The Tree House Forest Product Information Sheet

No.88 WALNUT SYRUP

COMMON NAME: BUTTERNUT, WHITE WALNUT, OIL NUT

GENUS & SPECIES: Juglans cinerea

FAMILY: JUGLANDACEAE

FAMILY RELATIONS: WALNUT, HICKORY, PECAN

GENERAL: The butternut tree is a fast growing deciduous native of North America’s East Coast. It can reach a height of 30m and has a grey fissured trunk and is spreading in nature. The large aromatic leaves are composed of 7-19 oblong, pointed, slightly serrated and bright green leaflets up to 12cm long. The flowers are in the form of catkins and are followed by an externally sticky and strong smelling fruit up to 4cm long that contains an edible nut.

ECOLOGY: The butternut is fully frost hardy but as with other members of its genus it dislikes late spring frosts and early autumn frosts, particularly when it is young. It requires full sun and a deep fertile well-drained soil.

CULINARY USES: The nut, rarely seen in the UK, closely resembles the walnut and is highly edible. The oil expressed from the nuts was once used as a strongly flavoured seasoning in the US. A walnut syrup, similar to maple syrup (Acer saccharum)(information sheet. no 87) can be made from the sap, but again is not so well known in the UK.

MEDICINAL & OTHER USES: The bark of the butternut was used by the American Indians as a remedy for constipation and the oil from the nut was once used to expel intestinal tapeworms. Today there is little use made of the butternut medicinally. A brown dye can be obtained from the leaves, root bark and fruit of the butternut tree. The timber of the butternut is used as a substitute for black walnut (Juglans nigra) which it resembles. It is however inferior in all ways to black walnut being weaker, softer and lighter in both senses. Fortunately it takes a stain well and can be made to resemble it quite well.