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Thread: Black Walnut Syrup

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Freedom, IN.
    Posts
    184

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    Fantastic, maplefarmer! Agree on the smell while boiling....made me want to cock my head and look sideways at the pan a couple times. Not bad, just different. Very inconsistent flow also, just like you stated. Are your walnuts still running? We tapped back in January to catch a run, and ours have dried up.

    Already looking to next year, and upping the tap count. It's good stuff, and interest is very high. Would love to try a black walnut version of "maple nuts", maybe using the BW nutmeats, or even a Black Walnut cream.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Kimball Michigan
    Posts
    11

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    This is my second year tapping Black Walnut and it definitely does not have good flow, out of 32 trees tapped I will only get 5 gallons on a good day. Also agree with others about the gel that forms on top, looks disgusting but taste just like the finished syrup. My trees have been running between 2.5 - 3 %.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Rochester, NY
    Posts
    61

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    Maybe Black Walnut sap production depends each individual tree? Overall, mine produce about 80% of the sap that my maples do. Mine tend to run on the days the maples don't. Their sugar content is 2-1/2% to 3-1/4% this year, vs the 2% to 2-1/2% sugar my maples produce.
    2014: 1st year w/ 6 taps (Silver Maple, Black Walnut), evaporator = 26" diameter carbon steel wok on customized turkey fryer burner. Syrup had a maple-butterscotch-caramel corn flavor. Concentrated the sugar by freezing all sap before boiling ("poor man's R.O.") as an experiment.
    2015 - Currently: 11 taps (Silver Maple, Black Walnut, Norway Maple).

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Central Ohio
    Posts
    318

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    I made .54 gallons of walnut syrup from 10 taps and 35 gallons of sap. Brix ran about 1.5 compared to about 2.4 for my maples. Very interesting taste--like apple jelly. It was very difficult to filter. In fact, I wouldn't call it filtering. I tried to run it through a pre-filter and an orlon cone, but it wouldn't even get through the paper unless I squeezed it like a jelly bag. I think most went through the seams, so the syrup is very cloudy.

    I would recommend using taps with very long shanks because of the thick and furrowed walnut bark. The cast aluminum Leader 5/16 spouts do not work well--the newer stainless steel spouts work much better.

    I had visions of being a walnut producer, given that I have many more walnut trees here than maples (and prices I hear are being paid). But given the small production and the problems with filtering, I won't do it again. It was a fun experiment.
    Central Ohio
    Leader WSE 2x6
    Old metal corn crib converted to "The Shack"
    Smoky Lake 6 gallon water jacket canner
    Daryl 5" filter press with air pump
    Deer Run 125 RO

    2023: 140 taps, buckets, 32 gallons
    2019: 100 taps, buckets, 45 gallons
    2018: 100 taps, buckets, 31 gallons
    2017: 100 taps, buckets, 15 gallons
    2015: 100 taps, buckets, 34 gallons
    2014: 100 taps, buckets, 30 gallons
    2013: 100 taps, buckets, 52 gallons

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Putnam/Dutchess, New York
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    8

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    Does Walnut sap go "buddy" like Maple sap does?

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    South Lincoln,vermont
    Posts
    1,802

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    With maple I usually have or can get the answers, but I am finding this interesting. I talked to a guy a few days ago down in Springfield, Ma and he was saying that professional chef's pay as much as $60 dollars a pint for high grade walnut syrup. Don't ask me what high grade walnut syrup tastes like, because that was the first time I had even heard about it, and now I run across this thread.
    Success is not final,failure is not fatal.It is courage to continue that really counts

    “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

    – Thomas Edison

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Freedom, IN.
    Posts
    184

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    We have taken deposits on 4, 12 oz bottles of Black Walnut for next season. $50 per bottle, and they never even blinked. We intend to tap every walnut we can find. The stuff is amazing.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Poultney VT
    Posts
    2,420

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    last weekend I stopped by MES Tent and was talking with the guys. One of them said that (i cant remember which one walnut or birch) had more health benefits than maple, Some thing was said about a omega 3.

    HEY 802 LONG TIME.
    Business Name
    Flat Lander Sugaring (who would think a guy from Az be making syrup)
    125 on Sap Suckers
    Close to 475 High Vac
    400 gravity adding more
    leader 2x6
    home made preheater
    hoods
    1 7D749 for AOF
    New FLS Tsunami Arch
    4 membrane TR Industries RO 2HP 3 phase 601GPH 250 PSI
    PID Display for Arch Temp.
    Chumlee of the trader

  9. #19
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Sugar Camp, Wisconsin
    Posts
    298

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    We have lots of paper birch here in far northern Wisconsin 20 % of our wood lot, and I've been seeing a few threads talking about tapping them but I'm not sure that would work in my area? Seems like the paper birch here if they get a wound they don't do well, heal up that is. Some in our area are getting a black fungus (Inonotus obliquus) that eventually kills them and it seems like trees that are wounded get it, a broken branch or skinned bark from a falling tree is enough to do that so I'm thinking a tap might do the tree in? Would like more information about tapping them if its safe? Would be fun to experiment. thanks Jay
    Zucker Lager

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Ma&Pa line
    Posts
    8

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    My maples are producing very poorly so far this year because we are getting nights that are just too warm for good sap flow in southeastern Pa.

    I had heard that black walnuts will run when the maples are marginal so I set 7 taps in some walnuts that are poor lumber at the bottom to see what I would get. Well yesterday my maples did not run at all, but the black walnuts averaged a half gallon per tap on gravity. I boiled some down to a concentrate on the stovetop and the flavor is good. The question I have for those of you who have made black walnut syrup before is at what temperature are you using for your end point?

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