I have about 15 acres of Black Walnuts, some of which will never have any lumber value so I was thinking about tapping them to make syrup. I know Maple sap is about 2.5% sugar meaning 40 gallons of sap reduces to about 1 gallon of syrup.

Any idea what that sugar content or resulting ratio is for Black Walnut?

Hi Peter:

I would strongly suggest contacting a professional forester before "tapping" 15-acres of black walnut trees for syrup.

Please contact your local NH forestry agency for professional forestry assistance.

Best, Jay

Hi Jay -

As always, thank you for answering all our crazy questions!

I may have slightly miscommunicated above – I’m not tapping 15 acres, I have 15 acres. Have been working with a forester, only tapping trees that are not likely to be valuable and would not generate any benefit if they were thinned.

So putting aside the advisability of tapping those trees, any guidance on where I could learn more about sugar content?

Thanks again!

Hi Peter:

Sorry for misunderstanding your question. I did some follow-up reading regarding black walnut sugar content -- black walnut is similar to many maple species (ave. 2.0 - 3.5%; as low as 1.0% and as high as 6.0% in some Cornell studies). However, the sap yield for walnut tended to be significantly less.

Source: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2016/01/tapping-walnut-trees/

Best of luck!

Hi Jay —

I tapped last year and have completed my first boil for this season. I can confirm that I get about a 40:1 ratio (2.5% sugar content) very similar to Maples. But far less volume of sap — generally only a couple of gallons over a 3-4 week period.

Thanks again for your help and expertise!

Excellent -- thank you for your thoughtful questions and feedback Peter as it is greatly appreciated!

Best of luck to you!