Walnut?

[lowpolyjoe]

Hey Guys,

I remember seeing some sort of fruit on this tree in past years but I had no idea it might be walnut until recently.  Most of the nuts on the ground are black and very rotten looking. 

Can you guys confirm if this is some sort of walnut?   If so, are the nuts edible like the store-bought ones?  I eat walnuts in my cereal every morning and wouldn't mind trying to grab some from my yard.   

I found 10 or 15 nuts on the ground today.  They were all black and rotten looking except maybe 3 that still had the green husk on.  I broke open a few of the black ones to see if there was anything good inside but it was either completely rotten or an empty shell.  One in the husk had a dark spot on it so I peeled it apart to see what was going on.  FILLED with worms :(   I peeled another and it looked OK

I never thought this tree looked very healthy.  Do the worms go after the tree too?  Or just the fruit/nuts?







Thanks a lot,
Joe

[WDH]

Yes, black walnut. 

[lowpolyjoe]

Thanks WDH.   Now I just wish the tree was bigger

I did some looking around online and found this thread about eating walnuts:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/329134

Sounds like English Walnuts might be the ones i'm used to eating from the store.  I can confirm that cracking the shells on these black walnuts was pretty tough.  I'm gonna be keeping any eye out and see how many I can grab before they get infested with worms or swiped by the wildlife.

[WDH]

Yes, the English walnuts have been bred for nut production.  That is what you buy in the stores.  The native black walnuts are delicious, but the meat is very difficult to separate from the shell, a very tedious process.  They taste better, but it is not probably worth all the extra work to get the meat separated from the shell in any quantity unless you are a purist and have a lot of time on your hands.

[beenthere]

Sounds like the worms were between the nut shell and the husk (after it turned from green to black). That is typical and doesn't harm the nut meat that is within the shell.

So collect the green ones and kick the husk off the black ones and the green ones.
(the ones that the husk dries hard are usually no good, and are immature ones that dropped early)

Put the nut in a bucket and turn the hose on full blast from a nozzle. That will swirl them around and clean them pretty good. Lay them out on paper or other place to dry (where the squirrels can't get them).

Once dry, they will keep over the winter for cracking to get the nut meats out.
I crack them in a vise, although a hammer used carefully with light taps will break the shell too.
Use some dykes (side cutters) to assist cracking the shell to get out the meats. 

[lowpolyjoe]

Thanks guys.


WDH - It definitely seems tedious given what I saw when I cracked a few open, but i'll still probably give it a shot just for fun.  Some funny comments in that link I posted about how much of a waste of time it can be  :D.  Everyone also commented that they could stain your hands pretty bad. 

Beenthere - thanks for the details.

[beenthere]

Everyone also commented that they could stain your hands pretty bad.

They had it a bit wrong when indicating the shell will stain the hands. When dry, the shell will not stain.

It is the green husk that quickly turns to black mush that stains. Get the nut out, washed off, and dry then there is no staining. The green husk in the gazillion walnuts that have fallen here in the last couple weeks takes about a day to turn black and begin to fall off. Makes a black mess in the driveway.

[mesquite buckeye]

The worms are a kind of fruit fly. Doesn't get to the nut at all.

If you can find an old corn sheller, they will clean them up really well.

A old trick used to be to park a car on concrete or pavement and jack up 1 back tire so that the nuts just catch. Better block the wheels and hide from OSHA. put the car in gear and get the up tire spinning. Shovel nuts in front of the tire, cleaned nuts fly out the back. Pretty cool. Just a little dangerous. ;D

[lowpolyjoe]

A old trick used to be to park a car on concrete or pavement and jack up 1 back tire so that the nuts just catch. Better block the wheels and hide from OSHA. put the car in gear and get the up tire spinning. Shovel nuts in front of the tire, cleaned nuts fly out the back. Pretty cool. Just a little dangerous. ;D

Ha!     :D That's great.  All my cars are AWD so i think i'm out of luck

I'm collecting a few nuts every day, but i probably won't have too many total.   I'll wear some rubber gloves and peel them by hand at some point.  Very interested in how these things taste.

