Why walnuts harvested in the wild can be the pits

nj.com ^ | November 23, 2008 | Mike Toth

[Coleus]

I thought it would be a smart way to cut household expenses during these challenging economic times: forage for free food in parks, woodlots and along roadsides. In the past month, I've found three black walnut trees, with large, heavy nuts lying right on the ground while I was walking the dog, hunting for squirrels and watching my kids run in cross- country meets. I've found, however, that there are several downsides to collecting all these tons of free protein just lying around the state every autumn:

1) You may wind up with a bunch of maggots squirming around in your pocket.

2) Your hands and clothing will become stained a particularly nasty shade of brown, as if you'd just worked your first day at an entry- level job at a sewage treatment plant.

3) To open the nuts, you'll have to forgo those nice, cute nutcrack ers from William-Sonoma. Instead you'll need to go to the tool department at Home Depot.

4) Once you finally open the nuts, you may find nothing edible inside.

Black walnuts look nothing like those clean, hard, attractive English (or "California") walnuts you buy at the store and put out during the holidays when company comes. In its unprocessed form, the black walnut looks like some vaguely dangerous rotting fruit. That's be cause the walnut shell is sur rounded by a husk 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

A bunch of freshly fallen wal nuts looks like someone dumped a crate of green baseballs beneath a large, black-barked tree. But the husk quickly begins turning a very dark brown, in effect rotting away and leaving the seed -- a very dark, thick-shelled walnut.

[uglybiker]

1) You may wind up with a bunch of maggots squirming around in your pocket.
2) Your hands and clothing will become stained a particularly nasty shade of brown, as if you'd just worked your first day at an entry- level job at a sewage treatment plant.

Dude. Ever hear of a bucket?

[joesbucks]

We had a cutting board and a hammer to open them.

[Amelia]

If she couldn't find one in the garage, she'd go find a grapefruit on the ground.

I guess grapefruit rinds taste better than walnut hulls? Our dogs quickly found that they did not want to fetch walnuts. :-)

[Amelia]

Black walnut angel food cake, THAT’s why you pick up walnuts and crack them open.

My grandmother used to make a wonderful one....mmmmmmmmmm

[Bon mots]

I make Nocino.