#wild nuts

A Winters Work • the lost art of wild nuts

Does anyone remember how your grandparents or maybe even some parents out there had a bowl of whole, in-the-shell nuts beside their evening chair in front of the television or in front of the fire? There would be different cracking tools and picks as they were tough nuts to crack, literally. There was a time where indigenous and settler peoples collected native nuts to shell over the fall and winter. This was used as important nourishment during the winter months where food was a bit more difficult to come by. The slower time allowed for things such as cracking nuts.

Black walnut (Juglans nigra) and butternut (Juglans cinerea) trees are members of the walnut family native to the eastern United States and Canada. They both produce fragrant green fruits that contain flavorful walnuts.

Black walnuts and butternuts contain high levels of antioxidants, polyunsaturated fats, vitamin A, iron, and fiber. They also have the highest levels of protein of any tree nut!

Both trees have alternate, once-compounded leaves with 7-17 pairs of pretty light green leaflets. Black walnut trees grow up to 150ft in height, have dark grey-blackish bark with deep furrows, round fruits, and give off a pleasant scent.

Butternut trees are very similar, but the fruits are more elongated. The bark is also lighter and not as tightly furrowed.

Both trees drop their nuts in the fall. They contain tannins, a substance that can be used to make brown dye and will stain! So definitely wear some gloves and clothes you don't mind staining.

1. First you'll need to gather your fallen nuts and remove the husks. This can be done by rolling the walnut under your shoe. If you have a whole bunch of walnuts to husk, you can also drive your car over them to remove all the husks at once lol

2. With your husks removed you're left with walnuts in their shells. Place them in a bucket and give them a rinse to remove the gunk left from from the husks and toss any nuts that float. Floating nuts means the nutmeat didn't form properly.

3. Lay your walnuts out to dry and let them dry for 2-3 weeks. You can dry them outside, on a porch, in a shed, pretty much anywhere as long as they're protected from direct sunlight, rain, and squirrels.

4. Once they're dried it's time to crack them. The nuts are very hard and will need to be cracked with a vise-grip or hammer. Once they crack you can carefully remove the heavenly oily nuts! Walnuts tend to break into pieces while picking them out, just make sure no pieces of shell get mixed with the nut meat.

5. That's it! Your walnuts can be enjoyed raw, toasted, or added to recipes. They can be toasted on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven for 5-10 minutes or in a frying pan on medium high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Only toast a single layer of nuts at a time.