About 25 years ago my dad came home with a gallon of walnuts gathered from the neighbors. He put them in a paper grocery bag in the garage. About a week later we mowed our 1/3 acre back yard and when we came back the squirrels had robbed us blind. In that next Spring 6 walnut trees sprouted in our yard in the weirdest spots. 3 made it through that next Winter. They are now between 8 and 10" around and at least 25' tall. Dad trimmed them beautifully they have great canopies, long straight trunks and they're dropping walnuts all over the place. Now the neighborhood has a bunch of big fat happy grey squirrels with plenty to eat. And I've noticed walnut trees have popped up all over the within a quarter mile of our house. It's going to be a neighborhood of walnuts, nothing can stop it now.
That's so funny. We moved onto a property a month ago and discovered we have about 20 black walnut trees. They're all varying sizes and ages, some we estimate to be about 80 years old (they are massive). We also have dozens of squirrels that make an awful mess with them. 😂 I'm wondering if they're responsible for planting them!
I used a small electric cement mixer. You tumble the green hulls for a bit, they peel off, no water. Then tumble the dry shells with some sharp gravel and dry sand, and they polish enough to keep inside in a clean dry milk crate to "air out". . . .crack them on the kitchen counter with a metal nutcracker. walnut shells are good for tumble polishing ammo brass for reloading.. . . I once tried to make my own walnut stain. . .it sort of worked. . . .
I'm currently in Black Walnut processing mode. Currently have 2600 hanging and curing in mesh bags with about another 3500 to hull, clean and place into mesh bags. I should get close to 60lbs of shelled edible walnuts this from this year's harvest. It is free superfood just laying on the ground.
When I moved to NC I met some very cool older gentlemen who gave me a tour of the county they had grown up in. They would see someone with a seal it tree in their yard, knock on the door and ask if they could harvest their walnuts from their lawns. It’s awesome they fill grocery bags with them and bring them home to process. Hundred of lbs of Walnuts that would have otherwise gone to waste. I actually barter some chicken eggs with one of these men weekly he gives me beans and tomatoes through summer and broccoli and collard greens in late fall.
black walnut syrup is a thing too. If you haven't had a freeze yet. you could still get some this year. Get or make a tap buy 5 gal bucket from walmart bakery for $1. just have to ask them comes with a lid too. then boil it down.
I watched another video of a guy in Ontario, Canada who soaks the walnuts in their husks for about a week or two, first. This method apparently softens the husks very well. Then he uses a small cement mixer, which can be bought from Lowe's, throws a couple large granite rocks that have nice sharp edges on them, in with the husked walnuts, and turns the mixer on for about a half hour per 10 gallons of nuts. This is my first year harvesting Black Walnuts and Hickory Nuts so I've been on a UA-cam Binge watching everyone's methods. Some are less labor intensive than others but I also learn something different from each persons method. Thanks for the video.
Finally someone tells the truth that no matter what the hull (outside, green pulp) No matter what it looks like, collect them all. Float them to figure out what's good and bad. Floating? It's bad. Sinks? Cure it. 4-6 weeks drying or use an oven at super low heat a couple hours can give you a great head start. Good video 👍
Good process! I have Many trees my Dad planted 35-40 years ago. We have about 300 yards of gravelly ground along our creek. They grow Great here. Have been harvesting them by the "gator" load. Will use yer techniques to streamline our process. Thanks!
There are SOO many black walnuts and hickory nuts this year in Eastern PA as well. I was just watching an older video of yours showing the same process the other day. Definitely going to try this with a stick and see how it turns out. Thanks! Hope all is well!
