Black Walnut nut meat for sale

[Greg]

Make offer!

This year, as a small, family fund raising project for my son's baseball team, we are processing several hundred black walnuts from a large black walnut tree in our woods. Never done this before, so I'm honestly not entirely sure how they turned out. Look good, smell like black walnuts, some nice decent sized pieces.

Last weekend we produced an initial, small sized bag of nuts, maybe 1/2 pound or so with lots more to process, assuming there is demand/if there is someone who wants it.

I exchanged a message with someone a while back about wanting black walnuts to eat/cook with. Buy all of it, a small amount whatever you want. I'm not even sure whats a fair price. You tell me. It's a fundraiser, so please be fair!

Shoot me a private message if you are interested. Would prefer payment over paypal.

Thanks for your time,
Greg

[woodmills1]

just for grins how are you cracking them?

[Mooseherder]

just for grins how are you cracking them?

With his Teeth.

[logwalker]

22LR.   

[Greg]

just for grins how are you cracking them?

With some practice a few good taps with a hammer will split it into 3 pieces, without smashing it into smithereens. Definitely low tech stuff, as we don't have a fancy $100,000 cracker/separator machine

Throw those pieces in a bucket, give it a good shake, quite a few of the bigger chunks just fall out, others you have to a tap again, jimmy to get the pieces. Its just not worth trying to get every last bit of meat out, taking the easy stuff and it goes pretty fast.

I have noticed a large difference in the quality and colors of the meat. We've been throwing out about 10% due to poor quality. Mostly of the nut meat is a lighter in color and tan to light brown skin, but some are real dark and even starting to get moldy inside so we pitch anything like that. I've learned you want to dehusk them at the first sign of dark patches in the husk, otherwise as the husk rots it both stains and ruins the good stuff inside.

Personally I can't stand the flavor of black walnuts, but my Dad and some other folks we know really do...
Greg

[woodmills1]

when I crack mine with a hammer I put the nut inside of a 3" roll of tape to keep it from flying all over the place.

[beenthere]

I crack the walnuts and hickory nuts in a 3½" vise. Controlled break, and pretty quick.

Orientation of the nut (ends or sides) in the vise seems to affect the cracking and the yield of large meats, and it is different depending on how dry the nut is (or at least it seems to be).

 

[Greg]

Beenthere,

Right on all accounts. Controlled break, plus crush on the "flat" side.

Matches my experience exactly.

That meat color on your pic is exactly what we are after, those are "good ones", I think.

Two followup points to share:

Has anyone ever taken in a load of black walnuts to a buying station? Apparently there is one and only one commerical black walnut producer left - Hammonds. I understand they have a bunch of buying stations set up in the fall at rural feed stores, small towns in the midwest. I've never seen one before and don't know how they pay for walnuts. Closest one I saw, is about an hour from here. I'd like to see what their hulling machines look like.

Secondly, I understand a secondary product from Hammonds is fine ground walnut shells that are used for industrial grinding/sanding applications. Someone figured out walnut shells are extremely hard and durable and when ground, can be used a an abrasive. I never knew that (till I read up on Hammands web site).

Seems like a nice way to make a "few" extra bucks on the side/collecting black walnuts. You don't have to look very hard to find a supply, I bet billions of them go to waste every year around here.

Happy voting,
Greg

[Banjo picker]

I crack the walnuts and hickory nuts in a 3½" vise. Controlled break, and pretty quick.

Orientation of the nut (ends or sides) in the vise seems to affect the cracking and the yield of large meats, and it is different depending on how dry the nut is (or at least it seems to be).

If anyone should know Beenthere should be the one....I was very impressed with the grove of black walnuts I saw somewhere a while back surfing the FF...I plant a few myself, but not that orderly....Tim

[rebocardo]

> fine ground walnut shells

Sand blasting media, you can buy it at hardware stores.
 

