This year in addition of tapping my maple trees, I tapped the huge black walnut in the yard too. Walnut syrup is not so common as maple syrup, as walnut trees put out less than 1/3 of the sap of mapes, and it still takes 40 parts sap to make 1 part syrup. Plus the walnut sap contains pectin, so it needs special filters, or a pectin enzyme in order to produce it.
But this year I figured, “what the heck” and decided to try it. I got some enzymes to add to the sap, and through diligence got about 5 gallons of walnut sap over the all to brief 3 week season this year (it got too warm too soon for a long sap run).
And now I have a bit over a pint of walnut syrup, a lovely medium dark amber color. It’s NOT like the flavor of maple syrup, that’s for sure (I got a bit under 2 gallons of THAT in this short harvest). The walnut syrup tastes NOTHING like walnuts, first of all. It’s very sweet but not cloying, very rich yet mellow, and has a caramel/butterscotchy taste, like yet still unlike both those related flavors. It’s quite uniquely its own flavor, and now I’m sad I only have only a pint of the stuff . . .
Thus far, tasting has been a straight small spoonful of the stuff, and some experimentation putting it on very premium vanilla ice cream. Next testing: French toast!
Anybody else tried walnut syrup?