If you are going to go with a stick as your tool, experiment with at least some 'resting' long enough to have the husk become quite black and soft. Should work better. Lots of ways to learn here for sure :)
I took inspiration from your past videos about this and processed about 20# of pecans from a tree i found on my university's campus. I was going to make some crates like you had done, but then the thought struck to use some old bird netting material i had kept. gathered the nuts up, and tied them closed. Now i have 3 nut bags hanging up drying and i'll give them a jiggle every so often
Put on your heaviest boots and take the nuts out to the curb. Stand on them and roll them under your feet. The shucks come right off if they are not too green. Throw the nuts in one bucket and the shucks in another. I use a dust pan to scoop up the shucks. You can wash the shells, but you don't have to. It is really messy using water and what you get off is mostly color and a little fiber that will just dry up on its own and fall off as you crack them. I let them air dry and store for at least three months before I eat them. You have developed the messiest possible method guaranteed to ruin all of our clothes and stain your hands for weeks. Enjoy.
Thank you for clarifying about the composting. I had watched another video that mentioned the toxin not being good for other plants, so I was worried when I saw a previous video mentioning the composting without clarifying the issue. We just moved to PA, and found out we have a big black walnut tree on our property. Feel very lucky, and looking forward to harvesting for the first time in a couple of months.
Great video.... I use my mortar mixer on half speed and just let it go for 10-15 min. I then dump and rinse the nuts of hull slop and throw them in again with clean water and let them spin for another 15 min. Rinse and your done. You can process so many with this method. I find the mortar mixer is far superior to anything. Thx
Do you have chickens? Just watched someone else who gives the husks (that often has larvae in it) to their chickens and they love it. The remains get worked into the bedding/compost. Thank you for your video!
2021 is definitely a good year. My son and I just picked up 108 five gallon buckets of walnuts in their husks from his yard here in West Virginia. We are planning to process only about 8 or 10 five gallon buckets, but they all needed picked up. I think the squirrels are in for a good winter.
I have a medium sized plastic drum that I have secured to couple a of 2x4's with a split removable top with a hole in the center of the top. I have a round wooden plate screwed to the bottom with a 1/2 inch hole drilled in the center and 3 or 4 1"x1" slats attached vertically to the inside. I place the mixer in the drum with the tip of mixer in the hole of the wooden plate to keep the mixer centered, pour in the walnuts and start agitating, reversing the drill ever so often. Remove the husk from the drum, replace the walnuts with some water and clean the walnuts by agitating.
Here in wet Oregon. In a hurry? Husks still firm yet? I use the cap that fits over a chain link fence post. It has a round loop that holds the pipe top rail In place. Just push the green nut through the loop. The husk cracks away from the nut and the nut comes thru the loop dehulled. I make a handle for this tool or use something close to the correct diameter and duck tape it on. If husks are gooey I use a large tote and cover the whole mess with water then pressure wash and all the gunk overflows leaving the nuts very clean.
Collecting black walnuts around my neighborhood. Collected a grocery bag of butternuts too. Been slowly processing them (stepping on them to get the husks off), but I think I'll try the water/ paint mixer method, only on a smaller scale. Tried to agitate with my hand, but I managed to mangle my fingers (butternuts are razor blade sharp!). Thanks for the info!
My mom used to lay the black walnuts out on the area she parked the car. She used to drive over the nuts and in a few weeks she would have us outside picking the nuts up and that was it. Fall is a time the ozarks gets lots of rain and the squirrels would always get a few. They also planted several trees in our yard.😊 to this day walnuts are my favorite nut.
My black raspberries were being decimated by orange rust so i decided to experiment with black raspberry leaves: mulching the berries with them since they have natural antifungal activity. It was hardly effective but the black raspberryb is surprisingly resistant to juglone and had huge beautiful fruit. I was shocked the birds didnt pillage them as normal untill i ate some... they were absolutly horrible: tasting like juglone. If you had a problem with birds thievin your berries, it seems this could be a great deterrent, to strategically juglone-ificate some berries so the local birds think your berries suck and wont mess with them. Much like painting rocks red and placing them in your strawberry patch.( James Prigioni has a good video)
If you are not too worried about conserving water. Idk could be the same amount of water. just use a pressure washer when they are in the milk crate. ua-cam.com/video/Ws2qFyqtDbg/v-deo.html sixtyfiveford has a good method. also built a diy nut cracker. if you want to build one of those.