[Brad_bb]

Yeah, look at how much they charge for packaged BLACK walnuts at the grocery store.  They're not cheap.  But also remember that they have more middle men, but you have more labor.  You'd probably want to sell them below that price to make it attractive (your customers would have to pay shipping too remember).  I use maybe a half pound for putting in fudge at thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'd start by posting a pic of your product and your packaging (even if it's just a ziploc).  It would be nice to get the shells used, but probably not worth it for you as it takes a lot of shells to use as blasting media and the price for the amount you'd have probably wouldn't bring you much if anything at all.  I have a 25lb bag of ground shells for my bead blasting cabinet.  You'd use them not to replace sand, but to strip paint on delicate parts.  Sand or aluminum oxide removes metal and rust, shells will only remove paint, and not always that fast.

[Greg]

Thanks for the advice Brad, I should get some pics up.

Nobody is deluded to think we are going to make any real money at this, its more for my kids to see that they can take something raw and with a little work, create a product to sell. Kinda like Junior Achievement project for forestry.

The more I read about BWs at Hammons web site and others, I just thought how interesting it was that there is a (limited) market for every part of BWs. The husks are used in cosmetics, the nut meat for food/baking, the ground shells as abrasives.

Pretty remarkable blessing that mother nature gave us, no inputs, literally grows on trees/falls out of the sky etc...

(I'd like to do something similar with Ginseng, but we don't seem to have much growing around here, even though everything about my woodlot seems right for it to grow. Establishing it is an expensive and iffy proposition)
Greg

p.s.

At one point, I asked Jeff to add a new forum specifically for NTFPs, or non timber forest products, but it was decided not to since there were too many board categories already. I for one am very interested in the subject of NTFPs, and any experiences people have with various "alternative" forest products.

[OneWithWood]

Used to have a few good patches of ginseng, golden seal and morrels on the property.  Unfortunately someone else stumbled upon the bounty and ripped it all out.  What a waste 
Properly cared for I would have had all I needed for life.

[Brad_bb]

Yeah, post some pics on a new for sale thread, list the shipping method(Usps parcel post usually cheapest).  You can also use the husks to make a water based stain.  The pioneers did that in the old days.  Manufacturers may use it today even.  I have a mature black walnut in my yard.  As a kid I messed with them but ended up with stained hands and was too difficult to get the meat out, but now that I'm older I could wear rubber gloves for husking and and the methods described here for cracking.  The last few years I've been letting the squirrells plant them in the yard and I dig up the seedlings in the spring  and transplant them to where I want them.  Your kids could also sell the seedlings in the spring once they learn to dig them properly and repot them in plastic pots.  I reuse used ones for this.  The seedling sends a main root straight down like a carrot.  You don't want to cut that.  If you catch them while they are still young enough, you'll be able to dig down with a potting shovel on all sides and then pry the plug out (I have black dirt/clay like soil here to it helps the plug remain intact).  and I put it in a 4 inch plastic pot.  Don't overwater.

[Banjo picker]

As a kid I messed with them but ended up with stained hands and was too difficult to get the meat out, but now that I'm older I could wear rubber gloves for husking and and the methods described here for cracking. 

We have a gravel driveway....as soon as they fall   kick throw rake...etc them out there let the car run over them a week or so then pick them up in a bucket and rince them off...most of the stain is gone....I realize some may not be so fortunate as to have a gravel drive though
 Tim

[JimMoore]

I would like 2 pound if it is around the grocery store price.

[Corley5]

A corn sheller also works for removing the husks 

[Corley5]

We looked at these at Moultrie http://www.baganut.com/ and are thinking about buying one to make cleaning up the black walnuts easier.  Grandma has 6 or so mature trees in the yard and barnyard.  If the nuts aren't picked up and hauled to the woods the squirrells fill every available space with nuts.  They've even filled tractor mufflers 

[metalspinner]

Corley5,
My uncle bought one of those for his pecan orchard.  He couldn't use it the first year, because he took delivery of it after the pecans fell.  The grass was too long for the fingers to grasp the nut. Notice the height of the grass in the video.  Now, he mows the orchard ahead of the anticipated drop and the nuts pick up fine.

[Corley5]

    Good to hear a first hand account    In the short grass at the show grounds they made quick work of pecans    I see the sight also recommends keeping grass to 5" or shorter