I have walnut trees on my property and not sure what to do with them
at harvest time .Do i just gather them and let them dry out?they seem
to just rot away when i do.Any info would be appreciated.

john ) writes:
I have walnut trees on my property and not sure what to do with them
at harvest time .Do i just gather them and let them dry out?they seem
to just rot away when i do.Any info would be appreciated.

I spread butternuts and walnuts on newpapers in a spare room. The husks
dry out, turn brown, become brittle, and can be broken away from the nuts
with your hands after a few weeks. It doesn't hurt the nuts. The nuts aren't
rotting. Was out gatheirng walnuts today and plan to go back at it tomorrow.


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Elizabeth Naime wrote in message . ..
What sort of walnuts do you have? I collect black walnuts, which dry
just as William described. Black walnut hulls are an excellent natural
dye, and currently I'm drying walnuts just for the hulls. The meat is
really rich and super-walnutty, truly wonderful, but a serious pain to
extract as the shell is very thick and the nutmeats are small and don't
fall out of the shell.

I would think any walnut, including the thin-shelled ones, would dry
much the same way; if you are having trouble with the nut itself going
bad, try removing as much of the hull as possible before drying or early
in the drying process. For black walnuts rubber or similar gloves are a
necessity, because the hulls are a dye and WILL stain your hands. I
don't know about other walnut hulls as dyestuff, but I'd probably wear
my "walnut gloves" when hulling them just for the heck of it!

On the off chance that what you have are black walnuts, save those nasty
staining hulls when they're dry. A local textile fanatic would surely
love to have them! This year I'm planning on completely drying out the
hulls I don't use this season and putting them up in quart or
half-gallon jars with the Tilia. Of course, preserving dyestuff is going
to be much simpler than preserving foods, since I'm not planning on
ingesting the dyebath!


-----------------------------------------
Only know that there is no spork.
As a matter of fact they are black walnuts.maybe you can email me on
the specefics on what i can use them for as im not sure what you mean
by usin the hulls .I had planned on eating them for the nuts.

Elizabeth Naime wrote in message . ..
What sort of walnuts do you have? I collect black walnuts, which dry
just as William described. Black walnut hulls are an excellent natural
dye, and currently I'm drying walnuts just for the hulls. The meat is
really rich and super-walnutty, truly wonderful, but a serious pain to
extract as the shell is very thick and the nutmeats are small and don't
fall out of the shell.

I would think any walnut, including the thin-shelled ones, would dry
much the same way; if you are having trouble with the nut itself going
bad, try removing as much of the hull as possible before drying or early
in the drying process. For black walnuts rubber or similar gloves are a
necessity, because the hulls are a dye and WILL stain your hands. I
don't know about other walnut hulls as dyestuff, but I'd probably wear
my "walnut gloves" when hulling them just for the heck of it!

On the off chance that what you have are black walnuts, save those nasty
staining hulls when they're dry. A local textile fanatic would surely
love to have them! This year I'm planning on completely drying out the
hulls I don't use this season and putting them up in quart or
half-gallon jars with the Tilia. Of course, preserving dyestuff is going
to be much simpler than preserving foods, since I'm not planning on
ingesting the dyebath!


-----------------------------------------
Only know that there is no spork.
As a matter of fact they are black walnuts.maybe you can email me on
the specefics on what i can use them for as im not sure what you mean
by usin the hulls .I had planned on eating them for the nuts.

Elizabeth Naime ) writes:
What sort of walnuts do you have? I collect black walnuts, which dry

you might want to look at http://ecsong.ca (Eastern Chapter, Society of
Ontario Nut Growers) for interesting info on black walnuts and butternuts.
there are photos of specialized nut crackers, but a metal mechanic's vice
is recommended. I have one on the bench in my workshop and find it much
better than the hammer and axe head method. It took me an hour's cracking
with the axe-and-hammer to get enough butternut meat for one pie. Not to
mention the bruised fingers.

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In article ,
(john) wrote:

I have walnut trees on my property and not sure what to do with them
at harvest time .Do i just gather them and let them dry out?they seem
to just rot away when i do.Any info would be appreciated.

A few years back my husband & I harvested a whole lot of black walnuts
from trees near our home. We wore latex gloves to remove the husks (the
greenish/yellowish/brown fibrous cover) after we stomped on them and
ground them into gravel to loosen them. It was quite labor intensive.

After removing the husks we let them "cure" or age for a few weeks until
the shells were completely dry.

The next task was breaking open the shells without destroying the actual
nutmeats. We tried vise-grip pliers and hammers, but eventually broke
down and bought a serious nutcracker.

Breaking the shells and extracting the nutmeats is a good activity to do
in front of the TV. It is tedious and exacting as black walnuts contain
much less product than their English counterparts.

Having said all this, I will say that the process was worth it because
you will never have such amazing nut flavor from any other source. We
froze them and used them in turkey stuffings and the most incredible nut
pies you can imagine. Eating them out of hand is also wonderful.

I hope you can enjoy your walnuts before the squirrels get all of them.

Angela

Angela Dougherty ) writes:

The next task was breaking open the shells without destroying the actual
nutmeats. We tried vise-grip pliers and hammers, but eventually broke
down and bought a serious nutcracker.

This is a problem even for the nuts themselves. Before the seed can sprout
and grow the nut has open and it takes more than one freezing-thawing
cycle in the ground for the nut to crack open so the seedling can get out.
That's why nut sould be planted in teh fall. I've read it takes some black
walnuts nuts two years in the ground before the shell opens and the seed
can grow.

Perhaps putting the nuts in a freezer a few times will open them. Must try
that.

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