Hickory Syrup - Day 78 - Daily Haiku - UPDATED

Hickory Syrup
an Appalachian staple
one of my favorites

Cori MacNaughton

When we first moved to Tennessee in 2011, I was surprised to learn that there had once been a business bottling maple syrup, as Middle Tennessee is in the southernmost range where that is possible. And, as an avid lover of maple syrup, I figured that maybe it would be worth tapping our trees and learning how to make the syrup.

When talking to our local forester, he said sure, he would be happy to identify the different variety of maple trees for us, then almost as an aside, he said that he had really always preferred hickory syrup.

I had never heard of hickory syrup, but I guessed I could tap those trees as well, once the maples were done. Um, no. Hickory syrup, as it turns out, is not made from the sap of the trees, but from their bark; shagbark hickory bark, to be exact. The original European settlers were taught how to make it by the Cherokee, and by the turn of the last century, it was an important cottage industry throughout the region.

It is also delicious. I've been making it for over four years now, and have seriously perfected it from that first try, based on a recipe found on the Internet. My hickory syrup now does not even resemble the syrup I made that first time. It is amazing stuff.

I make two kinds; the original, using organic cane sugar, or my favorite, using organic evaporated cane juice in place of the sugar. Either one is great, but the evaporated cane juice gives it a much more complex flavor profile, is not quite as sweet, but just delicious.

We currently have three batches available, as seen above, which went over well at our trial run at our local Green Market in Cookeville, yesterday.

The first batch, Batch 1, is the lightest flavored of the three, made with organic cane sugar. It might be considered as roughly equivalent in strength to a light roast coffee, or perhaps a lager beer.

Batch 2 was steeped longer, and is made with organic evaporated cane juice, and it is the strongest flavored of the three. It would be more equivalent to a dark roast coffee, such as French roast, and perhaps a Guinness stout or barleywine style beer.

Batch 3 is in midway between the other two, in flavor strength, possibly equivalent to a medium roast, or a good IPA. It is made with organic cane sugar.

Yes, you can use it on pancakes, waffles, or any way you would use real maple syrup, but my favorite way to use it is to add about eight ounces to a 750 ml bottle, fill it with a good mixing vodka or light rum, and enjoy it as a liqueur. If your prefer your liqueurs less sweet, you may choose to put it in a full liter bottle instead; it works well both ways.

And the best part is that there is no need to age it, so you can enjoy it right away, without having to wait for months or years. I also add it frequently to basting sauces for meats and poultry, or even vegetables, on the grill. Great stuff.

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All words and images are my own.
The photo of the hickory syrup was from one of my first batches, back in January 2014, and I have since taken far better photos, so I'll try to update the photo tomorrow.

The photo of our dog, Lolo, and our late cat, Miod, I took as they were cooperatively begging at the dinner table, despite our longstanding rule of not feeding them from the table.

You can see how much that deterred them both.

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