Are you a fan of black walnuts? The taste is decidedly different from English walnuts. Most people either love them or hate them. I think they’re an acquired taste.
This fall has been a great one for foraging. It seems that everything is in abundance, including the black walnuts which we forage along a public trail.
Harvesting, Hulling, and Curing Black Walnuts
Gathering black walnuts is the easiest part of the process. When ready in the fall, the nuts will just fall to the ground. The husks will change from green to yellow when they are ripe. You can just pick them up from the ground, or use a Nut Wizard to gather them.
Hulling (removing the husk) is also a relatively easy process, but be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands from being stained. Allow any husks that are still green to sit for a few days. Once yellow, or starting to turn black, they should peel right off. You want to hull when they are in the spongy stage; if the husks are allowed to dry out, the process will be much more difficult.
If you are hulling a large amount of nuts, you may want to consider using something like this corn sheller, which supposedly works well for husking black walnuts.
The hulls may be saved to use to make ink, or natural dye. I’ll include some links with instructions at the end of the post.
All parts of the black walnut contain juglone, a naturally occurring chemical which acts as an herbicide. The roots, especially, are high in juglone, and gardens should be never be planted near a black walnut tree. The juglone will break down during decomposition, but I prefer not to compost my husks or shells. I don’t want to take the chance that they have not thoroughly decomposed.
After hulling, the nuts must be cured. When you first remove the husks, the nut will be a bit wet and slimy. Some people go through the trouble of washing them and removing every last bit of husk. I don’t bother. What I do is lay the nuts in a single layer on some cardboard (or screen) in a dry, ventilated area for about 2 weeks. I turn the nuts every few days to keep them from getting moldy. They will cure nicely and will no longer be slimy.
Cracking Black Walnuts
And now we get to the fun part of black walnuts – cracking them. Black walnuts are notoriously difficult to crack, but with either the right tools, or a simple trick or two, the job can be performed without too much trouble.
How you go about shelling your nuts will depend on how many nuts you have. If you have a lot, you may want to consider a heavy duty nut cracker like this one.
If, on the other hand, you’re only cracking a few pounds of nuts, there’s a less expensive solution. You’ll want to be working on a sturdy workbench, or perhaps your garage floor. Place an old, but clean towel or t-shirt on your work surface, and place a nut on top of it. If you want to be really particular, place the nut with the pointy side down. Cracked in this position makes removing the nut meat easier and you’ll have larger pieces.
Now fold the cloth over on top of the nut. This keeps the nut from flying all over the place. If you placed the nut pointed side down, you’ll have to arrange the cloth in a way that holds the nut in that position.
Using a hammer, give the nut a good crack. Don’t go smashing it to smithereens, though. The goal is to just crack the nut in 2 – 3 pieces. You can now use a nut pick to remove the meat.
Black walnuts will last up to a year in the refrigerator, or two years in the freezer.
More Than Weeds
 A Foraging eCourse for Beginners
Are you interested in foraging, but a bit hesitant because you don’t trust your own abilities? I created a mini eCourse just for you. In More Than Weeds: 5 Common Plants to Forage for Food and Medicine you’ll learn that identifying plants is all in the details.
Using common plants with which may be someone familiar you’ll learn beginner botany skills that you will be able to use as you move forward. You’ll gain confidence to use these plants for your family in food and safe, home remedies. Get started now!
Recipes and Such
For digestibility, I recommend soaking and drying black walnuts before using in recipes. Here’s how: Place 1 c. black walnuts and 1 1/2 t. sea salt in a bowl and cover with room-temperature filtered water. Soak for 8 hours. Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Drain nuts and spread in one layer on a baking pan. Dry nuts in oven for 12 – 24 hours stirring occasionally, until very dry and crisp. A dehydrator may be used instead of an oven. This makes the nuts oh, so delicious.
My favorite cookie ever, and my favorite way to use black walnuts is in Russian Tea Cookies. I use this recipe and just replace the English walnuts with black walnuts.
And this Black Walnut Pie is to die for!!!
Black Walnut Ice Cream from Janet at One Acre Farm.
Did you know that you can tap black walnut trees for syrup? You sure can! Teri at Homestead Honey shows up how.
And here are those posts I promised about using the black walnut hulls for ink and dye:
Black Walnut Hulls for Dye and Medicine
Natural Walnut Ink for Fabric Stamping Part 1
Natural Walnut Ink for Fabric Stamping Part 2
What ways have you used black walnuts? Do you love them or hate them?
