29 October 2008

Black Walnut Harvest

This post is mostly a message to myself so that I remember how to do this right next year. We tried harvesting black walnuts last week. They grow naturally all over this area, and I like everything about these trees, from the smell to the color, to the wood and of course the flavor of the nuts. I had memories of shelling them as a kid with a hammer. Unfortunately I did not do any research before starting. I should have read this article, which describes how you need to collect them green, remove the outer shell, then cure them for a few weeks before breaking the hard shell open. Since ours were not cured, the meats were very moist and sweet but did not taste much like Black Walnuts should. Also, my method was extremely messy. I'll try again next year:







4 comments:

Brad said...

Watch out, that inky liquid will stain and probably not come out.

Julie said...

One of my favorite stories from my grandma is how black her hands would get every year from shelling black walnuts. Evidently, she also used it as hair dye in the 30s-- she had raven hair, so I suppose that would work.

CityKin said...

The stain is very strong and permanent, and it isn't strickly black. It is more of a rusty yellow black which is kinda pretty.

Mel G said...

These are fantastic photos anyway! Our 3 year old son's preschool (Montessori) collects and eats the black walnuts as one activity. He loves everything about the process, including eating the walnuts, and he knows more than I do at this point! I am glad you have a link to an article, for the years when he still wants to collect them.