Outdoors - Sugar shack

   While wasting time surfing the internet one day, I ran across an article about making walnut syrup from walnut trees, just like making maple syrup from maple trees. Being skeptical as I am of most things I read online, I decided to do more research on the subject. I found several articles that seemed to indicate that indeed it was possible to make walnut syrup. It apparently tastes very similar to maple syrup with more of a nutty background and darker color. Where it takes approximately 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of syrup, the ratio for walnut trees is about 60 to one. I have often thought it would be interesting to make maple syrup, but since I have no maple trees, this would be more difficult. I do, however, have lots of walnut trees. Since I know very little about making maple syrup and even less about walnut syrup, I spent about a month reading everything I could find on the subject. With further research online, I found a Facebook group of walnut syrup producers. Facebook groups are helpful in that they detail the problems and rewards of the subject of interest. Some people exaggerate in their comments and some people just plain lie. A person must average out the comments to get the facts. Most people are truthful in their posts, which can be a very useful source of information.

   Since there are no local suppliers in the area for tree tapping and syrup making, I went online to shop for what I would need to collect walnut sap and convert it to syrup. Since walnut syrup production is very similar to maple syrup, the equipment is the same. A person can get into production for under a hundred dollars for a very basic set up to several thousand dollars for the more serious enthusiast. Since I am still not 100% convinced it is going to work, I opted for the lower end, more basic equipment. Trees are tapped by drilling a small hole into the sap wood and a tap is pounded in. A bag or bucket can then be hung from this spigot and the sap will flow out to be collected when the temperature is right. Like maple trees, the sap runs in a walnut tree when the temperature is above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. The predicted temperatures during the next week are predicted to be in the forties during the day and low twenties at night for the next week or so.

   With shiny new equipment, I headed for the timber to tap the trees. I can easily identify different trees when they have leaves but find it more difficult to tell which trees are walnuts when all I have is the bark to go by. Knowing the area where a bunch of walnut trees were located, I was able to narrow down what were most likely the trees I was looking for. I drilled a 5/16 hole two inches into five of the larger specimens and pounded the tap into the hole. I hung five-gallon plastic bags on the tap and waited. I stood around for a while as nothing happened. The sun was setting, and the temperature dropped rapidly into the low teens. I decided I would freeze to death before any sap ran into my collection bag. Hoping the weatherman is correct about the temperatures, when I go back out to check, I should have some amount of sap. If this truly does happen, I will start my boil in the sugar shack, also known as the garage. I will keep you updated.