I found it was easy for me to use a wooden board or hard surface Id just smash/roll each husk under my boot and the shell would pop right out. So I had a system of a pile of shells off to my left, a pile of shells to be hulled to my right and across the board on the ground I'd kick the separated hulls. Then after stepping on and separating each shell I'd then put the shells into a bucket of clean water with a paint mixer to clean and then I'd run that mixture into a plastic planting pot (or milk crate) which would hold all the shells but let all the black mucky water drain through the bottom drain holes, I'd do a couple rinses like that and they were good to dry from there. I found I didn't have to handle the black staining tary hulls and my clothes easily stayed clean it was a clean process since the bottom of my boot handles all the hull matter worked for me. I got least 7 5-gallon buckets full of cleaned shells, this is the first time I've processed black walnut so I'm excited to supplement the diet with free healthy wild forage
I've been collection black walnuts, pignut hickory, beech nuts and acorns lately. Last year the black walnuts around me didn't produce enough nuts for me to even bother collecting, but this year they're really producing.
big nut and persimmon year here too! QUESTION! will either the nuts or persimmon seeds germinate if stored cool and dry then soaked later and stratified?
I've only once had persimmon seeds, and if I remember correctly, I had to "overwinter" them in a fridge to germinate. I managed to kill them afterwards with my depression. but definitely check it if they need to go in the fridge... it was few years back, so I might be mixing things up... as for walnuts, yes, you need to make a crack in the shell, but not to much, not so much as to split the kernel in half. I used groove joint pliers to make a little crack, but not destroy the seed. you wrap then in a wet tissue, and leave them in a cold dark place, with some sort of humidity done, plastic bag would suffice, but start checking on them relatively quickly... I keep thinking a week, but I have adhd, so it was probably longer than that. they will push out really quickly, and you want to avoid them growing crooked, so make sure to check them on time I cracked four of them this way, and one rotted away, and the other three germinated. I planted them quickly, with the nut still attached, and at some point, in odd time, their leaves dried out, and I threw away the first one that did that, thinking it died. then the other two lost leaves, but I was too depressed to throw them away, and they regrew leaves again. they will grow really fast after you repot them, but they will stop growing once they reach the size of the pot, so, if you have a yard, you might want to plant them in there relatively quickly, I grow them in small pots, so they are quite stunted, but they do grow fast when they have enough soil to stretch their roots As it's always case with seeds, you need to keep in mind that they are fruit of sexual procreation, so they will not be the same as the parent plant. They might be really bad tasting, or much smaller, or who knows. also, it would take years for them to bear fruit. if you have access to plants, you can use seed grown tree as a root stock, and graft a fruit bearing branch on them, or if you already have access to trees, you can look up how to root a cutting, if that is doable, it will surely be a better path to take to grow fruit bearing trees. if all you want to experiment, sure, you can grow them from seed
Persimmon I'd store cool/moist and nuts cool/semi-moist. Both protected from rodents, and then sown in spring. If you have ample ample seed you can fall sow for sure.
I only know of 4 walnut trees near me its not a very Australian thing to have everywhere but most years the cockatoos and corellas get to them when they are still small and green and nobody gets any nuts
Great video outlining the process! I harvested a bunch this year, and there were some I didn't get to processing yet. I went to go process them the other day, and many of the hulls have a white mold on them, and when I break through the hull, some have white mold on the outer shell, too. Do you have experience with dehulling black walnuts that have sat for a while? My first thought is it shouldn't matter, since the nut itself is protected by the shell. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated, thanks!
I"m not sure what to suggest other than definitely process at least a few, crack them open and see what the average nut is like. I bet most of them are fine, maybe a stronger flavor, but probably fine... Do some and learn!
@@edibleacres Thanks! I'll crack a few open and give them a look. My concern comes from reading about the potential for mold on nuts to be a mycotoxin and carcinogenic.
I collected what I thought was black walnut but instead of everything being stained black, everything was stained more of a deep yellowish orange. Any idea what kind of walnuts I have? Are they still edible or even good?
