# Do I really want these, Black Walnuts...



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

A friend of my dh has 3 huge trees in front of his house, he is 87yo, and has offered for us to come and take all we want, as they are falling like crazy.
I just don't know if they are worth it...
I've never dealt with them myself, but I've heard they can be a nightmare to get clean.
We are talking buckets, and buckets full. Do I want to do this, or are they not all that worth the trouble?


----------



## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

We have 2 big black walnut trees in our yard. Every year I think, "I am going to harvest those walnuts this year!" One year we even gathered them up in feed bags, where they sat there for the rest of the winter. The squirrels were really happy that we took the time to collect the nuts for them. :facepalm: Hehe. Maybe one year I'll get around to harvesting them...


----------



## simplegirl (Feb 19, 2006)

In my opinion they are not worth the trouble. We have 3 big trees and last year we had tons of nuts. We tried doing something with them but OH SO messy, stained fingernails, hard to crack........ and we don't even like them! 

We will be contacting someone to see if they will buy them for lumber so we can replace them with pecans.


----------



## Kristabelle (May 25, 2014)

No, you don't.

I'm sure somebody out there makes a hobby out of them but that somebody probably has all the time in the world. I like the taste of them but I won't even bother. You won't get through the first bucket. 

I'm sure he's asking folks to gather them so his yard isn't a big booby trap anymore. That's how we feel about our tree. They go flying when we mow and then we roll our ankles on them. At night they scare the dogs when they drop and set them off!


----------



## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

IMHO, no. We have now 5 5gallon bucks full of these walnuts. I wouldn't touch them, but there are some ladies from church that are excited to get them. I pick them up for them and they give me back my buckets. That's good enough for me.


----------



## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

I have one tree, took forever to open just one and it stunk, stained for weeks and none were even formed! Costs too much to take the tree down, so I just let it be a tree.


----------



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Thanks all, that's pretty much what I thought.:thumb:


----------



## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

You will not find support for husking black walnuts in a Cornhusker State. They sure have their place in 7 layer cookie bars.


----------



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Bret said:


> You will not find support for husking black walnuts in a Cornhusker State. They sure have their place in 7 layer cookie bars.



I agree they do, but I think I'll stick to just plain old Walnuts...


----------



## ArkyMack (Nov 15, 2013)

If you live near a hulling station, you could sell them.
http://www.hammonsproducts.com/
You won't get rich.

I love black walnuts, but now usually just let someone else do the work, and buy ice cream at the store, or a packet for cookies and breads.


----------



## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

3 trees worth, maybe not, but a couple buckets, absolutely.
Lay them in the driveway and drive over them for a few weeks till the hulls are gone, then put back in the buckrts for a few weeks or so.
Then crack em open, dig out the meats and make some brownies, cookies, fudge, etc.

After that, send me boxes full of brownies, cookies, fudge, etc.


----------



## light rain (Jan 14, 2013)

Hercsmama, I say collect the black walnuts. If you go to Walmart, look what they charge for 2 oz. To me they have a superior flavor over English walnuts.

Let them get rained on and the pulp go from green to brown and then go out with vinyl gloves and de-husk them. That brown pulp stain lasts a long time on hands and underneath fingernails. Bring them somewhere to let them dry and crack at your convenience. They can stay tasty a couple of years depending on storage. You might want to go to Walmart and purchase one of those little bags of black walnuts and see if you like the taste. Also check online for the health benefits of black walnuts. They are a natural medicine for many conditions. 

But in the end you need to do what is right for you...


----------



## TerriLynn (Oct 10, 2009)

Dixie Bee Acres said:


> 3 trees worth, maybe not, but a couple buckets, absolutely.
> Lay them in the driveway and drive over them for a few weeks till the hulls are gone, then put back in the buckrts for a few weeks or so.
> Then crack em open, dig out the meats and make some brownies, cookies, fudge, etc.
> 
> After that, send me boxes full of brownies, cookies, fudge, etc.


That's how we do it too, just throw them in the driveway, as they get driven over and become liberated from that husk we pick them up and put in an onion sack and let them cure for a couple of months before cracking them.


----------



## deb_rn (Apr 16, 2010)

The tree themselves prevent many veggies from growing. There is a toxin in the root system, leaves and nuts, I believe, that inhibits growth in plants. Some plants are more affected than others. We have one about 40ft from our garden, in the neighbors yard. That side of the garden is definitely not as productive. It's not a fully mature tree, so the roots are still growing... ugh! As kids, my parents shelled them. It's an acquired taste! Not worth the effort in MY book! LOL

Debbie


----------



## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

There are several walnut trees at the farm where I have my horses as well as a couple of chestnut trees. Hubby wants me to get some, so I'm planning on getting a bucket worth of the walnuts as well as a bunch of chestnuts. I love chestnuts, but have never tried black walnuts. I like English walnuts, so I'm willing to try.


