Anyone harvest black walnuts?

[CathyA]

We have probably 1,000 black walnut trees on our property and we've never eaten any of the nuts. DS got me a heavy-duty black walnut cracker last Christmas, and I'm trying to deal with a few walnuts this year.
I won't go in to deal, if nobody has done this before. I need a few tips. Thanks!

P.S.........I find it incredible that as hard as their shells are, tiny little worms can actually get through. Nature is amazing.

[lessisbest]

We (the four slave-labor children in the family) would fill bushel baskets of black walnuts in the fall and lay them out in the hayloft to dry. Then we'd spend time in the winter cracking them and would sell the nutmeat. We each had brick, and on top of the brick was glued a sponge with an X cut into it. In the "X" we would place the walnut and crack it with a hammer. The deep sponge prevented the shell from shattering all over the place (sorta). We would take turns cracking and picking out the nutmeat. Just be sure you wear gloves or you'll end up with walnut-colored skin.

Favorite recipe:
Black Walnut and Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal
1-1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. raisins or chocolate chips (optional - I left them out)
1-1/4 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 c. black walnuts

Mix sugar, egg, butter and vanilla together. Stir in dry ingredients and black walnuts. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 350°F. for 10-minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Makes 3-dozen (I always got at least 6-dozen cookies.)

[Williamsmith]

The walnut shells are covered with a substance that will be on your hands for a long time. Definitely wear gloves. We had a wooden trough that had a channel the width of a car tire. We put the walnuts on the trouh and drove over them with the car.

CathyA, I have to say I'm quite jealous. Veneer grade black walnut trees are very marketable and valuable.

[bae]

I used to be one of the slave labor force for my grandmas for those accursed things.

I think that's the key to the enterprise :-)

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone. Yes, I went to a doc's appointment today with brown thumbs. haha I had on gloves when I was peeling off the husk, but had a couple holes in the gloves.
Yep....I lined them up in the driveway and ran over them with my golf cart. haha Makes it pretty easy.

I wasn't sure how much I had to clean them up. I washed them off several times and shook them in a container, but some of them still have some black "stuff" on them. I'm thinking that will dry up and come off. I've read that you're supposed to air dry them for a couple days, then hang them up to "cure" for a couple weeks in a mesh bag. I think that's just to get the meats to shrink a little, so they're better to get out. This nut cracker that DS got me is pretty cool. I think it's called "Get Crackin" nut cracker.

Gosh Lessisbest.........a cup of meats sounds like it would take hours of work to get that. haha I guess we're just too used to store-bought convenience. Anyhow.....this is a good and interesting new thing for me to do. Plus....I always felt bad that we were letting them go to waste. Actually....they never went to waste. The squirrels survived on them, plus they planted tons more of the trees for us. I would almost call the trees nuisance trees.........They can grow anywhere. And they start producing nuts in just a couple of years. Supposedly the juglone in it doesn't let anything grow around it........but everything grows around it here......especially the invasive Japanese bush honeysuckle. haha

Its funny.....all year round you can hear squirrels in the trees gnawing on them. They sure have to work hard to get the good stuff.

[SteveinMN]

Its funny.....all year round you can hear squirrels in the trees gnawing on them. They sure have to work hard to get the good stuff.
We have a large black walnut tree in front of our house. The squirrels love 'em. But I don't know as they work really hard -- watching a squirrel go after the husk on a walnut is like watching Heckle and Jeckle eating an ear of corn. And they don't care where the chips fall....

[ETA]We let the squirrels have 'em. I don't like the taste of black walnuts and they're too much work for something I don't like. :~)

[bae]

[ETA]We let the squirrels have 'em. I don't like the taste of black walnuts and they're too much work for something I don't like. :~)

Black. Walnut. Pie.

[SteveinMN]

Black. Walnut. Pie.
I visited a friend of mine a few years ago in Missouri and, during our road trip, we encountered some town's Black Walnut Festival. Black walnut ice cream, black walnut pie, black walnut coffee cake, black walnut candy, black walnut this and that. We tried a bunch of items. Don't like it. Maybe there is some concoction that would make me love them. But I'm OK with things the way they are. :)

[rodeosweetheart]

We drove over ours with the car, too.

[Williamsmith]

SteveinMN,

Trust me, you would like black walnut furniture, not the edible kind.

[Float On]

I have a huge dislike for black walnuts ever since my slave labor years as well.
We had a grove of a hundred or more trees that was easy to get to (and thousands of other trees not so easy to get to (it is Missouri, the walnut tree is very common) and we'd spend days picking up walnuts and tossing them in the back of the truck. We then took them to a buyer who processed them so thankfully didn't have to do the shelling ourselves. I can still smell that pungent green hull odor. Apparently it has it's purpose I see bottles of it in the health food store but I steer clear.

[CathyA]

I think the hulls smell sort of like phony lemon cleaner.
I've tasted a few of these and I have to say I can't taste anything!

[frugal-one]

We forage walnuts each year. We always put the hulled walnuts in water because the "bad" ones float to the top. Saves time in not cracking those not worthy of eating.

[Tiam]

We have a large black walnut tree in front of our house. The squirrels love 'em. But I don't know as they work really hard -- watching a squirrel go after the husk on a walnut is like watching Heckle and Jeckle eating an ear of corn. And they don't care where the chips fall....

[ETA]We let the squirrels have 'em. I don't like the taste of black walnuts and they're too much work for something I don't like. :~)

So does that mean you like English Walnuts better?

[SteveinMN]

Trust me, you would like black walnut furniture, not the edible kind.
Although my taste runs more to teak and cherry, yes, black walnut furniture would be just fine. My former next-door neighbor -- who cut down the black walnut tree in his backyard -- tried several times to have me cut down my tree (they are kind of messy and so are the squirrels). Nothing doing. I did have mine trimmed back to keep the nuts from falling directly on his roof when the squirrels "oops". But there was no way I was pulling down that tree.


So does that mean you like English Walnuts better?
I do like English walnuts and cook with them frequently.