Unfortunately, several things went wrong. You want to tap the south side of the tree that stays warmest toward the sun for better flow and more sap. Trees are tapped middle of February in snow country when temps are near freezing at night and 40* - 50* during the day. Sap gathered needs to be boiled down as soon as possible, it will not store very long before spoiling even if you cool it. The sap should be clear with no tint to a yellow/brown tint, if cloudy at all it is spoiled. Also, you were nowhere close to a 50:1 boil down....with the amount you started with you would only get 5 or 6 spoonfulls of syrup. When finished boiling, it will be noticeably thicker than water and thicken more as it cools.
I actually make maple syrup every year. The different colors could mean that the stop spoiled. I know for me I have to check a couple hours a day so that our sap doesn't spoil
thank you for sharing have enjoyed watching. We have several very very large black walnut trees on the property and have never heard of tapping black walnut trees. I have once cooked down maple syrup and it was an experience that I am so grateful for.
If black walnuts are like maples, that first batch is late season sap because it is quite dark. The cloudy one is off; if it was milky in the pail, then it was too hot out or sat too long. If it turned white later, you stored it too long before boiling. If your trees have little buds, it is too late, the sap changes taste (we say it tastes like leaves). I'm sure you can find some maple sap collecting pails on amazon. They have a wider rim so the sap ends up inside, plus they have a hinged lid and a strong metal hanging hook. This was a fun experiment, I didn't know you could tap other trees than maples.
Looks like you did everything right- I do not know why it tasted bitter. I collected about 20 gallons from my black walnut trees last year and boiled it all down on the stove. I made a lot of mistakes but still made several good batches- my wife loved it and ate pancakes every day for a week and gained 10 lbs.
You might just need to adjust your timeline if you try this again. Sap from later in the season tends to have a stronger flavor and darker color (assuming other trees behave like maples). I don't personally make syrup, but those around here (New York) that do are pretty much in the middle of maple syrup season. I would imagine that your sap would have started running much earlier in North Carolina.
Well I'm disappointed! I have at least 1 black walnut on my property so I got all excited. So thankful you did the leg work*and* shared! my hubby wants to have the 1 I know of because its close to the garden and it can supposedly inhibit the growth of anything near it. Well, except poison ivy apparently!!! We have had poison ivy on our land since we moved here 17 years ago, and my son and I used to swing on the vines pretending we were like Tarzan when he was little, not knowing what it was. It was only when we had some tree work done that they pointed out all the poison ivy and virginia creeper in our woods. Clearly we aren't sensitive to it... I can't even imagine 10 months!
Well, I would recommend you try too. It was worth the effort just for the experience. I may try again next year. Our land is covered in poison ivy/oak too. It's insane. I've become much better at avoiding it. ha
@@TheHappyHomestead I may still give it a go, but just keep my expectations low. LOL I'm just not sure how many more walnut trees we have in our woods and I don't know if its worth it if I only have the one tree. I have an app that identifies trees and plants, I just need to get out there and look for more.
I personally wouldn't try this lol BUT it was a lot of fun going along with you. You are so funny. Thanks for sharing and can't wait to see what your doing next!
This is my second year tapping walnut trees here in Missouri. We tapped around 40 trees. In two weeks we collected 40 gallon. It took two days boil down out side using a barrel stove. It was a lot of work. We got 1&1\2 gallon of syrup. It tastes wonderful and isn't bitter. I hear that if your trees start to bud it will cause it to be bitter. The sap we collected was clear like water. Try earlier next year.