----------



## TerriLynn (Oct 10, 2009)

I should also add that if you do any quantity of them, and have a wood burning stove, burn the shells, they burn hot as coal, and make a nice fire. Put them in when you have a nice bed of coals.


----------



## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

For the people who think they are a pain to dig the nuts from the shells, trust me, spend a day shelling hickory nuts and you will have a whole new appreciation for black walnuts.


----------



## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

hercsmama said:


> A friend of my dh has 3 huge trees in front of his house, he is 87yo, and has offered for us to come and take all we want, as they are falling like crazy.
> I just don't know if they are worth it...
> I've never dealt with them myself, but I've heard they can be a nightmare to get clean.
> We are talking buckets, and buckets full. Do I want to do this, or are they not all that worth the trouble?


Yes, you want them. Black walnuts are awesome and definitely worth the effort. Once you get a system going they really aren't that difficult to process. We have about 13 trees on our property and most of them are producing. DH husks them and washes them and then, when they are dry, I start shelling. I set myself up a station in the living room and shell them all winter while I watch TV. Plus you can sell the excess. I sold the excess from what I shelled for $14 per pound and I was sold out in about 3 days.


----------



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Alright, I give!
Against my better judgement, I'm willing to give this a go.
I had dh bring me home a 5 gallon bucket last night. I then told him to toss them in the driveway, he now thinks I'm crazy. LOL!


----------



## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

He thinks you are crazy???
Well.....aren't you? 
Good for you, they are some work, but well worth it.

There may be a buying station near you in the coming few weeks. If so, the usually sell for 10-14 cents per pound. I know it isn't much, but if you have a lot at one place, you can load em up and make a few bucks.


----------



## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

hercsmama said:


> Alright, I give!
> Against my better judgement, I'm willing to give this a go.
> I had dh bring me home a 5 gallon bucket last night. I then told him to toss them in the driveway, he now thinks I'm crazy. LOL!


Remember to put something under them, like cardboard, or you're going to stain your driveway.


----------



## flowergurl (Feb 27, 2007)

Growing up on a farm in Mo, we tried to raise almost everything we ate. 
We had many black walnut trees on our farm and
it's all we ever used for baking and the like.


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I won't bother, we have 2 large trees.
Debi, can you imagine the mess I am cleaning up at our log cabin. A critter managed to find it's way inside with thousands of green walnuts. It stashed them in bedding,the sofas, ect. The green parts rotted tuning things black,looks like poo smeared everywhere. Ya, white carpeting upstairs and on the stairs. I pretty much have to clean every inch of the place.


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Well, just had to say, nut trees need the right growing conditions to set good fruit just like everything else. I agree, don't waste your time on bad nuts.

They're not that difficult to shell though; that's why God invented nut picks. There's no substitute for taste, and a little goes a long way.


----------



## sdnapier (Aug 13, 2010)

I think they are great. When I collect a bucket I sit on the porch steps with lots of newspaper, gloves, and old clothes. I hammer off the green and then drop them in a bucket of water to drown any worms. Them dump off the water, rinse, and dry on a screen. My folks used to put them on newspaper in the attic till they needed some. You need a very good nutcracker! They always remind me of Christmas and my grandmother.


----------



## light rain (Jan 14, 2013)

If you have any oil or any other fluids leaking from cars I wouldn't hull them in the driveway. 

Inside if you crack them always make sure you wear shoes or slippers in case a shell piece goes flying. Those pieces are sharp!

I cracked a couple this morning from last year. I did it front of the kitchen window for good light. I have the nut pickers but used a very pointed little knife and it worked fine. I need to rig up a light on a pole that I can aim at the precise of area of picking. I don't want to bite down of a shell piece by mistake.


----------



## ct01r (Jan 21, 2014)

Debi, GOOD LUCK! We have a bunch of walnut trees, and my wife loves walnuts, but we buy them. We've tried different ways of cracking them, so I'll pass on what we've learned.

If you're going to throw them in the driveway, a gravel driveway works better than a paved one. Dirt driveways work best. We paved our drive two years ago, and now we crush the walnuts that we drive over. With gravel/dirt, there's enough give that the hulls break away while leaving the shell whole. I swear, now it sounds like popping bubble wrap when we drive over and crush them!