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The Forager’s Guide to Plant Identification
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Make Your Own Lacto-Fermented Grape Juice from Wild Grapes
Make Your Own Apple Sugar from Wild Apples
Thank you for visiting Learning And Yearning. May "the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Num 6:24-26
Kristel Wiesner says
My parents have 2 black walnut trees and every year we pick up the walnuts and toss them in the woods for the squirrels. For a while there was a boy who would come get a bushel of the walnuts and sell them to a restaurant that uses all local foods. I have tried peeling and cracking them and found it to be too much work. Next year I’ll try your tips. I’ve aways wanted to use them.
Sue says
We used to put them in the gravel driveway then when cars ran over them, they would crack!
Abigail says
Nice! We collected and cured our black walnuts for the first time this year, but haven’t cracked the majority of them yet. I’ll have to come back to give these recipes a shot!
Andrea says
This post is VERY interesting to me. My dad has many black walnut trees. He planted them as a cheap way to grow a lot of trees when he bought his barren property 40 years ago. They are looked at as a nuisance…every fall involves several days of collecting the walnuts and piling them up at the back of the property. I’d love to help my dad actually find some ways to USE these! Thanks for an awesome, informative post.
Susan Vinskofski says
Andrea, there are companies online who sell black walnuts. I’d be inclined to check with them – they may want to purchase some of yours.
Johanna says
I have almost a gallon of black walnuts still in the shells. I did not know much about them when I got them and when we went to crack one open the other day there was a mold covering the nut on the inside of the shell. I know its a long shot but is there ANY way to utilize them or clean them off and use them? I would hate to have all of those go to waste. Thanks.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Johanna, I personally wouldn’t use anything that has molded. Why don’t you try cracking more of them? Perhaps only a few have gone bad.
Linda says
Back walnuts have a green outer shell that has to be dried and then removed . Allow the inner nuts to dry, then crack and pick the nut meats out. Delicious in fudge, cakes. A lot of work & very expensive to buy & hard to find in stores ready to use.
Jolene says
There’s absolutely NO NEED to dry the outer shell before removal! That only complicates the whole process by increasing the chances of mold & spoilage, and making the work of removing the hulls FAR more difficult & labor intensive.
Nonetheless, it is still a lot of work?if done with some common sense, most of it is in the retrieval of the meat itself.
Linda says
Back walnuts have a green outer shell that has to be dried and then removed . Allow the inner nuts to dry, then crack and pick the nut meats out. Delicious in fudge, cakes. A lot of work & very expensive to buy & hard to find in stores ready to use.
sharon says
I sell the washed and cured nuts as well as the hand picked out nutmeats. I have 30 trees about 30 years old I also sell ink/dye and an herbal tincture made with the hulls .
David O Heishman says
Hull removal in the driveway works OK. I prefer a steel post tamper used to squash nuts where they grow. Then when I pick them up hulls generally fall away and leave hard nuts for my baskets.
I dump hulled nuts in an electric cement mixer and water, let them run a while then dump them back in an open mesh basket or onto a chicken wire drying rack.
Best way to crack hard dry nuts is place the pointed end down into a steel hex nut that fits a 5/8 inch bolt. 3/4 inch for bigger nuts. A good hammer whack breaks shell. Toss nuts, meat shell and all, into a paper bag and shake well. Pour everything out into a pie pan, pick out large quarters and halves, then go over chunks of shell for parts that need a nutpick.
Slightly bent horseshoe nails work well for ready picks. Practice with the hammer will earn best whack strength to employ. For less effort and mess, hold walnut in hex nut together. Place them in a machinist vice and a quick turn of the handle closing vise’s jaws will crack nuts also.
Man who taught me all this years ago put himself partly through college cracking walnuts.
Gerald Brooks says
The vice is an excellent tool tried it today,Lowe daz have great gloves for picking and cleaning walnuts ,caled spider gloves 9.85 for 50 well worth it.
Donna says
I love the cement mixer idea! When I was hulling my walnuts yesterday in my garage, I looked up and saw a pile of bricks stacked in the corner. Found it to be perfect and ten times faster than using a chisel. Place nut on the the hole of brick which holds it in place and give a smack with hammer. Hull comes off and nut falls into hole. Only had two nuts in one bushel crack open. Where EYE PROTECTION (the juice will burn the eye terribly) and put Vaseline on your skin for added protection.