You can certainly do that. Sometimes there are 'false negatives' and some will float that are still in decent shape, but if you have a bunch you are processing and limited storage space it seems quite worth filtering those out.
I just stomp on the nut before i pick it up and it easily separates from the husk. This all seems unnecessary to me. Compare an immaculately cleaned nut to one of this simple method and see if it doesnt taste better and store as long or longer. How long do you let yours cure before eating?
We have a "local" black walnut tree but it's kind of sad. We had a late frost this year so its flowers burned and we didn't get any nuts this year. I was hoping to plant some of them and start a couple of trees. I think it's slightly unusual around here, considering we're in far northern Minnesota, and if it survived up here, maybe its offspring will also survive and prosper.
I gave you guys a shout out on my latest video. Thank you for bringing to my attention the paddle mixing method. I believe you'll like my modification with a 2nd can used as a strainer. Thank you.
Would like to see you talk about saving some of the walnuts for tree production. Good video though seems quite labor extensive and water excessive but some times there's know other way.
@@edibleacres Sounds like it is a Mast year. The Mast year is a tree strategy to out wit the squirrels. Every 5 to 10 years the trees produce huge amounts of nuts. The squirrels plant as many as they can gather, but they will not find most of them later. The trees only do it once or twice a decade, because squirrel numbers can't build up enough numbers to take all the nuts in that year if most years are normal.
I grab them green and just roll them under my boot and the husk falls right off the black walnuts. My butternuts I have to do a lot more work and agitation with, but the black walnut husks just split into 2 very cleanly and easily.
I have quite a lot of black walnut seeds that I processed cured a couple years ago. I was wondering how long the nuts may remain viable for germination and how long the nuts keep in general if stored in a dryish space?
I have almost a dozen black walnut and about 6 hickory trees on my property. I love the hickory nut but would like to start working with the walnut. It seems like so much work, though! 😭
This is great, thanks for sharing! On a much smaller scale, I’ve been collecting (ripe?) but from the side of the road after the husks have mostly softened and broken off. I then pick the husks off as I collect them. I’m certainly not getting nearly as many nuts this way, as small mammals and bugs are getting to them first- I don’t take any nuts that have visible insect damage. Any downsides that you can see to this method? I’m sure your method results in a many more nuts but I don’t have the time this year for that level of processing. Also, the black walnuts in your area are HUGE, the ones around here are about 1-1/2” max.
We collect mainly from trees that make larger nuts. Since there are so many, we're a little 'picky' about it since we have limited total time to spend... Your method is OK for a very small scale, and a good way to ease into the process, but maybe it is worth spending a few hours to try processing at a more effective approach and see what you can make happen. With some finess, you may be able to get quite a lot.
Do you know how old Black Walnut trees have to be before producing nuts? Also, are the nuts from the first years of production as good as any other year? I realized I have two trees at my house but didn't notice nuts on the ground previously. I harvested some of them but when I cracked them open the nut meat was kind of soft and smelled a little rancid. Both of the trees are less than 1 foot in diameter. Thanks.
@@edibleacres have you considered shipping seeds? It's hard to find reliable suppliers for certain cold hardy tree seeds, including nuts, chestnuts and pawpaw. Everyone is just selling seedlings but those can't be shipped overseas... I wouldn't mind paying extra to support a good content creator and to know I'm getting my seeds from a reliable source. I don't want to order from ebay to find out ten years later I didn't get what I wanted...
Yup just like the climate has cycles so do the trees. In turn so do the squirrels. The squirrels are everywhere in the bumper crop years and then die off when the trees don’t produce as much the next year. Our oaks were loaded last year and next to nothing this year. The apples, pear, peach and even our mulberry trees have the same cycle although not the same years. We also get a surplus of possums and skunks during these years and then again only the strong survive and the rest starve to death.
