bcskye, Yes, you can tap hickories - and walnuts, too for that matter; there was an article published in the Proceedings of the Northern Nut Growers Assn annual meeting several years back, where they'd done just that - and the black walnut syrup came out pretty well-received in taste tests(IIRC, it beat out maple syrup). The only potential drawback I can see for you is that weather conditions in your area may not foster the sort of 'sap run' that folks farther north of you get(or, I may be totally wrong in this theory.). I'll hazard a guess that the shagbark hickory syrup you're seeing is made by boiling strips of bark peeled off the trees, straining that liquor, adding sugar, and boiling it down further. It's a well-known(well, at least in the nutgrowers circle I run in) procedure - and I've made hickory syrup in that manner, using shagbark/shellbark nut fragments left over after cracking and picking, whole cracked mockernut hickory nuts, and nice clean mockernut husks. I just couldn't get past the thought of all the lichens, bug frass, and poison ivy rootlets that might be present on strips of exfoliating shagbark bark and what off-flavors they might impart.

Well I have a CampChef 3 burner stove that I bought at Costco several years ago that I keep on the back deck year round. I paid $150 for the Costco version and we do all our frying, steaming and shrimp/crab boils on it as well as cooking burgers and fajitas on a cast iron griddle. I keep it covered with a basic gas grill cover. This has 3 30,000 BTU burners and can cook most anything you want, I haven't fried a turkey on it but you could I think. It does pretty good at simmering if you can get the heat adjusted right too. Academy Sports sells the 2 burner Weekender version for $99 as well as their store brand Outdoor Gourmet 3 burner that has the BBQ grill attachment for around $150 I think. Here is a link that might be useful: CampChef stove

Hi what did you come up with as a high powered burner? how many btu's? I saw one at lowes, it kicks out 21,000 btu's, i was thinking of getting it for wok cooking, Its about $110. its a single stand alone burner with a swing open top and controls in front. JerryMB

Not sure i've ever had the same twice. Seems different year to year, batch to batch. I usually get mine from smaller production sellers or neighbors. Must be a hundred different flavor profiles but i've never had more than just a few at a time. Not enough to really do a taste test. I do have a grade A amber dark right now that is rather pale and just has a hint of vanilla. Not very interesting so i prefer the darker maple B flavors. I like the smokey caramel. I built an outdoor evaporator probably ten years ago but put it in the worst spot. Under 10 ft of snow now, maybe more. It gathers wind drift snow. When it is time to tap, this year maybe march 1st, we'll have easy access to the trees up the hill but the wood fired evaporator is way down by the garden and is the last area to thaw. And no way to dig it out. Pre-heating on the barn wood stove way uphill. Dumb planning. We'll figure something out. I only have 10 taps and my pan in tiny. About 2x3 ft. I'm just hoping for a gallon, 1/2 would even be super. Any more will be gifted. As long as we have fun, i'm game.