Donna says
I love the cement mixer idea! When I was hulling my walnuts yesterday in my garage, I looked up and saw a pile of bricks stacked in the corner. Found it to be perfect and ten times faster than using a chisel. Place nut on the the hole of brick which holds it in place and give a smack with hammer. Hull comes off and nut falls into hole. Only had two nuts in one bushel crack open. Wear EYE PROTECTION (the juice will burn the eye terribly) and put Vaseline on your skin for added protection.
Texsheva says
An old timer told us that the black hulls off the walnut makes a beautiful stain! He said to just soak the black hulls in turpentine for a few days and strain into a jar.
Susan Vinskofski says
Well, even using gloves, my fingers are stained for weeks, so yes!
oaty says
Susan, use the blue nitrite gloves to avoid staining. It seeps right through rubber. I use layer of nitrite glove under neath big rubber gloves. I have my Raw product floating in water while I process them , removing the husks by hand at this point (looking for a manual crank corn husker) so I use the rubber gloves because they come up past my wrists. You may have read about this by now.
Susan Vinskofski says
Great tip, oaty!
Nancy says
Hi Oaty. We gathered many buckets of black walnuts last fall. Just like you, we wear nitrite gloves underneath thick rubber gloves. Keeps the hands and nails clean.
Sheryl Grimm says
we used the hulls to dye clothes we used for reenactments. Hot water hulls, and boil them for a while and use the water to dye clothes
leatrice gulbransen says
My little town is surrounded by black walnut trees. About this time of year when a car runs over them it sounds like gunfire ! Hmmmm……lay them on the ground on an old blanket and run over them with a car ? Worth a try. I’ve never harvested them. Too much trouble. But, I love them I think cause I was raised eating them. Black walnut ice cream is my favorite way to eat them. After reading this I’ll try to process them. It would be a wonderful thing to put to use something that grows plentiful around me. Thanks !
Susan Vinskofski says
Leatrice, I hope you give them a try!
Jennifer says
How many years does it take for black Walnut trees to start producing? I planted 3 in my yard 3 yrs ago. I also have a hazelnut or chestnut tree. Any information on the wait time for them to produce would be appreciated. Thanks.
Susan Vinskofski says
Jennifer, I believe that it’s at least 10 years!
Skip says
Check out arborday.org. great info on all types of trees and plants.
oaty says
I’ve seen small trees produce, but they are not beneficial for the process you only get 1-5 and they are tiny with a malformed nut. Old trees are not hard to find if you’re in the region for B. Walnuts.
Rachel says
I have one black walnut tree. I’m going to be making a tincture with the hulls. This will be my first time trying to do it. Have you ever tried this?
oaty says
Hulda Clarke wrote several books on this. That’s what first got my attention about black walnuts 20 years ago at least. She claims it wards off cancer and actually helps cure cancer if one has the affliction. On top of a huge lifestyle change as well. Nothing is a magic bullet.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Rachel! Funny you should mention that; I was thinking of doing the same this year – and it will be my first time!
Amie says
I try to collect every other day, and process in small batches within a couple days. This helps me from being overwhelmed. I have one tree in my yard. My brother has 15+ trees. We go as a group to gather and hull these. I want to attempt making stain this year. Did not realize about the ink. ?
Susan Vinskofski says
Your idea and method is wise, Amie!
Kevin says
I planted a Black Wallnut (3 m stock) and two years later it was producing Wallnuts. It has produced every year since (6th year). It does suffer from wind throw as it’s 1.5 m new growth is fairly brittle each year. The tree has split off its top twice due to weight. This year I have started pruning it back to 60 cm per branch.
This spring we had a bad late frost that took out the plum, apple and cherry fruit. The top of the Wallnut was hit but the lower branches still produced about 100 nuts.
I pick and hull them immediately with a butterknife. Just rim them and peel off the halfs . I don’t let them go black. I give them a quick wash in a large bucket of water. They do well drying in the fall air. To crack them I just use a hammer or if feeling adventurous a butterknife, regular nut cracker and small pick.
I planted four nuts last year in the front yard. This year I have four 30 cm seedlings competing for space on the front lawn. I did hit one with the lawnmower but it has since put out a new side branch.
Here is the best part. I live in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. Yes, they can grow here too.
oaty says
You may have gotten fruit, but how many? I never see more than 5 and they tend to be underdeveloped on young trees, if any fruit. Sounds a bit of a tall tale.
Susan Vinskofski says
Wow!!! That’s fantastic!!!
Beth B says
Pinning this. We have harvested black walnuts for the first time this year and I was looking for recipes. I usually keep black walnut flavoring on hand for an old-fashioned pumpkin bread recipe that we love. I love both the smell and the rich flavor of black walnuts.
