# black walnut and something else



## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

One of my neighbors years ago pointed out a black walnut tree to me, and i thought to myself wow they must be a real pain to collect, husk, crack for such a small nut... well today I passed at tree on the side of the road and there were thousands of husked nuts just waiting, so I filled a shopping bag in ten minutes and was all excited with my find. That is until a car stopped to ask what i was collecting. After telling the guy he said nope they ain't black walnuts and told me to follow him to his house which ended up being a mile or two up the road from where i live.

Ok so i am standing on his lawn in TOTAL aw of this monster tree about 2.5-3 feet wide at the base and towering what could easily be a 100-200 feet tall lol. AND THE NUTS WERE HUGE! The size of tenis balls!

He loved that I was so keen and said I could come back anytime and take as many as I liked, and there are more trees like that around back!

So the bag of nuts that I picked up off the road are NOT black walnuts but what are they?? I tasted one and basically it tasted like a bitter walnut however the largest nut is about max an inch round and more hazelnut shaped. I will have to go back to look but if i am not mistakes the leaves are very similar to the black walnut.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

Ok, my mikmaq buddy dropped by for coffee this morning and it turns out I have a shopping bag full of Hazelnuts..YAY!


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

Personally, I've no idea, but...

there's a nifty online "identify a tree" site: http://www.oplin.org/tree/ 
It's an Ohio tree site, but you should have pretty similar trees. This site uses fruit, leaves, or names to help identify.

another site that might help is: http://forestry.about.com/library/treekey/bltree_key_id_start.htm 
This one uses leaves to identify


edited: AHH, good.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

boy it gets complicated lol... it's looking more like Mockernut Hickory

http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact pages/hickory_mockernut/hickory_mockernut.html

Which isn't so bad because they are edible too... will have to keep checking into this.
Thanks for the links!


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

butternuts?


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

MELOC said:


> butternuts?


It is oily but i am not sure it is oily enough to be a butternut and from the pictures i've seen it's hard to tell the diference between the two nuts.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

primal1 said:


> It is oily but i am not sure it is oily enough to be a butternut and from the pictures i've seen it's hard to tell the diference between the two nuts.


A hazelnut, when shelled looks like an acorn. A butternut when hulled looks like a walnut (except you need a hammer to shell them so they usually look like wood chips).


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

BTW, those "tennis ball" sized black walnuts are mostly husk.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

tinknal said:


> BTW, those "tennis ball" sized black walnuts are mostly husk.


I husked some yesterday and you are quite right haha. 
A towel and a hammer works great though my fingers are stained. This dye must have been used on a lot of furniture back in the day! The color of my fingers is the same as my front door which is a red Mahogany stain.

I have ruled out Hazelnut for the smaller nuts as a hazelnut tree is quite small in comparison to the trees these came from. I am pretty sure now that the smaller nut is a Mockernut Hikory as the nut are bitter and do taste similar to a walnut, and they are from the walnut family.

Anybody know of a good use for Mokernut??


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## Saffron (May 24, 2006)

HIckory nuts can make good "flour" which makes good bread. Also - coffee


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

Scaresgro said:


> HIckory nuts can make good "flour" which makes good bread. Also - coffee


hmmm, will try the coffee substitute for sure but sadly grinding to use for flour is way too intensive for now anyway... good to know though.


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## decolady (Mar 20, 2006)

primal1 said:


> I am pretty sure now that the smaller nut is a Mockernut Hikory as the nut are bitter and do taste similar to a walnut, and they are from the walnut family.
> 
> Anybody know of a good use for Mokernut??


Hmmm. I always thought Mockernut and Shagbark hickory nuts were sweet. Pignut hickory can be bitter as well as Bitternut. Could be mistaken though.

I have my grandmother's recipe for Hickory Nut Cake. If you like, I'll post it in the *HT Online Recipe Book*.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

decolady said:


> Hmmm. I always thought Mockernut and Shagbark hickory nuts were sweet. Pignut hickory can be bitter as well as Bitternut. Could be mistaken though.
> 
> I have my grandmother's recipe for Hickory Nut Cake. If you like, I'll post it in the *HT Online Recipe Book*.


