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Nov 05, 2023

How to harvest, process and store black walnuts

THUD, THUD, THUNK. Each time a breeze rustles the branches, another dozen black

THUD, THUD, THUNK. Each time a breeze rustles the branches, another dozen black walnuts fall to the ground. The area beneath the walnut tree nearest the house was starting to look like a mismanaged tennis court — and it is only one of six walnut trees on our property.

"What are we going to do with all these walnuts?" I asked the farmer as I threw one out for the dog to catch.

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"We’ll eat them," he replied. "I’ll bring ’round the bucket loader."

The farmer and I are nuts about nuts, but it seems that most Ohioans don't share our enthusiasm. Each fall we drive over hundreds of smashed hulls on country back roads and see tons of black walnuts left to rot. I have witnessed the same native nut waste in many Ohio Metro Parks.

If you do not have your own black walnut tree to gather from, look for unattended black walnut trees and ask the property owner if you may gather and haul away. The owner is likely to thank you for removing the nuts from the mower's path.

Alternatively, take a few 5-gallon buckets along on your next autumn hike. If free foraged food isn't benefit enough, witnessing the changing color of the season will make it worth your while.

Hand de-hulling is tedious to process a large amount of nuts. Some folks swear the best way to remove a large amount of hulls is to jack up your car and spin the wheels over trays of walnuts. Personally I prefer to use The Maximizer de-huller from Pleasant Hill Grain. The Maximizer also works for corn, and can be purchased for about $50 online.

Ohio Nut Growers Association maintains a list of Hammons Hulling locations that will de-hull black walnuts for you. Processors buy walnuts by the in-shell weight.

If you encounter worms when you are removing hulls, rest assured they do not affect the nut. Dispose of worms with the hulls and proceed to next step.

Or

Shelled nuts keep up to two years in the freezer. Salt-brining and dehydrating preserves shelled nuts. Store preserved nuts in air-tight containers at room temperature.

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