Black Walnuts
I live in Missouri at the time of writing this, so I’m practically covered in these. Honestly every third house in Kansas City seems like it has a black walnut tree. Black walnuts are high in protein and fats, the husks can be used for dying, inks, paint and herbicide, and she shells can be used for sandblasting or woodchip like paths.
Step 1: Husking.
First thing is getting that green/black coating off. They’ll seem hard as they first start falling off the tree, but as time goes on they’ll soften up. Problem is though, the longer those husks are on the nuts, the more bitter the nuts generally become. To judge the age of the nuts off the tree, they start nearly completely green then turn black the longer they’re off the tree. Anyway there’s a few methods of getting the husks off, though be sure to collect the husks as they have a few good uses. Note do not be alarmed if there are small bugs on/in the husks, we’ll test for the good nuts later. Also be sure to wear gloves and clothing you don’t care about, these husks will stain clothes a rich brown.
Husking Options
Sharp Knife. This one is pretty simple, take a small sharp knife, say a good pocket knife or a paring knife from the kitchen and cut off all the green/black gunk within reason.
Heavy Boot. This is good if the husks are starting to get slimy. Just squish as much of the hunk gunk off that you can a heavy boot.
Car. If you have a heavy amount of walnuts and a car is available, consider running them over. It might feel silly to have to move a two ton car just to crack open a nut, but it does work!
Professional Shelling Service. If you live in an area that has a heavy amount of nut trees, and you have an insane amount of nuts to shell (I’m talking a truckload.) Then it may be advisable to look into a professional shelling service. I’m including a link to Hammons Black Walnuts here.
Step 2: Cleaning and Drying.
This step is pretty simple, all the bits of remaining husk gunk on the nuts have to be removed. Just spray them with water and let them soak in a bucket overnight. If any nuts float to the surface, then that’s probably a bad nut. If you have a high powered nozzle or maybe a small pressure washer, now would be the time to use it. Just let the nuts soak overnight or for most of a day. Then take the nuts out to dry in a warm spot for the next 3 weeks to 3 months, or until when the nut is shaken you can hear the nutmeat rattling around inside. Leave these to dry somewhere like a sunroom or greenhouse that’s warm and squirrels will have difficulty stealing your nuts.
Step 2.5 Dyeing with Herbicide (optional). Know all those leftover husks and husk goop that came off the walnuts, you can reuse that in two ways. First off as you’ve probably discovered, black walnut husk stains skin/clothing a rich shade of brown. So if there’s anything you want to dye brown, leave cloth or yarn submerged into hunk goop until it’s the desired brown color. Many crafters also use black walnuts for making homemade ink or paints. After this the leftover husks and husk goop need to be disposed of and do not use black walnut husks as compost for anything. Black walnuts contain a herbicide called juglone which kills loads of plant types around them. For this reason do not let black walnut husks near any type of plant you're trying to grow. However if there’s a plant around you’re trying to get rid of such as invasive kudzu, these leftover husks can be great organic weed control.
Step 3: Cracking. Once the walnuts have been dried they can be cracked at any time. However it is likely wise to only crack open walnuts when they’re needed. Black walnut shells are fairly hard to get into but they also preserve the nut incredibly well, so being lazy and just leaving the nuts in the shells until needed will actually help out. For reference, nuts in the shell last around 6 months to a year at room temperature, while unshelled nuts seem to last around 3 months at room temperature. Keeping the nuts cool will help this, with refrigerated/frozen nuts nearly doubling their shelf life. Though if hard on fridge/freezer space, shelled nuts do fairly well in cool root cellars. Anyway cracking these black walnuts open is fairly hard work, but here are all the recommended methods. Please note, dry the nuts as much as possible, as the more these nuts are dried the more likely they are to crack open on their own.
Nutpick. Ok a nutpick is really just a tiny screwdriver/icepick like tool that is pretty good at getting into harder nuts like hickory or black walnuts. The trick here is just to let the nuts dry to the point where they seem to open up a little in the side. Then jam the nutpick in there and they practically split in two.
Brick. Some people swear by just bashing the nut with a brick on a stone or concrete surface. It does work.
Hammer. Similar to the brick, I recommend going with a hammer with a wide head for this, like a smithing hammer if you have one lying around.
Fancy Nutcracker. When it comes to nutcrackers go big or go home, if it doesn’t look like a piece of industrial equipment I’d stay away from it. However if you have loads of hard to open nuts and the other options just won’t do it for you, go for an expensive nutcracker. Side note if a friend has loads of nut trees on their property, nutcrackers make a good gift for them.
Step 4: Cooking. Time to actually use the nutmeat. Additionally since these are rich in oil, consider tossing the nutmeat in an oil press if you need oil for any reason. Feel free to give the leftover shells to chickens to peck at as they love looking at leftover nutmeat. Leftover shells are also good for sandblasting, or due to their durable nature they can make a good footpath material.
Toasted Black Walnuts. To toast walnuts, just fry them on the stovetop on any random pan. No need to add oil as walnuts have plenty of oil inside of them. If you want to use an oven, toss them on a baking sheet one layer at a time and roast them at 350f for around 10 minutes or until golden brown. If using a dutch oven, over a fire/wood stove you're just going to have to eyeball it. If wanting to make a variation on this, to make candied toasted walnuts try adding a small amount honey, maple syrup, or other sweetener along with a pinch of a preferred spice such as cinnamon, allspice, dried hot pepper, or nutmeg along with a pinch of salt. Coat the walnuts in a thin layer of this concoction at a ratio of around 1 cup of walnuts, 3 tablespoons syrup, 1 teaspoon spice, and a pinch of salt. Feel free to experiment with this. Toasted black walnuts will last around 2 weeks at
Walnut Butter. Walnut butter is easy, use any walnuts that are raw, soaked toasted, or even honey toasted for a sweet butter. All you have to do is toss walnuts into a good blender or food processor and let them blend for 3-4 minutes or until rich and creamy. If you want to add sweeteners, consider sugar/honey/maple syrup at a ratio of about ½ tablespoon for every cup of walnuts. Fresh homemade walnut butter will last for around 2 weeks in a cool pantry or a month in the fridge.
Walnut Milk. Milk has loads of protein and fat, walnuts have loads of protein and fat, walnut milk can actually be a decent substitute for the real thing. To make walnut milk, begin by taking walnuts and soaking them overnight. You can skip this step if you desire but it’s highly recommended. After that, take the soaked walnuts and rinse them off, discarding the old water. Then add soaked walnuts to a blender, for every 1 cup of soaked walnuts, add about 2 cups of water. This will yield a single 24 ounce unit of milk or around a 0.75 liter bottle’s worth. Anyway, blend this 1 to 2 ratio of walnuts and water together for a minute or two and strain the mixture into whatever milk jug is available. To wring out the last bit of nut milk use a cheesecloth, coffee filter or nut milk bag to squeeze out the last bit of fluid from the nuts. As usual feel free to add a teaspoon or two of sweetener, or even consider adding chocolate to taste for chocolate walnut milk.
Because I love giving myself projects I have no time for, this might turn into the first part of my big stupid homesteading cookbook I've talked about. Link is here if anyone wants to take a look at things and offer suggestions.
