Walnuts

garys_missus

This is my first time using this site, so I hope that I'm posting in the right place. Can anybody out there tell me how to keep walnuts. We're lucky enough to have two trees in the garden, but each year I end up throwing loads away as they go mouldy. There are only so many ways to use them in cooking. Any advice would be appreciated, as I've already started picking them up.

Debt_Free_Chick

"Keep shelled walnuts tightly sealed and refrigerated or store in your freezer for up to one year. In-shell walnuts will remain fresh for several months when stored in a cool, dry place. Do not shell until ready to use. Take special care when storing walnuts with other foods as they sometimes can absorb odors of other foods, like citrus, fish etc. "

Try google

HTH

Agapanthus

They need to be very thoroughly dried - remove the outer soft husk and spread them out on newspaper in a warm dry place for a week or two. Then seal them up in an old ice cream container or some such to store them in the house- we had a batch that contained mill moth (or meal moth, I'm not sure) larvae, that got out and made for the foodstuffs in the kitchen.

If they're in the garage or an outbuilding, I usually just hang them up in a net (away from any passing rodents). An old onion netting sack is ideal for this.

I've kept them many years like this, although eventually they become too desiccated to be palatable.

Have you tried walnut salad? Make french dressing using walnut oil instead of olive oil or whatever you usually use. Then toss the lettuce leaves in the dressing and throw in chunks of walnut. Yum!

hardpressed

I have a walnut tree which is loaded with nuts, last year the squirrels beat me to it and ate the lot. Can they be picked while they're still green? I'd like to get my share this year.

thriftlady_2

Not yet, unless you want to pickle them;)
They are best picked as late as possible according to The River Cottage Cookbook - late October or even early November. Apparently the fruit surrounding the nut should be split and the nut showing through. You should peel the fruit away and dry the nuts in an airing cupboard if you're not going to use them straight away.

The River Cottage book says that walnuts don't ripen terribly well in our climate which I suppose is why we pickle them when they're unripe. My farmshop had green walnuts a couple of weeks ago and I bought a few to pickle.

To pickle walnuts

Wash them well and !!!!! all over with a needle.
Cover with brine (150g salt per litre of water, boiled and cooled).
Leave for a week, changing the brine every 2 days.
Rinse and leave on a rack to dry for 2-3 days.
Pack in jars and cover with hot, spiced vinegar.Make this by combining a litre of white wine or cider vinegar with a tbsp each of cloves, allspice berries and white peppercorns, plus a couple of bay leaves and a cinnamon stick.Heat until hot but not boiling.
Seal jars and leave for at least 3 months.

I did this but changed the spices a bit (used mustard seed and coriander instead of peppercorns and allspice). My jar of walnuts looks a bit cloudy at the moment, not sure if it's supposed to

Hope that's of some help.You're very lucky to have a fruiting tree, I understand they take decades to produce nuts, but I reckon the squirrels will get most of them:rolleyes:

wendym

There's a mathematical formula that applies to hazelnuts as well:

Where X is the day you plan to pick the nuts, X-1 is the day the squirrels steal them.

Works every time.

hardpressed

Thanks for the advice. I don't hold out much hope of getting any, I think the rats with bushy tails will get them before they're ready to pick. Beatrix Potter has a lot to answer for. Squirrel Nutkin was a thug!!

Elljay_2

We have a huge walnut tree near us. Can anyone tell me when the nuts will be ripe? At the moment they are just starting to fall off the tree and the green outer skin is easy to come off, but the nut inside looks a bit white and not at all hard land brownish like the ones you get in the shops.
Thanks

MoJo

They're ripening right now:)
The ones in shops have been dried and are probably quite old.

The harvest is generally Sept through October.

You need to remove the hulls (the green bit) - which will stain your fingers so wear protective golves. Then the kernels (the hard shells) need to be dried. We used to leave them to dry naturally for about 2-3 weeks then give them a final blasting in the oven, but I have no idea about the temp and for how long, sorry.

They keep in the shells for months if you can keep them cool and dry.
I also believe the shells can be frozen but I'm not sure about this.

thriftlady_2

This thread might be helpful to you Elijay

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=243317&highlight=walnut+tree

Counting_Pennies_2

Hi all,

I posted on Discussion, but no replies, so hoping someone can help.

I have a bumper crop of Walnuts and I am not sure what to do with them.

I would like to eat them dry, I don't want them pickled.

Do I need to dry them out first? If so how long for and how should I dry them?

Thanks