I have been wanting to make hickory syrup or other value added products from the nuts and husks I am collecting now. Does anyone have any good recipes or suggestions? I plan to try nut milk aka ambrosia, and syrup. Maybe also use the husks for some smoking?
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Jesse,
I save nutshells from shag/shellbark hickory nuts I’ve cracked and picked out; fill a pot with them and cover with water. A few husks included will help create a darker ‘liquor’. Simmer, covered, all day long - will need to add additional water from time to time. Strain through a clean cloth (I use old threadbard t-shirts).
Add 1.5 cups sugar per cup of liquor. Boil/simmer until syrup reaches your desired thickness - may take a couple of hours, or more. Pour off into clean canning jars, screw on lids and turn upside down for 5 minutes, then right them.
I usually cook a few whole nuts in the syrup while it’s cooking down, then add one nut per jar, for interest.
I’ve cooked some nutshells, recently, in a large crockpot, and while it works OK, I don’t think I get the same dark color that cooking on top of the stove provides… probably just not enough heat.
Some folks make this syrup using strips of exfoliating bark peeled off the trees - but I figure nutshells and husks have less lichen, bird/bug poop and poison ivy rootlets.
I have used husks for smoking meat. They work fine for that purpose.
Mockernut hickory nuts and husks work well for those who don’t have ready access to shagbark or shellbark. There was only one shag on the East AL farm I grew up on, but mockernut and pignut were common. Mockernut syrup might be even better…the nutmeats generally have a strong rich flavor spproaching that of black walnut, but rarely are they easy enough to crack and pick out to make it worth the effort.
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Great info, thank you!
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