Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Black Walnuts Straight from the Tree


fresco

Recommended Posts

In the back yard of my house (that we moved to this summer) is a huge tree. This fall it started dropping huge green golfball-like things all over the yard and onto the roof by the hundreds with resounding thuds! for about a six week period. I looked at them and smelled them. They smelled a bit like camphor.

I'm not a country girl, though I did do a stretch in rural Appalachia for four years where I learned lots about hay and fescue. So I did not know what these green golf-balls were.

The guy that mows the lawn was here the other day so I asked him.

"Black walnuts" was his reply. "Pain in the neck."

They do look rather awe-inspiring in terms of cleaning and prepping. I'm thinking I need a porch and a rocking chair for the task, with a lazy hound dog to lay at my feet for hours to keep me company while I hull and clean them.

Have you ever prepared black walnuts straight from the tree? Is it "worth it"?

Are there any tips on how to best do it?

What recipes have you used them in?

Edited by Carrot Top (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the back yard of my house (that we moved to this summer) is a huge tree. This fall it started dropping huge green golfball-like things all over the yard and onto the roof by the hundreds with resounding thuds! for about a six week period. I looked at them and smelled them. They smelled a bit like camphor.

The guy that mows the lawn was here the other day so I asked him.

"Black walnuts" was his reply. "Pain in the neck."

They do look rather awe-inspiring in terms of cleaning and prepping. I'm thinking I need a porch and a rocking chair for the task, with a lazy hound dog to lay at my feet for hours to keep me company while I hull and clean them.

Have you ever prepared black walnuts straight from the tree? Is it "worth it"?

Are there any tips on how to best do it?

What recipes have you used them in?

There's no easy way to get the job done, and those husks will leave a nice brown stain on everything that comes in contact with them. Definitely wear gloves and old clothing. I shelled many as a kid, never found it fun or easy, and I didn't like the stronger taste. I guess I'm still not over my Black Walnut Shell Shock!

My Mom used them in any recipe that called for English walnuts, my Dad and brother just liked to eat them plain.

Actually, if you can find a trained squirrel to husk and shell the nuts for you. . . The problem is convincing the rodent to share the walnuts afterward.

Here is a link with some helpful tips:

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/19...-1994/bnut.html

April

One cantaloupe is ripe and lush/Another's green, another's mush/I'd buy a lot more cantaloupe/ If I possessed a fluoroscope. Ogden Nash

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We also have a tree and I processed them once. Must use gloves to avoid stain. One of the easier methods and the one I used is to put the unshelled nuts on your driveway and run over them with the wheels of your vehicle. Then take out the nut kernal and let dry. We let them dry in the garage and the scent was so intoxicating to the squirrels that they came right in the garage. I eventually put them out one by one for the squirrels to enjoy. -Dick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't care for the stronger taste either, especially at a higher price than other walnuts, but I know the tree is probably worth a small fortune as lumber.

Black walnut is prized not only for furniture, but for custom made gun stocks.

SB :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was going to suggest the driving over them method, too. I've never tried it myself. The brick and hammer are my usual choice of weapons. I don't like cracking them but I like them well enough to do a small amount.

There is a cracking device that can be purchased. As I recall it was about $70 so unless you're planning to stay in the house for a long time probably not worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About an hour outside Florence, a friend and her family stayed in one half of an old stone cottage where tour guides had squatted for years on the lands of a dead countess until the will was settled and they were allowed to purchase their piece of the land. The ground surrounding the place was littered with casings that had fallen from the tree; their 5-year old showed me how to open them up and dig out the pignoli. It was easy.:laugh: Fresh pine nuts are wonderful and so exciting to find as a kernel and not the contents of an expensive little plastic bag at the supermarket.

This morning, I spent about an hour scoring chestnuts, baking them in a jelly roll pan and peeling them so I could make a French lentil soup with chestnuts. Still have gunk under my nails. More trouble, but intermediate level, surely. It is bitter cold, but bright today. Worth the labor to have a warm, nourishing bowl of soup! :smile:

Now, as to black walnuts, heed the advice! While it is clear that the nuts have their fans, I for one find them more bitter than the walnuts we're more accustomed to toasting for salads or chopping and pulverizing as ingredients in cakes, cookies, pastries and pie crusts. It has been years since I first tried them, and I think I dismissed them after that one attempt, so perhaps I should be more open-minded and experiment one more time. But...

Given how messy they are, how pungent and difficult to crack, is it really worth the trouble? Unless Ling comes forth with a BRILLIANT new recipe, I say, rake them into a pile and wait till the kids come home. Then, hide behind bushes and use them to pelt the neighborhood bullies! :wink:

"Viciousness in the kitchen.

The potatoes hiss." --Sylvia Plath

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want to see some of the black walnut fun..... http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=56827&st=90

post 105

I just stomp on them then pick off the nasty bits with gloves on. Everything I found said to rinse them or soak them well then put away to dry for 2 to 6 weeks. When you want to crack them soak for an hour to soften the rock hard shells...also if they float at this point they are empty shells.

I had one a few weeks ago toasted up in butter in a pan It was pretty nasty, will try again in a few weeks then the animals get em for christmas dinner.

tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This morning, I spent about an hour scoring chestnuts, baking them in a jelly roll pan and peeling them so I could make a French lentil soup with chestnuts.  Still have gunk under my nails.  More trouble, but intermediate level, surely.  It is bitter cold, but bright today.  Worth the labor to have a warm, nourishing bowl of soup! :smile: 

I don't want to spoil your fingernail fun, but Trader Joe carries frozen chestnuts.

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Figure out if you like the flavor of black walnuts... some do, some don't. If you like it, then gather up a bag full of them, spread them out and let the husks dry out some (weeks to months), then crack them with a vice. Their internal structure is different from english walnuts, making it almost impossible to get a full nut meat out of the shell intact... you'll end up with bits and pieces... If you like 'em, they're worth the effort. They're great in chocolate chip cookies.

Edited by cdh (log)

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Grannie had the biggest black walnut tree on earth in her backyard.

They'd give me a hammer and send me outside to play. Spent half my childhood there, it seems, but I sure stayed out of their hair for hours on end.

Black walnuts are one of my most favorite flavors on the face of the earth.

I'd give anything for one of those trees on my property.

Black walnuts are pure ecstasy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:biggrin: Thanks for all the ideas - it seems that black walnuts are high-maintenance, aren't they.

This year I think they will serve as mulch. A useful thing.

As to next year, who knows? Either my neighbors will see my car backing up and down over and over again in the driveway as if I've lost my mind - or - well.

There appear to be not one but two of these huge trees towering way over the roof of the house in the backyard.

Lots of gunstock wood there.

Shame on me. :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
This year I think they will serve as mulch. A useful thing.

Actually, not.

Black Walnut trees' roots, buds, nut hulls, and to a lesser extent leaves and bark contain substances which are poisonous to some other plants. Makes landscaping and gardening under them a bit challenging.

Click here for more information on Black Walnut toxicity.

Another reason, they are not the most popular trees in the world.

Anyway, after reading this thread, I got a jones for Black Walnuts and bid on a few too many ebay auctions. Ooops. Will soon be coming into a bit of an embarrassment of riches.

I'd be glad for some suggestions for use beyond chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.

-Erik

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...