Pignut has also come up in my searches and it is possible thats what i have! Though these nuts are bitter I can still see them being used in baked goods, it's not by any stretch an overpowering bitterness... thanks for posting the recipe, i'll give it a try for sure... i'll save the black walnuts for eating as is!

Another question for you black walnut lovers out there. I've come across a few that inside the husk contain maggots. Is there a way to tell which nuts are still ok, sweeter or just plain bad... just asking because I doubt maggot feeding on the husks can dammage the nut.

I went to collect more this morning and the owners wife was there, they never tried the nuts because somebody once told them they were poisonous! Meanwhile for several years they had a government grow op come to collect their nuts to start a nursery, after several years collecting they just stopped coming.

The monster tree was planted in 1905 and they have documentation of that fact as the house has been in their family long before that... funny they would beleive a total stranger telling them the nuts were poisonous eh.


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## TnMtngirl (Jun 30, 2002)

Just because there are maggots in them dosent mean they are bad.I have found them in walnuts over the years,never could understand the purpose of them being there.
I always let walnuts dry out a little before husking or just leave them in the driveway and pick them up after they have been run over a few times.Just clean them and hang up in a net bag to cure,freezing wont hurt them and they will be good this time next year if the squrrills dont find them.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

TnMtngirl said:


> Just because there are maggots in them dosent mean they are bad.I have found them in walnuts over the years,never could understand the purpose of them being there.
> I always let walnuts dry out a little before husking or just leave them in the driveway and pick them up after they have been run over a few times.Just clean them and hang up in a net bag to cure,freezing wont hurt them and they will be good this time next year if the squrrills dont find them.


There really doesn't seem to be a way to tell wich are bad and which are not... but now i know not many are bad!

I've collected a good 15 gallons of husked nuts now so i think i'm good for the winter hehe.

Now back to the Hickory nuts, which ever variety they are I love them!

I'm making myself a Botagun as described here http://www.wwmag.net/hickory.htm

I've tried the stock and although it's bitter it adds tons of flavor to both oven backed dishes as well as poridge!... i'll post picture after my charcoal has finished burning it out.
I may just crush them all down and throw them in the freezer to preserve them longer.


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

I have lots of black walnut trees. In a heavy producing year you can't walk near them.Its like walking on rollerskates.I don't do anything with them cause they are so messy. I did have a little old man come up this year with a truck full of 5 gallon buckets and ask to pick them up.He said he was 84 (I was thinking 90) had on his overhauls and his hands were stained.He said his wife crocheted(SP) and he sat in his chair and picked walnuts.I helped him fill his buckets as I was afraid he would fall and break a hip.I am glad he could use them and it made me smile to think of he and his wife happily sitting by the fire crocheting and picking walnuts


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

I have a couple black walnut trees, but alas, with Kentucky's crazy weather this spring/summer - no black walnuts this year! Was soooo looking forward to Christmas fudge with balck walnuts! Yum! There's always next year.......


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

luvrulz said:


> I have a couple black walnut trees, but alas, with Kentucky's crazy weather this spring/summer - no black walnuts this year! Was soooo looking forward to Christmas fudge with balck walnuts! Yum! There's always next year.......


WOW that MUST be yummy!
I've heard people around here say they fruit every second year but the guy with the monster tree i am collecting from says every year without fail!

Chris30523, That does sound cute as hell... I can see myself doing that at that age too! haha


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## greg273 (Aug 5, 2003)

You might want to use gloves next time!

Heres what I've done:

Peel the husks, set them out on a screen and let the rain hit them a few times. Usually by the middle of december they've been rinsed of tannic acid.
Then bag them up and put them in a dry place for a year.
Grab a handful, when you want to eat some, find a large stump, get a hammer, and smack them a few times. You'll get some large pieces right away, and if you have lots of patience and a good pick, you can get much more out with some effort.

Now I'm not sure if the rinsing method is neccesary, but it seems to take some of the bitterness out.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

greg273, yup gloves are a must lol.. my fingernails are still stained after a week!
Next year i'll try leaving them out in the rain to see if I notice a difference.


So here it is folks, my very own Botagun! It only took about 12 bbq charcoals so far. I haven't decided it i should try to make it deeper but i've run out of charcoal anyway so i'll start working on the pound next... gotta find me a good chunk of elm branch first!








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