Peggy McCormick says
I live in the country in Kansas and have several black walnut trees. I pick the nuts when they fall and line my gravel driveway with them to hull them. Someone once told me to put the hulled nuts in a tub of water and the bad ones will float to the top. The squirrels hide some of the nuts and I have volunteer trees growing in a lot of strange places. I also heard you can’t plant under them but I have a shady garden with Hellebores, Holy basil, woodland phlox, ferns, and several kinds of bulbs that grow under three trees in my backyard so some plants will grow. I love the taste of black walnuts, when I was small we would go nut hunting in the woods to find them. My dad always cracked them for us and my mom baked with them.
Joyce Jepherson says
I use black walnuts. Slices. For pine needle baskets.
Mars says
So happy to find out what this is! I just moved to a new place and I have at least 3 of these trees right outside my house. I had no idea what they were, but a squirrel kept leaving them in the space between my windowsill and screen.
oaty says
I find when salt brining and dehydrating it takes away alot of the fruity flavor
of the black walnut. I wonder if doing so also eliminates some of the unique health
benefits of the walnut? I can successfully store raw out of shell walnuts for a month
at least in glass in a fridge. I have never experienced mould at least during that period of time.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Oaty, actually this process makes nuts more digestible, which means more nutrients are available. Yes, everyone’s taste buds vary, but I find them much more delicious this way. Thanks for stopping by!
Cameron says
Anyone know if the walnuts we hulled and shelled today, with out drying and curing are okay . Worked all day and hate the thought of throwing them away. Didn’t know they needed weeksto to dry first. Thanks
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Cameron, the curing process is necessary is you wish to store the nuts in their shells. They couldn’t be kept in a bag, for example, even for a week without this process. Yours should be just fine.
Ron Willhide says
My Grandmother would use black walnuts in a pound cake with a vanilla icing. My Mom would use them to make a black walnut taffy. My brother and I would butter up our hands so we could “pull” the taffy. I think we ate more than we pulled….
Susan Vinskofski says
What wonderful memories, Ron! Thanks for stopping by, and for sharing with us. You put a smile on my face.
George says
Using a bench vice works much better and faster than hammer for me- just my two cents.
Susan Vinskofski says
Thanks for the tip, George.
Diane M. Seamans says
Walnut tree leaves work beautifully in eco-printing on cloth or paper.
Bev Ward says
After extracting the ‘meat'(kernel) from the shell of the Black Walnut, there is alot of debris(from the shell) mixed in with the precious ‘meat’.
Previously, visually. . .I carefully removed 3-5 small slivers of shell from about 1/2 cup of Black Walnut ‘meat’.
An old Cherokee trick is to place the 1/2 cup of Black Walnut ‘meat’ in a pot of warm water and the lighter ‘meat’ will rise to the surface while the heavier shell-slivers will sink. Works!
True, the shell-slivers were accompanied by the huge pieces of ‘meat’. However, that was fine since we are looking at 2-3 really-really large kernels. Using a strainer I can easily remove all the light ‘meat'(kernels).
Bob Dorff says
I have a friend who likes me to clear his lawn of black walnuts as they spit from his mower like bullets. I’ve played with them to see just how much is involved in the processing and I found it to be substantial.
What worked for me was to build a coarse mesh screen bottom container to hold the nuts while I pressure-washed the hulls from the nuts. The hulls were blown through the screen and the nuts came out clean and ready to be dried. A messy process, but easy. Anything nearby will likely be splashed and possibly stained, maybe even yourself.
Smashing with a car seemed pretty heavy-handed and using a hammer required practice to avoid excessive crushing force. The vise worked but was slow enough to make me look hard at how many nuts confronted me. I found a small, lightweight plastic mallet (basically a toy) worked well A swift crack would split the shell without doing much damage to the meat.
The fun part is now over. If you’re still with me, and maintaining any trust you may have developed in me, keep reading. If you have not already begun this phase you will come to realize that this is a multi-beer/wine event best experienced with a good friend who’s gullible enough to accompany you on this stage off the adventure. You might even forget what I said about the fun part. Retrieve two lobster picks, or equivalent, and go forward boldly. You are now on your own.
Susan Vinskofski says
Well done!
D Spine says
Look for Grandpa’s Goody Getter. The best walnut cracker ever. Like 100 bucks but it’s worth it.
Thanks for the article.
Susan Vinskofski says
I saw that recently!