Mixing Black Walnut and Butternut Syrups

[Fox]

As an experiment we are making black walnut syrup this year from 10 taps, we also have about 8 butternut taps. In 3 days we gathered about 5 gallons of Black Walnut Syrup. To have a larger yield we were thinking about mixing the two syrups together. I have heard of mixing maple and walnut syrup but never butternut (white walnut) with Black Walnut. Has anyone ever experimented with this before?

Thanks

[Galena]

Fwiw I would keep them separate, make syrup from each batch and maybe then try making a little test blend jar and see how it tastes. And keep it, or some of it, for awhile to see how the flavours may change as it mellows out. I have access to a butternut grove and do plan to tap them some year but so far my sugars keep me hopping and I don't expect this year to be any different! :-)

[Michael Greer]

I have tapped the Butternuts right along with the Maples for years now. A little Butternut makes Maple syrup even better, adding a smoother, thicker feel to the finished syrup. I have read about what they call a "long strand" structure in the sap from the nut trees, and what's important to know is that those long strands are really hard to filter. Butternut sap will go bad right in the bucket on a warm day, turning into a faint lavender colored mass, so you have to be quick and cold or throw it out. Butternut and Walnut sap will clog filters, screens, and even fairly large mesh, so it's a pain to work with. The flavor and texture are worth it. I recommend using only 5 to 10% nut sap in the maple to minimize those problems.

[maple flats]

If selling the syrup, be certain to indicate that you have the other syrups in the blend for legal reasons. If just doing it for family and friends that may not be an issue. In New York state, maple syrup is specifically stated as being made by removing water from the sap of the maple tree. Inspectors get very literal on descriptions.

[Abattoir]

If selling the syrup, be certain to indicate that you have the other syrups in the blend for legal reasons. If just doing it for family and friends that may not be an issue. In New York state, maple syrup is specifically stated as being made by removing water from the sap of the maple tree. Inspectors get very literal on descriptions.

This reminds me of the maple syrup you see labeled as “organic”. If its real maple syrup, how could be be anything other than organic?

[DrTimPerkins]

This reminds me of the maple syrup you see labeled as “organic”. If its real maple syrup, how could be be anything other than organic?

I don't want to hijack this thread (so feel free to move it to a new thread if you wish Dave), but this is kind of a silly argument to me.

Water is water. But we have bottled water, municipal water, well water, sparkling water, salt water....Water comes in bottles, cans, jugs, from the faucet, drinking fountains, etc. We can argue all day that it's all the same "water" or that it is different because it comes from a well vs a pipe vs a bottle. There will never be an answer that everyone is happy with.

"Certified organic" syrup means that you are following certain practices. They probably don't vary much from what most producers are doing already, but they can be different in a couple of certain ways. In the simplest terms, it means that the product was made sustainably and was made without certain additives (chemicals). The primary example being synthetic defoamers.

We have conventional syrup and we have certified organic syrup. The only way that "certified organic" syrup is different (for the most part) is that some producers agreed to follow certain practices and they pay a 3rd party to come in and VERIFY that it was made following those practices. It is essentially the customer saying..."prove it." Now that could work fine for your neighbor down the road, but if you are from NY and your market is in Virginia, then the customer isn't going to stop by your farm and check things out. So if having a 3rd party come in and inspect provides some assurance to a group of customers that they're happy with, and they're willing to pay a little more for it, then why argue with them? The choice is to give the customer what they want and produce "certified organic" maple syrup, or don't and sell your syrup as conventional syrup.

[Michael Greer]

And just to hijack this thread in yet another direction; Make a truly premium product that your customers really crave, and sell it at a premium price. Basking in that adulation is way more fun than working like a slave to produce a wholesale product for the unknown consumer.

[Helicopter Seeds]

I made butternut syrup my first year, I got about a cup, from one tree and two taps. It had a gel-like thickening substance I recall reading later was Pectin, that I removed with a cheesecloth after boiling halfway, and squeezing it through.
Tasted good, but I ended up cutting the tree down for other reasons, turned out it was rotted in middle.
As to organic, I was under impression that any fertilizers or pesticides on the ground for several years would render it to be not organic. Since I am tapping trees in neighbors back yards, I can't be sure of they used lawncare products, they probably did. If it was only in the process, I am interested as I don't use defoamer at all thus far.