Oooooooh, my nuts! Update - nut-cracker recommendations, please!

Penelope_Penguin

Good morning, and apologies for the eye-catching title

I've been given a big bag of mixed nuts in their shells. Rather than have them hanging about, I'd like to shell them all, and use them in my Festive Baking

Any idea how I can crack a whole load of nuts quickly and easily, please

TIA, Penny. x

soappie

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Good morning, and apologies for the eye-catching title

I've been given a big bag of mixed nuts in their shells. Rather than have them hanging about, I'd like to shell them all, and use them in my Festive Baking

Any idea how I can crack a whole load of nuts quickly and easily, please

TIA, Penny. x

Employ a bunch of small children and bribe them?

ifonlyitwaseasier

hmmmmmmmmm, hammer and a vice?

Olliebeak

My grandad used to use an old 'flat iron' and the edge of the tiled hearth - much to grandmother's anger :mad:!!!

sorry it's not much help - but your question just brought back such a memory .

Nordictat2

Get a square piece of wood, a towl and lay the towel on the floor...put a pile of the nuts on the towel..then place the wood on top...then step on it

Primrose

I don't think I've ever succeeded yet in cracking a single nut without smashing it into a thousand pieces so I'm not best qualified to give advice but putting them in a plastic carrier bag and running your mower over them (if it's got a heavy roller on it) might work. The danger with any bulk cracking process is that the time you save on cracking the shells in bulk will be more than taken up with picking through the crushed nuts afterwards trying to pick out the nuts from the smashed shells. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the one little undiscovered piece of walnut shell which creeps into your fruit cake or Christmas pudding will be the one that wrecks Granny's dentures and ends up with her (or you !!) having to pay a £300 dental bill. I'd settle for the nutcrackers and the one-at-a-time method.

greenbee

soappie wrote: »

Employ a bunch of small children and bribe them?

I think that's probably the most practical suggestion. Unless you have any tame squirrels ...

champys

Agree with Primrose. One of my friends who came house-sitting for us this summer cracked half a case of our walnuts (we have a huge tree): she dedicated one evening to nut-cracking while listening to the Proms. I'm so grateful to her, because I still have shelled walnuts ready to use.
So you might do like her and make it an 'event' while listening to a great piece of music - or do it Flylady style 15 minutes at a time! A good nutcracker is essential.

Penelope_Penguin

champys wrote: »

A good nutcracker is essential.

Which leads me to my next question Can anyone recommend a good pair of crackers, please

TIA, Penny. x

champys

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Which leads me to my next question Can anyone recommend a good pair of crackers, please

TIA, Penny. x

I use one of those 'barrel-shape' things, not quite sure how to describe them. Like this one. It cracks very carefully and is not too hard on the hands. But people have different preferences. DH dislikes this one and uses a small hammer, very effectively.

Woofles

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Which leads me to my next question Can anyone recommend a good pair of crackers, please

TIA, Penny. x

It's a good job you didn't ask that in the Arms.:rotfl: