(for a little more body)

1. boiled the bark in lemon juice and water for about 45 min to an hour.
2. remove from heat and let it sit in the hot water for another hour.(He said they let it age but I do'n know how long or with what ingredients in it.
3. took out about a cup of it and added a little sugar at a time till the bitterness was gone but wasn't sweet yet? which worked out to be about 1T per 1/2 C sugar (approx.)
4. stirred it in and now its cooking away. we'll see what happens!!!

the solution was pretty tasty afterthe sugar was added!!! I agree it was earthy!! the exact word I used after I tasted it.

Next time I would like to use corn syrup along with the gran. sugar.

You know you cold probably boil that bark 2 times to get more use out of it. and what if it was chopped up smaller so there was more surface area to draw the oils from it!

fun though something to do when its rainy outside.

[red maples]

just a quick thought if you add the lemon juice then that should help with invert sugars so you don't get any crystalization you could also add in a lttle cream of tartar as well. or yes the corn syrup which is an invert sugar. but I don't remember how much you need. I will have to pull out my old bakeshop notebooks from culinary school. the kitchen is a nice little fog bank!!!

[red maples]

Well its done but I think the extra boiling time..results in bitterness. The 20 -30 minute rule seems to be the way to go I guess it would be like tea if you leave it in to long the tea takes on a slightly bitter taste. I ended up ading more sugar to get rid of the bitter taste and could really use a little more sugar I added 2 more cups of sugar 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/2 c. corn syrup. It might be because of the higher concentration of hickory extract. I don't know. I might add a little more sugar water re boil and se how that is.

[The Birdman]

Didn't have time to run another batch today. has anyone profected it today. I don't have time til thursday. wish you all luck.

[The Birdman]

Red / wilcox how did your syrup come out.

[red maples]

very strong flavor...a little bitter and I ran out of sugar yesterday. I have to get some more. then I will make a little simple syrup. equal parts of sugar and water. whisk it in then bring back up to a boil and check Brix. that should do it I hope!!! and very dark I think a very thin bottle is the trick if you put in a mason jar it will look alot darker. mine looks close to what his looks like. in color and very sligthly cloudy. once I get a finished product I like I will use a glass maple leaf jar and post a picture

[C.Wilcox]

Mine turned out pretty good. No bitterness. I boiled the second batch from almost 30 minutes and I don't think I'd go any further or it would get bitter like redmaples said. I tried it on some pancakes on Sunday and it was good, but not in the way that maple syrup is. It's a much more savory flavor than it is sweet (despite the fact that it is still syrup). I also tried it with a piece of semi-sweet chocolate and I'd have to say it was pretty impressive that way. All in all, I still prefer maple syrup, but this is an interesting diversion to take up some time in the non-maple season.

Interestingly, I filtered my last batch and put it in the jar while piping hot and discovered the next morning that there was quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the jar. So even though it's made from hickory bark it still generates nitre! Just can't seem to get away from that stuff. After settling it took on a deep amber color that is actually pretty nice. I'll try to post some better photos once the camera batteries recharge.

[red maples]

are you sure it's nitre and not just crystalized sugar. I don't know if you have a smoker but you might wan to add it to a marinade for ribs or steak tips. thats where I see that flavor having great potential. some hickory syrup a touch of soy or some type of whiskey or bourbon, a little garlic, some colemans dry mustard, a few red papper flakes, chili powdr and paprika. mix it all together put it in a zip loc bag overnight. grill it up and mmmm good.

Or a base for a pork roast glaze. I have to make some more I 've gottta lot of ideas for recipes. how about a smoked, shagbark hickory syrup cured ham or bacon. alright now I'm gettin hungry!!!

[The Birdman]

I agree red throw all the stuff you just listed in the blender. He said it was better to cook with. it may need to age. I think it would be great in BBQ sause.

[3rdgen.maple]

Man what time is dinner?

[C.Wilcox]

Finally got some decent photos.

red maples- In the last photo you should be able to see the "nitre" in the bottom of the jar. I filtered this through a fine weave fabric before canning so what you see in the bottom of the jar was produced after bottling. It doesn't appear to be sugar crystals and if I swirl the jar it will all re-suspend.

[The Birdman]

Ok 200 year ago, the olny sourse of sugar for the american indian would have been maple sugar. well that the olny sourse I can find when I do a search. If you have a link to a site that has another sourse PLEASE post. thanks Pat

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I don't have a source in hand, but Native peoples also were Know to use honey.

[The Birdman]

I thought about honey after I posted that was my first thought,but forgot to include. don't tell my bees i forgot

[C.Wilcox]

I finally got a chance to make up a bunch of this syrup and take it around to my family members. Their responses are included below:

Father-in-law: "Mmmm, wow, this is really good."
Mother-in-law: "Yeah, I think it tastes good."
Brother: "What the h*ll is this stuff?"
Mother: "I need a drink of water."
Sister: "Yuck, urine."

And my personal favorite spoken by my father:

"Tastes like burnt hair smells."

So, needless to say, my family will not be serving shagbark hickory syrup on Christmas morning.

[KenWP]

I opened a cheap clear bottle of maple syrup I had bottled because I figured the syrup wasn't worth worrying to much about because it tasted off to me. Everybody else likes the stuff. She who must be obeyed figured it tasted better then batch one and this is batch 15. Go figure.

[theschwarz1]

I finally got a chance to make up a bunch of this syrup and take it around to my family members. Their responses are included below:

Father-in-law: "Mmmm, wow, this is really good."
Mother-in-law: "Yeah, I think it tastes good."
Brother: "What the h*ll is this stuff?"
Mother: "I need a drink of water."
Sister: "Yuck, urine."

And my personal favorite spoken by my father:

"Tastes like burnt hair smells."

So, needless to say, my family will not be serving shagbark hickory syrup on Christmas morning.

Sounds like your in-laws were only being polite, and your real family told you the truth. =)

[SWEETSAP]

We tried tapping some shag barks 2 years ago and got nothing! Last year we tapped one tree 2 weeks before the maples and left it until 2 weeks after the maples were done. We ended up with a about a pint of sap that was 16% sugar content. Considering the age of the sap we did not boil it or taste test it. One mighy do better on vacuum but we have not tried that.

[KGodshall]

I first ran into Shagbark Hickory at the Eastern Outdoor and Sportsman show in Harrisburg, PA. Of course, they didn't give me enough to truly sample it, so I figured I might better make up a batch.

Luckily, I dodged the "stupid bullet" that was heading directly for my forehead........ As I was out to collect maple sap, I threw a few spiles in my pocket, already to drill them into whatever hickory trees I came upon. Realizing I had different species of hickory, I thought maybe an internet check might be in order......WHEW! You don't tap the sap, you make a tea from the bark and then make syrup from sugar..... YIKES!

Anyway, made up a batch. It's not bad. Will probably make a good glazing base for hams, and will work for a novelty at wild game dinners, pancake breakfasts, etc. Not gonna give up the maple syruping for the hickory though.