Have tons of fresh walnuts-how best keep them?

October 17, 2004

Hi, a friend has a walnut tree and knowing we're doing SCD has given me what

seems to

be her entire harvest ;-) They are so fresh you don't even need a nutcracker,

but they feel

a bit humid. Is it best to pass them a bit in the oven (no idea what temp or

how long) to

" roast " them, or directly make nut flour, or dry them with the shell and keep

them that

way???

Any direction would be very welcome. I've no idea what the best way is

Thanks!

, mom to 5ASD and 3 on Fri!, SCD since nov 5 03

October 18, 2004

Hi ,

I'm assuming you have the English walnuts..... not the very-hard-to-crack Black

walnuts? If so, HOORAY! The Black walnuts are just too hard to bother with (in

my opinion). Yes.... you'll need to dry them a bit. I usually spread them out on

large, stackable, wood-framed wire screens in a warm, dry spot in the house. I

used to prop the screens up in the corner behind my woodstove..... but moved

since to a home without a stove.

You can also spread them out on newspaper..... or in shallow cardboard boxes, in

a single layer (takes up LOTs of room, unfortunately). I've also dried walnuts

in my food dehydrator....... on the LOWEST setting for about 24 hours. It

doesn't take much.... you don't want to overheat or overdry them. Just enough to

keep them from getting moldy. If there are any bits of the green hulls left on,

you may want to scrub them a bit. Depending on how dry the fall weather is, some

years they seem to fall clean.... and others they don't. A large laundry sink or

washtub would be ideal....... enough water to churn them around in vigorously,

with a large wooden spoon or stick of some kind...... to get as much of the

green bits off as possible.

Watch out (in case you haven't already noticed this) for the amazing ability of

the green walnut hulls to badly STAIN everything it comes in contact with,

including your fingers. In bygone days, walnut hulls were cooked into a " soup "

and used to tint graying hair.... and dye yarn. If the nuts do need washing, I

like to add a small amount (a tablespoon or two) of bleach, which helps keep the

mold off the shells, too. Rinse well a second time with plain water.

Once dry, see if you can get some of the onion sacks made from plastic netting

from your local grocery produce department (they throw them away).... as these

make excellent storage bags for walnuts. Just make sure you store them in a dry

place if you keep them in the shell. I've been known to catch my husband in

front of a football game..... hand him a large sack of walnuts & a nut cracker

so he can make himself useful....LOL. I request that he try for intact halves,

then freeze the results in big ziplocks.

I used to take a stab at predicting how cold the winter would be by watching too

see if the squirrels would strip the walnut trees before the nuts had a chance

to fall. Don't know if the squirrels know what they're in for or not..... but

this year, they don't seem to be in quite such a frantic hurry as they were last

year.