[sandhills]

If you like the English walnuts you'll love black walnuts, but be forewarned, you'll starve to death getting a meal out of them  :D.  I'm a bit ashamed to admit this here but we moved to our current residence last January and this summer while cleaning up the yard and behind the garage I kept coming across walnut shells so I spent hours walking through the trees behind our house looking for a walnut tree.  I found it a few days later in the corner of my garden when it started putting nuts on  stupid_smiley.

[grweldon]

I'm collecting a few nuts every day, but i probably won't have too many total.   I'll wear some rubber gloves and peel them by hand at some point.  Very interested in how these things taste.

How about trying this...  Take two pieces of 1x4 about 24" long.  Attached them together at one end with a hinge.  On one of the boards, drill or bore a 1 1/4" hole (or 1 1/2... depends on the size of the nuts).  Set the board between two short pieces of log set on end as a makeshift workbench.  The undrilled piece goes on top.  Take the Black Walnut and set it on top of the hole and bring the upper board down to contact it and push the nut through the hole, leaving the rind behind.  If this seems to be too difficult, take a screw and screw it in to the upper board in-line with the center of the hole in the bottom and leave about an inch (give or take) sticking out.  Put the nut on the hole and bring the screw head down to the nut and press.  The screw should pop the nut out of the rind right through the hole!

Let us know how it works...

[beenthere]

sandhills

black walnuts, but be forewarned, you'll starve to death getting a meal out of them

My grandfather used to sit in the evenings and, while listening to the radio, go through a bowl of cracked walnuts and pick out the meats. This was his snack instead of popcorn.

I do that on occasion, but in my shop. Crack the nuts in the vise and pick out the meats using side cutters to nip the shell to release the nut meats. I do like walnut meats.  8)

For shucking the husks off, just walk around on them a day or two after they fall (wear rubber boots that wash easily) and let dry a day, then pick the nuts up (with gloves on) and wash them in a tub or pail. That cleans things up pretty fast and reduces the handling of the walnut husks.

[doctorb]

I'm a little late on this one....and I have a black walnut or two in front of my house...so I can absolutely say that's what this tree is.  My question for the tree guys is how do I distinguish this from a Butternut tree when I go up to Ontario?

[beenthere]

One easy way is to split open a branch to see if the chambered pith center is light color (Black walnut) or dark chocolate color (butternut).  (note: edited my original post).

[sandhills]

beenthere, I remember my grandpa Ray laying them all over his gravel driveway and in a day or two of driving in and out the husks were gone but I imagine the squirrels got their share of them as well  ;). 

[lowpolyjoe]

How about trying this...  Take two pieces of 1x4 about 24" long.  Attached them together at one end with a hinge.  On one of the boards, drill or bore a 1 1/4" hole (or 1 1/2... depends on the size of the nuts).  Set the board between two short pieces of log set on end as a makeshift workbench.  The undrilled piece goes on top.  Take the Black Walnut and set it on top of the hole and bring the upper board down to contact it and push the nut through the hole, leaving the rind behind.  If this seems to be too difficult, take a screw and screw it in to the upper board in-line with the center of the hole in the bottom and leave about an inch (give or take) sticking out.  Put the nut on the hole and bring the screw head down to the nut and press.  The screw should pop the nut out of the rind right through the hole!

Let us know how it works...

I like the sounds of that.  If I have time this weekend, i'll give it a shot. If so, i'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes.

The consensus seems to be that i'm wasting my time   :D   But I've got a small Tupperware full of green husks and I've got to do something with them.

[WDH]

Doc,

In black walnut, the terminal leaflet aborts (or is very very small in comparison to the next two leaflets).  Butternut will have the terminal leaflet.  In fact the terminal leaflet is long stalked.  Look at these leaf pics.   

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=32

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=31

There will be a little dead leaf stem (rachis) that dies back to the smallest pair of leaflets at the end of the leaf in black walnut.  The terminal leaflet in butternut will be very obvious. 

Also, the nut in black walnut is round, whereas in butternut, it is a bit elongated, a little more like a pecan than a perfectly round sphere as in black walnut. 

[lowpolyjoe]

I was out in the yard this morning with the dogs.  I saw a little baby squirrel running from branch to branch in the walnut trying to grab the hanging fruit.   He was too small to carry them and i watched as he dropped maybe 10 before he gave up and jumped to another tree and ran off.   

