Foraging And Storing Black Walnuts

Discussion in 'Edible Plants, Berries, and Roots' started by DirtDiva, Oct 25, 2021.

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  1. DirtDiva

    DirtDiva Master Survivalist
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    Foraging Black Walnuts

    Every year Mr Dd and myself harvest black walnuts from the neighbors property. I will not have a back walnut on my own property because the main drawback for the Black Walnut is a chemical its roots produce and secrete called Juglone, which kills many different species of plants should their root come into contact with it. Juglone once in the soil is difficult to get rid of. On the other hand our neighbor is not a gardener and does not desire to harvest the nuts or put in the effort to crack and preserve them. SO several times a week we gather his walnuts before he mows the grass. With 15 five gallon buckets of nuts thus far I will be picking out walnuts for the foreseeable future.

    This is a native American tree and the nut has a much stronger taste than say the English walnut or Carpathian walnut.

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    The walnuts have thick green husks around the very hard nut inside. These husks turn black when the nut is ripe and get a white maggot that eats the husk. My husband puts them on a concrete slab and runs the lawn tractor over them to burst the husk. Then he takes a wire brush and heavy gloves and cleans the nuts off. He then runs the pressure washer over them.

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    Once the nuts are cleaned up he puts them in a small trailer in the sun to dry

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    Once dry my husband has a very heavy duty nut cracker designed for cracking walnuts and other very hard nuts. Much heavier than just the normal nutcracker that you generally see. Then when they are cracked they come in the house to me and I pick the meats out. Then the meats are placed on baking sheets and I toast the nut meats in the oven on very low for about an hour to dry them out good.

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    The nutmeats are then placed in vacuum bags and sealed and then I put them in the freezer. If I were to purchase walnuts in the store they start at about $7 a pound here for chopped walnut meats. These would be English walnut meats. Black walnut meats at the Amish store I visit start at $10 a pound.

    Black Walnuts contain 57% more protein than English walnuts and have the highest levels of protein of all tree nuts. Compared with five other tree nuts, Black Walnuts contain the most protein and the fewest carbohydrates and starches. On the vitamin front, Black Walnuts contain the most panthothenic acid and the highest quantity of vitamin B-6. Black Walnuts are also low in saturated fat, high in unsaturated fat, contain vitamin A, iron, minerals and fiber and serves as a cholesterol- and sugar-free snack or ingredient.

    Not only do I bake with these but we eat them in salads, oatmeal, trail mixes and use for pesto with my home grown basil.

    Long ago they used to crush the husks and drop them in lakes or streams. The juglone would draw the oxygen from the water in that area and the fish would float to the surface to be harvested. (This is now illegal)
     
    TMT Tactical likes this.
    1. TMT Tactical
      More great info. Thanks DD.
       
      TMT Tactical, Oct 25, 2021
      DirtDiva likes this.
  2. DirtDiva

    DirtDiva Master Survivalist
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    TMT Tactical likes this.
    1. TMT Tactical
      Outstanding!
       
      TMT Tactical, Oct 25, 2021
      DirtDiva likes this.
  3. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    Very interesting information . I may try gathering me up some walnuts .
     
    DirtDiva and TMT Tactical like this.
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