Question about walnuts. By neighbor has this huge walnut tree, must be about a bazillion years old, it is at least 60feet tall. This time of year you cannot park your car on the the street because these green things somewhere between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball come dropping down like hail. I being a city boy had no idea what they were, other than a nusiance to be avoided. My wife who is a farm girl, said they are walnuts. Well I love walnuts, lots of fun around christmas cracking them with bare hands, in the biceps, against the forehead etc trying to outdo the cousins. Well Sherry tells me those are european walnuts, these are black walnuts. “You try to do that forehead thing with one of these you are just gonna get a dent in your forehead, they are the one thing on earth harder than your skull.” So my question is are these things able to be processed into the edible item I love ? If so, what is the process? As they hit the ground they look like little green apples. Do I cut the green stuff away immediately, or do I let them turn brown? What is the process? Or do I as Sherry suggests let them lie and rot as they are worthless.
I don’t know what “European walnuts” are but there are certainly walnut trees in Europe with edible fruit. For example in the Perigord region of France they are grown commercially and the trees are dotted around pretty much everywhere. The fruits have a green husk which is the size you describe. I’m not sure of the process of curing them but I think you just leave them to dry and the husk will blacken and come loose, revealing the walnut inside. You do need to let them mature a few months as they are “wet” and chewy straight off the tree.
If the walnuts in Wisconsin are anything like the ones in California, what you are probably looking at is a Black Walnut tree.
This Wikipedia article is pretty useful. Scroll down to the bit on Black walnuts.
In California, black walnut trees can be found all over the central valley. They were pretty popular to plant as shade trees way back in the day. As a result, most of the trees you see are ancient and ginormous. However, the fruit isn’t of interest, even to the crows.
The walnut trees that are grown around here for food are the Persian walnut variety.
Interesting note: they graft the persian walnut trees onto a root base of black walnut. You can see the seam where the bark changes from one tree to another. I’ve heard that the root system in the black walnut is sturdier, but I don’t know how much truth there is to that.
I have no advice for you about getting to the nut, but I have a 1/2" scar on the middle finger of my left hand, and half of the fingertip is numb, caused by trying to cut the nut out of the green fruit in Crete when I was 16. The knife slipped off the leathery green skin and pared my finger down to the bone. So do be careful.
Work which is well rewarded by the delicious walnut fudge you can make come the cold days of January. These wild nuts are much more flavorsome than the commercial varieties.
Black walnuts are very hard to crack, but the extra work can be rewarding, as the nutmeats have a stronger flavor than those of regular walnuts. I wouldn’t use a conventional nutcracker - a good tool for this job is the Texan “York” nut sheller.
You should also be aware that the walnut hulls (the green part on the outside of the shells) will stain your hands and clothing black. Wear gloves when removing the hulls, and don’t wear clothes you care about.
Another thing - one reason there are so many black walnut trees in California is that they were used as rootstock for Persian (AKA English) walnuts. Black walnut trees are hardier and more disease-resistant than Persian walnut trees. When left untended, the grafted-on Persian walnut often dies off while the black walnut rootstock survives. Eventually all that’s left is a black walnut tree.
As for when to remove the hulls - do it as soon as the nuts fall off the tree. They’ll just rot and possibly damage the nut if you leave them on.
From your link: “Not recommended for Black Walnuts or Macadamians”
The only way to shell black walnuts that I’ve ever found worth it is to put a bunch in a paper grocery bag and run it over with your car a few times. No, really, I’m serious. And they will stain *everything *they come in contact with - skin, nails, hair, clothing, your countertops, your cat…
Thanks a million for all the info, I think I am going to give it a try, seems such a waste to just let them lie there for no reason. And I acutally do understand how the cat got stained… I work on cars a lot and my dog Fox has gotten greasy more than once because she wants attention and without thinking I stroke her back with a greasy hand… It does wash out , but she will not get in the tub without a fight…
As an aside, the best thing I’ve found to crack any nut is a small Vise-Grip plier. You can set the thing to just crack the shell without smashing the nut. Very good for pecans.
Let your neighbor know he needs to feed the tree to cut back on the nuisance factor.
We have a 50 year old black walnut on the side of the house which we would love to have hit by lightning. The first 3 years we were in the house it produced very heavy fruit.
The 4th year we hired an arborist to evaluate and feed all the trees. He said that a stressed tree (drought or lack of nutrition) produces more fruit to ensure survival. That may be bunk to keep us paying the contract, but the production is definitely down.
The first year I was shocked by the yard cleanup required, but didn’t keep a count. The second year I hauled off 72 13 gallon trash cans. Last year it was only 21 cans. Haven’t started pick up this year, but the bombardment of the gutters has begun.