Perhaps he had plans to come back for them.  I felt a little guilty gathering up all his hard work for myself     There's plenty more in the tree though, and i'm sure he'll get some  ;)

[beenthere]

Interesting, as I've not seen a squirrel try to carry a green walnut in the husk.  Especially a baby one.

Now he may have been nipping the stem holding the walnut so it would drop and begin to mature (husk turns to mush and sloughs off). That I've seen, as well as with the green hickory nuts.

Don't feel guilty, feel honored.  ;D

[lowpolyjoe]

Now he may have been nipping the stem holding the walnut so it would drop and begin to mature (husk turns to mush and sloughs off). That I've seen, as well as with the green hickory nuts.

Maybe that was his plan.  It was hard to tell from a distance.  I've had no luck finding anymore hickory nuts from my other tree for the past week :(

I noticed several walnut trees in my neighborhood now that i know what to look for.  Now we just need another good storm to drop a couple of them so i can slab them up ;)   I'm wondering now if i missed some good salvage wood in the past few years' storms.  I don't have much way to move the wood but even cutting sections a few feed long and putting them in the back of my Honda Element would have been worth it if some Walnut was about.

[SwampDonkey]

For doc's sake. The butternut husk is papery thin, but when green the green husk has sticky hairs. The nut is more elongated and pecan shaped and smaller than walnuts. Has a rough shell like black walnut. All we do to dry butternut is just put down newsprint and spread out the nuts to dry. Don't leave in a pile, spread them out. I've cracked a few over the years. Butternut is very good.

[lowpolyjoe]

I'm collecting a few nuts every day, but i probably won't have too many total.   I'll wear some rubber gloves and peel them by hand at some point.  Very interested in how these things taste.

How about trying this...  Take two pieces of 1x4 about 24" long.  Attached them together at one end with a hinge.  On one of the boards, drill or bore a 1 1/4" hole (or 1 1/2... depends on the size of the nuts).  Set the board between two short pieces of log set on end as a makeshift workbench.  The undrilled piece goes on top.  Take the Black Walnut and set it on top of the hole and bring the upper board down to contact it and push the nut through the hole, leaving the rind behind.  If this seems to be too difficult, take a screw and screw it in to the upper board in-line with the center of the hole in the bottom and leave about an inch (give or take) sticking out.  Put the nut on the hole and bring the screw head down to the nut and press.  The screw should pop the nut out of the rind right through the hole!

Let us know how it works...

It works!  Spent maybe 15 minutes putting this thing together, then a few minutes got me all the nuts out of the husks.    Ran them under the hose a bit, then threw them in a box to dry. Wish I had some more   A lot fell off the tree the last few days and not many left now

[Shotgun]

I just put 50 gallons of black walnuts in the trash on Thursday.  If I leave them around here, the squirrels husk them on my sidewalk and I'm not thrilled with the mess and stain that they leave.  Wish you had the ones that I disposed of.  I would have traded them to you for half of them husked, cleaned and shelled.    ;)

Norm

[lowpolyjoe]

I just put 50 gallons of black walnuts in the trash on Thursday.  If I leave them around here, the squirrels husk them on my sidewalk and I'm not thrilled with the mess and stain that they leave.  Wish you had the ones that I disposed of.  I would have traded them to you for half of them husked, cleaned and shelled.    ;)

Norm

Heh... I was considering asking one of my neighbors if I could grab all the walnuts dropped on this lawn from his tree.  I felt like I  would sound like a loony so I haven't approached him (yet  :D) 

From everything I've read, after I try to get the meat out of the shells i'll end up frustrated and never do this again, but I had to give it a shot once.

[beenthere]

after I try to get the meat out of the shells i'll end up frustrated and never do this again,

Don't know why you get that message.
Pretty straight forward to just remove the husks, wash off the nut, dry it, and crack it. Then eat the meats or put them in cookies. But try them, you may (or may not) like them.

The husks make a mess in the lawn and on the drive.  So your neighbor may be real happy that you will take them. Squirrels around here don't leave them alone very long after the husk gets mushy and black.