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Tapping Trees for Syrup

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From: Dana Adams City: Licking, MO
As a learning tool (not for production), could a walnut tree or hickory tree be 'tapped' and the sap boiled down for syrup? I understand that maples varietes can be, but are there any others? And the hickory, can you tap the tree as opposed to boiling down the bark as with a shagbark hickory?
	Extension Message From: Jay Hayek Extension Specialist, Forestry Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences jhayek@illinois.edu
Hi Dana, Yes, "other" trees can be tapped for their sap to produce syrup: soft maples (silver and red), walnut, birch, hickory, and even elm. The main point to consider is sap sugar content and taste. Generally, sugar maple sap has higher sugar content compared to sap produced by other species. Granted, sugar content among a population of sugar maple trees may be highly variable.
From: Lynwood Wagner City: Johnson City, TN
Have you personally ever seen sap come out of a: Hickory Basswood Elm Ironwood?
	Extension Message From: Christopher Evans Forestry Extension and Research Specialist Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences cwevans@illinois.edu
All trees have sap, but not all of them are "bleeders" that predictably run sap in strong flows that are strongly temperature-driven. Species that are tapped to collect sap are all of the maples (including box elder), walnut, birch, and sycamore.
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