I'm about to be the recipient of a couple bags full of black walnuts. I thought I was all set with a handful of recipes. But then I tried to crack one open. All the literature I have says that they are a hard nut but no suggestions on how to crack them. Can anyone help?

-- Maria at the edge of civilization, Maryland (mb@olg.com), October 29, 2001

Answers

I've always heard (and read) that you should drive over them with your car. I don't have any personal experience, though.

-- Leslie A. (lesliea@mm2k.net), October 30, 2001.

Hi Maria, I planted a couple of Butternut Trees, which might just be Black Walnuts. I'm determined to enjoy my first harvest this year after waiting nealry 15 years. 4 weeks ago I gathered up the nuts as they fell from the tree and took the husks off. I scored the husks all around with a jack knife, then peeled off the husk. My fingers were a beautiful shade of brown for weeks. The color has all faded now. The last couple husking sessions I broke down and used rubber gloves. My hands were nicked from peeling squash and the iodine stuff from the husks got into my cuts and wow did it sting!Someday I'm going to try to make iodine from those husks. They smell just like the stuff and the juice looks like it - must be a way......

I still don't know whether or not I have butternuts or black walnuts but I do know they are tough little buggers to crack!

The nice folks at this site gave me a few suggestions. I think the one that would work best with what materials I have on hand is what someone's grandmother used to use: a hammer and a brick. I have an old flat iron that I turned upside down.

You know those pliers that have adjustable settings? I think they're called slip lock pliers? I just did a quick search to find some. Here's a picture of what I mean: http://www.allproducts.com/prc/wuhutools/p11.html You can put enough pressure on the nuts with these pliers to crack those tough little nuts, but you've still got to keep cracking those incredibly thick shells to get the nut meat out! I figure if these little nuts are so hard to get into, they must have great nutritional vlaue. You know, like if you eat these nuts, you'll live to be 100. Or eating these nuts can cure cancer, or anthrax, or some such thing. :)

If you had a really tough, good qaulity nut cracker....I'm talking industrail strength...that might do the trick. Let me know if you come up with anuything, OK? Maybe a vise?

-- Nancy in Maine (paintme61@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

Driving over them is only to remove the husks. You can also remove the husks by putting them in a portable cement mixer with some stones. As far a cracking the nut itself...there's the challange! Hammer and brick is the way to go and lots of luck getting out the walnut in whole pieces! We had 4 black walnut trees and a horrible harvest this year.

Seems like we only have a good useable harvest every 3rd year. But the squirrels like them! Which is something else too...they somehow make quick work of those husks and can take out a hole in the side of walnut about 1" in diameter and get the nut out. They leave the eaten ones in our shed! Wish I could see them do that and how they manage to get those shells open when here we are banging our brains out with the hammer!

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

Nancy - You have black walnuts. Butternuts should not stain your skin. The squirrels here have run off with all our butternuts. I picked up about 6 nuts early in the season and that's it. I think the squirrels and birds have read the almanac and know we are in for a bad winter. They have really been pigging out!

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), October 30, 2001.

It's time-consuming but you can crack each nut (after the hull is removed) in a vise. Then you have to pick out the pieces. We have lots of bearing black walnut trees (in addition to the 100 I planted a few years ago), but they're so much effort to harvest that we rarely do.

-- Katherine in KY (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

My neighbors found one specifically for walnuts that is mounted on a board. I think they got it from Lehman's. I works very well and you can do quite a few in a short amount of time.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

ok, heres what we always did , we drove over the husks ,(saved them for staining and dying) then let them dry for a day

then sandwich them between two boards , and drive over them again , i remember the bottom board had sides so the nuts wouldnt slip out ...

we just moved here and i miss my trees , if anyone has seedlings they would like to part with come spring , let me know i would gladly pay the shipping costs.

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

We just moved to a house with over 30 mature black walnut trees (unfortunately, they didn't produce this year)and have been asking around for advice on how to harvest the buggers. The best advice we've heard as far as removing the husks is to drill a hole in a board big enough for the nut to fit thru (the hole should also be countersunk so that when you put a walnut on the board it doesn't roll out of place). Mount the board so that there is room below it for the walnut to fall, place the walnut on the countersunk hole and whack the nut with a hammer to knock it thru the hole. This should remove the majority of the husk without too much trouble......I haven't heard how to crack the shells tho' so I'll be glad to hear of any advice you get on this......

-- Lisa (lambrose@summitpolymers.com), October 30, 2001.

My husband used to put them in the vice. Husked them by running the car over them, then during the winter we would sit and talk in the basement while he cracked them in the vice and I took the meat out.

I stored them in the freezer and used them just like English walnuts.

A friend gave me butternuts this year and they are different than the black walnuts. Softer nut and not as strong.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

We bought an old corn sheller that we use to remove the hulls from the black walnuts. Then let them "cure" in a paper sack until we have time for shelling the nut meats.

-- Janet in Kansas (whisperingpines@terraworld.net), October 30, 2001.