We tried a small (12oz) hammer and an anvil. Then we went to a 16 oz. hammer and an anvil. We tried a 20 oz hammer, holding the shell with pliers on the anvil. We also tried 3 or 4 different kind of nutcrakers. Nothing worked as well as we'd like. Finally, we settled on putting the nut in a vise and slowly tightening the jaws to force the nut open. If you put the nut in with the ends against the jaws, as you close the jaws, the nut will "usually" break in half. You can "usually" then do it again to break it into 1/4's. Then it's easy to get the meat out with a nut pick, nail, dental pick, or whatever. 

It takes less than a minute to break it down to 1/4's, and picking the meat out at that time is easy. As mentioned by others, if you wait till the shell dries after removing the hulls, opening the shell is easier. 

Years ago, I had the brainy idea of having the kids help me shell a bunch. We were going to pack them up in pint mason jars, and give them out as Christmas presents since everyone in the family likes to cook. After 5 minutes of work, we decided to give everyone applebutter instead. Debi, I hope you're more successful than we were. Good luck! Curt


----------



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

We don't have a paved drive, just dirt, and whatever road base the county chooses to spread at the two ends, it's a circle drive. So I guess we are a step ahead there.
We'll see what happens in the next few weeks. If nothing else, at least we'll have a bit more traction when the snow and ice hit! LOL!!


----------



## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

I love the flavor of black walnuts and had a huge black walnut tree at one house I lived in years ago. The nuts would fall onto our driveway and we'd drive over them going in and out of the garage. I don't think any of them ever cracked from being driven over. I can remember hitting them with a hammer so hard the hammer would bounce off but they wouldn't crack. Lived there seven years and never ate even one of those black walnuts. 

I tried growing some tomatoes and peppers but they never set any blossoms at all. The plants would get about a foot tall and then stop growing. I'd guess the tree was 35 to 40 feet tall so it had a huge root network and all the dirt was poisoned. Yep, sure do love the flavor of black walnuts.


----------



## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

I wish I had a tree (not in my yard, though).

I think the only hard part is the cracking; they aren't really that bad to husk. (Obviously if you have buckets and buckets it's different!)

Last year we collected some, stomped on them with muck boots, and the hulls fell off pretty easily. Hosed them down and put them on an old screen to dry. No big deal. Probably had about...50...so not tons, but I think I put in an entire 15 minutes of effort.

If you leave them in the driveway, they will just be taken away by the squirrels. Just drive over them a couple of times and then finish them by stomping in your boots.

They are very hard to crack - if you have a specialty nut cracker it works much better. And I agree 100% with the comparison to hickory nuts. Totally worth the stained fingers instead of picking those tiny things.


----------



## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

We collected about 1,000 lbs yesterday and hulled them. This yielded about 350 lbs in the shell. They are currently on racks and drying. We'll harvest and hull at least that amount next weekend.

Keep an eye on the Barter Board for those who don't have trees or don't want to deal with the mess. We'll be offering them in the shell shipped in a USPS priority mail Box A (not sure how many lbs that will be yet).

We have a custom made cracker (cracks at 600 lbs/hour) but I'm a bit leery of shipping them cracked. All sorts of things LOVE black walnuts so if the cracked nuts aren't separated right away. We haven't come up with a good way to scale separating nut meats from shells which is why we aren't offering them that way.

Mike


----------



## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Mike in Ohio said:


> We collected about 1,000 lbs yesterday and hulled them. This yielded about 350 lbs in the shell. They are currently on racks and drying. We'll harvest and hull at least that amount next weekend.
> 
> Keep an eye on the Barter Board for those who don't have trees or don't want to deal with the mess. We'll be offering them in the shell shipped in a USPS priority mail Box A (not sure how many lbs that will be yet).
> 
> ...


Do you have a photo of that cracker? Did you make it yourself or buy? Currently we're using a hammer and anvil which takes a while to get through all the nuts we have.


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

One thing is the shells have to be brittle dry, any humidity and they flex instead of cracking. The bouncing hammer is a sign of that.


----------



## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

SLFarmMI said:


> Do you have a photo of that cracker? Did you make it yourself or buy? Currently we're using a hammer and anvil which takes a while to get through all the nuts we have.


http://www.nutcraker.net/

We bought ours. Looks like someone bought out the guy who originally made them. Not cheap unless you are going to crack a lot of nuts.

