Cracking black walnuts?

We have about 7 black walnut trees on our property but have never harvested the nuts. There seem to be various tools for sale on the internet -- does anyone have any experience?

Thanks!

One night, my father and I spent several hours trying to devise a way to crack Black Walnuts. We are both pretty innovative and have come up with lots of helpful tools and systems to make certain things easier. We tred everything from saws to drills to boltcutters. We cracked alot of walnuts, but we couldn't ever get the nut out whole. I guess that's why they're hard to find on store shelves. Let us know if you figure something out! Good luck!

Thanks, broncbuster. I was afraid it would be that difficult to get to those nuts!

We used to drive over the nuts when I was a kid... they never came out whole but it was fun.

My Father used a vice to crack the Walnut shells.

My grandfather would sit on the cement slab porch and whack hickory nuts with a hammer. They don't come out whole either. Just think of them as being pre-chopped.

in missouri they have places you can take them to that will crack the shells for you. black walnuts and pecans. I think they are just large machines with rollers. I've actually seen some smaller machines advertised occasionally in the local paper, but they are rather expensive. when i was a kid my grandparents had a farm in the ozarks with many black walnut trees, i think they used hammers, then used a pick to pick them out. I think it's an art about how much pressure to use and where to hit them, but my grandpa was pretty good at it, i guess it comes with much practice, but you still get that occasional teeth breaker hull.

When we lived in Indiana we had several black walnut trees that produced well. I found the greater problem was getting the husks off without dying my hands yellow/brown. I let the nuts lie on the ground until the husks were quite old and wrinkly. Then I would don my rubber boots and go out and roll the nuts under my feet to loosten the husks. Next, use a strong blast from the garden hose to knock the husks away. With gloves, pick up and place the nuts in a 5 gallon plastic bucket and then fill the bucket with water. The "floaters" can be discarded as they have no meat. Save the "sinkers" in net orange sacks. I hung mine in the garage for AT LEAST one year ( experience showed me that these nuts will last in the shell for 5 or more years!) After that, take them to the concrete steps with a hammer. The meats don't come out whole, but you can get some pretty nice large pieces with practice. Black walnuts are much stronger flavored than the English walnuts that are common in the grocery. You don't need many to flavor up some great muffins, breads, ice cream, etc. Yummm!

OOH! I want some black walnut ice cream!

Peckhaus, please forgive me for intruding...

Cymbalariadave, so walnuts on the ground from a tree I didn't know we had on our property are probably still good? There's not a whole lot, but some.

www.nutgrowers.org/qa/nutcrackers.htm

msrobin-

I would say walnuts on the ground that are less than a year old are probably still good. Ideally, one would watch this year's crop after they fall, wait for the husks to get "yucky", gather them and remove the husks with a hard stream of water, bag them up and hang them in a dry place for a year or two.

Thanks! I just rediscovered the walnut tree. I saw walnuts on the ground right after we bought this place 5 years ago, but forgot it. I'm thinking these are probably reasonably "new" walnuts, as they are still green. Forgot they turned yucky on the outside, too. I'll have to keep them picked up and keep the area mowed from now on. Have to dry them 1 or 2 years before using?

Robin

Robin
Patience is the key. The younger the nuts are, the tighter they are in the shells. That is, harder to get out in large pieces. In my experience, one should hang them for AT LEAST a year before cracking. But remember, they will still be good (and easier to remove from the shell) for several years. I know I cracked 8 year-old walnuts and found most of them to be good. Good luck!