Today was a colder day than yesterday so the sap wasn’t flowing as well as I’d have liked from either the maples or the black walnuts. However, I did get enough from each to make it worth boiling so I eagerly got started today for round 2!
This is my very first time doing black walnut syrup – I hadn’t even heard of it until a few months ago! I can’t wait to taste it and see if it tastes much different than the maple.
I have made some observations of differences in the sap itself. The black walnuts haven’t been producing as much sap as the maples, I’d say about half the amount.
The sap takes a bit more time and effort to filter it, which makes sense since it has a much higher pectin content. I do use a very low-tech method of filtering – I use a coffee filter fitted in a strainer. But for my small batch operation, it gets the job done!
Where the maple mostly smells just sweet to me as it boils, the black walnut has much more depth to it and I can’t think of exact words to describe it. Perhaps they’ll come to me once I’ve tasted the final product.
The black walnut produces about the same amount of foam as the maple, which I skim off and discard. As the sap concentrates, it starts to take on a brown tint that we associate with syrup.
A bit past midnight, I finished the black walnut syrup. There is less sugar content in the sap than maple, so I only produced a small amount of syrup from my approximate 3 gallons of sap – I’d say I got maybe 1/2 cup. The taste is not overwhelmingly sweet, it’s a more subtle, nuanced flavor. It leaves a hint of a cooling sensation in your mouth – almost like mint does but just a tiny bit of it.
I think this may be perfect drizzled over some simple real vanilla ice cream – but that treat will have to wait, I have more work to do!