Not really, it generally won’t burn before it’s done, stirring or no. It will boil over though, so it takes constant watching. We boil outdoors on a wood fire, but we always bring it in and finish off the last bit on the stove so as to have more control.
I took the plunge, going out and tapping a large walnut tree in our yard this evening.
We’ve had several mild days in a row (50s to upper 60s), and it’s due to get below freezing the next couple of nights with daytime rebounds into the upper 30s and upper 40s. Since I didn’t immediately see evidence of sap flowing, should I assume a bad tap or uncooperative tree? Or wait to see what happens over the next few days?
Wait to see, it should flow once the nights get below freezing and the days go above it. Walnut trees tend to start later than maple, and give less. I’ve not quite gotten a half gallon of sap from my maple here yet, under relatively ideal conditions.
Meanwhile I’ve gotten a gallon of syrup made from my week of maple sapping. Yum! Now it’s going below freezing for a few days, but should get above 32 degrees by Sunday so I can collect more.
What tofor said. He’s the expert, I’m just a backyard/kitchen hobbyist. I find that too much stirring once it reaches a critical concentration tends to make it boil over more easily.
At risk of endangering my expert status, I now must share that my 2-year old managed to get a hold of a bottle of soy sauce, and POUR IT INTO THE SYRUP POT.
The bad news is that we now have two full days worth of boiled down syrup (not yet finished off) that tastes like soy sauce. The good news is that at least it’s a food product, and we can probably find some use for it (maple stir fry?).
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Sounds like a good mix for making salted and candied nuts.
That’s a great idea for sweet and salty!
@Jackmannii, how’s the walnut sap collecting going for you? I’ve got nearly a gallon of it now, from one tree, slow but sort of steady.
The Mrs. and I took a road trip to see Springsteen in Kansas City, MO this Friday past so we left our sap collection bags on the trees for about 80 hours. It was too cold for sap to flow Friday, but by this AM when I collected it all, I had 20 gallons to deal with. That’s after fishing out the ice from the sap, since it contains little to no sugar. I spent all day turning that into two quarts of maple syrup so that was fun.
How do you know this? Seriously, all the instructions for “How to make Maple Syrup” say, “Discard any ice” but I’ve never found one that gives a justification. Based on prior knowledge I came to the conclusion that no sugar in the ice was a likely reason, but I could never confirm it.
Clearly if the entire bucket freezes there will be sugar in the ice, so I always wonder how much ice there needs to be before tossing it is actually counterproductive. On the other hand, I can save a lot of boiling sometimes by dumping the ice.
I’ve pondered that myself. But I recall from organic chemistry lab decades ago that sugars will stay in solution as long as there is solution. I discard the thin plate ice films and slush but if there are large chunks taking up a significant volume of the sap then I don’t toss them. Especially since they can contain liquid pockets.
I’ve also experimented with tasting the melted sap ice and there’s not much notable sugar taste to it. While often the liquid remaining after skimming the ice seems rather sweeter than normal.
This AM half to 2/3 of my sap was frozen. I decanted the liquid stuff and left the chunky ice in the sap bag to get later, when we thaw out around here and the sap is flowing again. I tasted the slush and thin plate ice I skimmed off, and it didn’t have significant sweetness this morning. So I discarded it.
I’ve not tried with maple sap, but I’ve tasted ice and the remaining solution as other sweet things freeze. Unless you freeze the solution (pops, for instance) very quickly, the sugar (and most other flavors, and colors, for that matter) will be concentrated in the solution, leaving ice that is only barely sweet. I believe this is the point of “ice wine”, too. But allowing the grape juice to partially freeze and removing the ice, you get a more concentrated juice to ferment.
I’ve done all this as well, which led me to the same conclusion. I also know about Apple Jack (freeze distilling) though I’ve never tried it myself.
That’s generally what I do as well.
So, I should put a tree on my French Toast? LOL
Well by gum, I checked the bucket today and there must have been almost a full cup of walnut sap, pale amber-colored, slightly sweet.
I have a feeling the season may be over, as we’re expecting unseasonably mild temperatures over the next ten days and no lows of 32F or colder.
Do as you wood like!
Yeah, that happens when you’re a southerner. 
But you never know your luck, might get a colder stretch in early March and the sap will flow again.
I’ve now got about a gallon of Walnut sap, but we’re in hard freeze territory here now with highs in the upper 20’s for the next few days.
OK, 3 weeks into the sap flowage here now, and I’ve well over 3 gallons of Maple syrup (more than double my previous best year), with more sap in the bags and buckets waiting its turn at reduction. All from adding my neighbor’s tree. He’s delighted with his 1/3 share of his tree’s production (half a gallon of syrup thus far).
And the weather looks ideal for another solid week of sap collection. Damn. I MUST resist any urge to tap more trees next year. In fact, I think I’ll just rely on my 3 big trees (including the neighbor’s) and skip taps in the medium ones next year. Damn good thing I’m retired, so I can spend the days minding the boil-offs. The kitchen walls have gotten a good cleaning at least, due to wiping down the moisture from them. I’ve boiled off a minimum of 120 gallons of sap thus far this season.
Walnut syrup production is minimal so far this year, as I only put one tap in the walnut tree and have just a bit over a gallon of sap. Too busy with maple sap, and the walnut syrup was never THAT exciting, more of a niche/boutique product. Sweet and very mellow, it belongs mainly on less powerfully flavored items like vanilla ice cream, or cheesecake.
Between making syrup and making cold brew coffee, my inner Dr. Heisenberg is being satisfied.
Dang it @Qadgop_the_Mercotan, you’ve made me want to taste walnut syrup so bad that I’m going to have to spend money.
Or just stop by my place next time you’re in the neighborhood, I’ll give you a sample of walnut syrup.