Hello Maria, I am amazed at some of the answers you got on this topic. Some were quite laborous, I thought! Yes, the black walnuts are very hard to crack. And the meat inside is sometimes not worth the effort as it will sometimes be bitter. We don't waste our time with them though we have a few black walnut trees around our place. We just wait for them to fall off the trees and gather them up and sell them. There are a couple of places near here that will run them through a husking machine and give you 8 cents a pound. We sold 120 pounds today. I ask the guy what do people do with them? He tld me that they crack the nuts, take out the meat, and grind it up for toppings and indgredients for ice cream. He said that once they are at that stage, they are sold at a very high price. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

The best way to crack them is with a hammer and a big chunk of wood, I use the chop block that I bust kindling on. Place the walnut on the block of wood, hold it with one hand and crack with hammer- gently at first till you get the feel of it so as not to crush the nut too much. When you get a pan full take a little pick of some kind and go to work. I takes me about an hour and a half to the pint but is well worth the effort. I gathered 9 bushels this fall.

-- Don (hihilldon@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

We have a big crop of walnuts this year and tried a new way of hulling them that works great. I took a 2X6 4feet long and to the sides nailed 2X4's to make a trough. Jacked up the right rear wheel of the old car, slid the trough under and adjusted to 1 inch of clearance. Started the old girl, put her in drive and tossed the nuts down the chute. Presto, they came out the back (at high speed)completely hulled. Might not be too safe with kids around but works slick. Next put hulled nuts in a wash tub with cold water and wash them. Throw out the floaters. Then put them on a rack to dry. When dry (takes a month or so) freeze the ones you want to crack 24 hours ahead then crack them still frozen. LOL

-- Dave (drcomer@rr1.net), October 31, 2001.

More than you ever wanted to know about Black Walnuts... This is a great wealth of useful information on the topic. Lists 12 varieties of black walnuts and 6 crackers: http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id77/id77.htm

My father in law decided to order the "Hunt's Black Walnut Cracker". http://www.icserv.com/nnga/adsqpage.htm It has not arrived yet - but looks like a good one. The following text is from a site that I no longer have the URL for (my apologies to the authors)...

Where do I get a Black Walnut nut cracker?    Most of the nutcrackers that we have experience with are single nut crackers, not commercial versions. For home use, the cheapest way is with a hammer, but it does have a tendency to smash the nut meats. If you own a vise, you can also use that if it is relatively thin shelled, but it is a slow method.  The next best way is to use Hunts Black Walnut cracker. the Hunt's nutcracker is the best of several that we have tried in our nut evaluations and it easily cracks all types and quickly (less than a second) adjusts to different sizes of nuts so it is good when there is variance in nut size (as in nut evaluations). We have used quite a few "world's best" nutcrackers and did not find any of them to be better. It also works on a cam principle and is very durable.  You can find information about it on http://www.nutgrowers.org/nut.htm. It is $70, but it will crack them quickly and easily. Another nut cracker that is highly recommended by our members isthe Mr.. Hickory nut-cracker from Fred Blankenship It is very durable and well built it has no parts to break and does a very good job.  Fred's pH# is 502 957-2444 his listed on page 14 of the NNGA quarterly newsletter.  Either of these will do a fine job of cracking any northern grown nut, including butternuts and hickory nuts. 

-- thomas in NH (noemail@none.com), November 04, 2001.

Rodale Press book, "Stocking Up III" suggests putting the nuts in the freezer for about 3 days, then taking a few out at a time to crack. Freezing makes the shell brittle and easier to crack. They also say to hold them with the narrower end up and hit that. That way it splits down the natural division in the shell.

-- Barbara Stancliff in E Texas (barbara@netdot.com), December 05, 2001.

Over the years, I was fortunate enough to obtain black walnuts from my Grandmother's yard, as well as from a couple friends. Through trials and tribulations, I found a method I like. I obtain several flats (you can get plenty of these from your grocer). After removing the hulls, spread the nuts in the flats to dry. I even leave mine all winter on occasion. When ready to 'crack' them, I take an empty grocery sack, tear it open at the seam, and spread over my workplace. Take one flat and place a smooth-surfaced brick in the middle. THEN- using a pair of 'chopsticks' (your nearest Chinese restaurant will happily part with a pair for you) hold the nut with the chopsticks (to avoid hitting your thumb and finger OUCH!) and hammer away! Sure- little bits of nutshell may fly here and there, but when you're all finished, just remove your brick, gather up the edges of the spread-out sack, and Viola! (It's smart to sweep the floor when you're done.) I always put my nutmeats on a WHITE platter and shine a lamp over it- this way I can go through the nutmeats piece by piece and pick out any bits of shell. It's a 'job'- but well worth the effort!

-- Karen Frandsen (kareneam@mail.nebi.com), April 27, 2002.

Where is the picture? I need to show my dumb cousin the picture.

Amanda

-- Amanda Lim Yan Ting (yantinglim@hotmail.com), May 10, 2002.