Mike


----------



## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Mike in Ohio said:


> http://www.nutcraker.net/
> 
> We bought ours. Looks like someone bought out the guy who originally made them. Not cheap unless you are going to crack a lot of nuts.
> 
> Mike


Thanks for the link. I think that is substantially out of our price range though. Looks like the hammer and railroad tie are going to have to suffice for a while.


----------



## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

SLFarmMI,

If we collect, hull and sell all the black walnuts from our place we are talking in excess of 10 tons of nuts.We are also considering offering (limited) hulling and cracking services.

Mike


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I bought a vacant 1/2 acre lot just because it had young black walnuts growing on it. 
I can't hull the nuts in my driveway. As soon as the hulls come off the squirrels start grabbing nuts, in some cases before we get out of the car! I have soaked them in water then rubbed the hulls off by hand while wearing nitrile gloves but the rubber dishwashing gloves hold up much better. I set the nut inside a plastic icee cup lid and hit it with a 5 pound sledge hammer. If you can hold it so you're hitting one of the pointed ends they usually break along the seam then into quarters. Break the quarters in half and the meat comes right out in big pieces. 

IMO, they are totally worth all the effort. I crack them in the basement while waiting to the fire in the stove to catch or waiting for a load of laundry to finish. They last longer in the shell than the meats do just setting in a jar, unless the jar of meats is in the freezer.


----------



## jeffwebb (Sep 18, 2014)

I Agree with the last poster- they are totally worth it. With practice you can get good at it.

The green husks can be peeled off with a knife- dry and make powdered husk or steep in olive oil to make husk oil- the best treatment there is for fungal infections like ringworm, or as a dewormer for your pets.

There is a new study that states that eating 6-7 Black Walnuts a day (not regular english walnuts) could cleanse your entire system of free radicals. They regulate blood sugar, and lower LDL cholesterol while raising HDL, and are in clinical study right now- Black Walnut extract actually kills cancer cells.

So......totally worth it- I recently did a podcast about these and went into some detail as to how to process Black Walnuts in the podcast and on the website....beside they are my favorite of all nuts in brownies .

The podcast is at www.diy2thrive.com/8


----------



## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Well, in order for me to do anything w/black walnuts, I'm going to have to get more. I left the ones I got in a bag next to my front steps. I got home today and the bag is gone. The only clue is a few pieces of hull on the steps and on the front lawn. I believe it was probably the squirrels that got them.


----------



## libertygirl (Jul 18, 2011)

hercsmama said:


> Alright, I give!
> Against my better judgement, I'm willing to give this a go.
> I had dh bring me home a 5 gallon bucket last night. I then told him to toss them in the driveway, he now thinks I'm crazy. LOL!




There went my coffee...now to clean up the laptop. :hysterical:


----------



## libertygirl (Jul 18, 2011)

Calico Katie said:


> I love the flavor of black walnuts and had a huge black walnut tree at one house I lived in years ago. The nuts would fall onto our driveway and we'd drive over them going in and out of the garage. I don't think any of them ever cracked from being driven over. I can remember hitting them with a hammer so hard the hammer would bounce off but they wouldn't crack. Lived there seven years and never ate even one of those black walnuts.
> 
> I tried growing some tomatoes and peppers but they never set any blossoms at all. The plants would get about a foot tall and then stop growing. I'd guess the tree was 35 to 40 feet tall so it had a huge root network and all the dirt was poisoned. Yep, sure do love the flavor of black walnuts.


Hmmm...Now I am wondering if you could soak those hulls in a bucket of water for a while and wind up with a natural herbicide.?? :huh:


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Yeah, you can but only to plants that are sensitive to juglone.


----------



## Lady89 (Feb 22, 2014)

I did it last year, the outside husk are grate fertilizer for your garden, i did not think it was all that bad but i ended up not liking the taste of the nuts enough to bother doing it this year


----------



## TraderBob (Oct 21, 2010)

jeffwebb said:


> There is a new study that states that eating 6-7 Black Walnuts a day (not regular english walnuts) could cleanse your entire system of free radicals. They regulate blood sugar, and lower LDL cholesterol while raising HDL, and are in clinical study right now- Black Walnut extract actually kills cancer cells.


Do you have a link to that study? All I can find is the exact opposite. English walnuts better than black walnuts:



> A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food in 2011 compared the cardiovascular effects of black walnuts to those of English walnuts. For the study, 36 people ate about 1.06 ounces of black walnuts or English walnuts every day for 30 days. Study results showed that participants who added English walnuts to their diets experienced greater improvements in several measures of cardiovascular health (compared to participants who added black walnuts to their diets).


----------