I inherited a black walnut stump when I bought my home 6 years ago. That half of my yard is still a dead zone from the juglone in the soil. I planted a mirror image on either side of my front yard. Golden curly willows, Artic Blue Salix willows, Rver Birch and lilacs. The side with the stump is dwarfed or dead. The curly willow on the good side is 30 feet tall, stump side is only 4 ft. River Birch on good side is 25 ft, stump side less than 5 ft. Good side Blue Salix is 6 ft around and 5 ft tall, stump side dead and gone. Lilacs on the good side are 12 ft and bloomed beautifully the last 6 years. Stump side all but 1 is dead and it's only 3 ft and has never bloomed. I'd never, ever, plant one or even bring the water from them into my yard. Black walnuts are considered noxious here and planting them is outlawed. I would really worry about your crops Sean..the water is loaded with juglone..it's devastating to other plants. I had my soil tested when things started dying and didn't know the stump was a black walnut and was killing that side. I was advised to only plant very shallow rooted annuals for 7 years at least on the stump side or create a hardscape with no plants at all. I hope this finds you and Sasha well and hi to Juan. It's always nice when he makes an appearance. Hugs from Spokane WA. Tricia
Thanks for sharing your experience here. Most of the potency of that effect is in the roots and their juices, much less so in the husk, especially when fully composted. In our system I'm not worried about it...
i am in spokane too and have same dead zones from black walnut roots. even killed a curly willow Which supposedly tolerates juglone. I tried killing one by chopping all the branches off but it has come back so I guess I will let it grow to maturity since there's not much else around it now that the willow is dead
@@nickthomas6206 the only thing I've found to kill the 300 plus saplings in my yard when I bought my home 6 years ago was to apply blackberry killer with a paint brush on fresh cut stumps.
Boy, those are nice walnuts! I have ben collecting and have around 20 gallons of in shell nuts, but, if they were as large as those I'd probably have 10 gallon more! I don't have walnuts on our property, so would have interest in possibly purchasing a few trees from you, if you are selling them. ;-)
@@edibleacres I’ll keep watching. I ordered a few today from MO State Nursery. I hope genetically they’re the same strain. How satisfying it must be to crack those beasts open!
This is a Makita 1/2" drill with a side handle attachment. If you are doing this for a while you'd want a heavy duty drill like that, or take your time and do it in smaller batches
We don't fuss over cleaning husks for seed... We just pack them in rodent protected containers mixed with sawdust and heallthy soil and they are just fine for the winter this way.
I used to eat those things like crazy when I was a kid up north. It was the only nut tree we had that I knew about anyway. I'd end up with those black stains everywhere. I lost my taste for them of late though. I'm not sure if it was a bad batch or what, but they had the strongest taste. It was too much. The price was crazy to boot. What is the flavor of the Chinese walnut like?
The Japanese Walnut is mild and buttery, really pleasant. The Black Walnut, if cleaned decently and allowed to mature/mellow for a while, is a very lovely flavor I think. Maybe they sat around too long?
About 25 years ago my dad came home with a gallon of walnuts gathered from the neighbors. He put them in a paper grocery bag in the garage. About a week later we mowed our 1/3 acre back yard and when we came back the squirrels had robbed us blind. In that next Spring 6 walnut trees sprouted in our yard in the weirdest spots. 3 made it through that next Winter. They are now between 8 and 10" around and at least 25' tall. Dad trimmed them beautifully they have great canopies, long straight trunks and they're dropping walnuts all over the place. Now the neighborhood has a bunch of big fat happy grey squirrels with plenty to eat. And I've noticed walnut trees have popped up all over the within a quarter mile of our house. It's going to be a neighborhood of walnuts, nothing can stop it now.
What a story!!!
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
That's so funny. We moved onto a property a month ago and discovered we have about 20 black walnut trees. They're all varying sizes and ages, some we estimate to be about 80 years old (they are massive). We also have dozens of squirrels that make an awful mess with them. 😂 I'm wondering if they're responsible for planting them!
I used a small electric cement mixer. You tumble the green hulls for a bit, they peel off, no water. Then tumble the dry shells with some sharp gravel and dry sand, and they polish enough to keep inside in a clean dry milk crate to "air out". . . .crack them on the kitchen counter with a metal nutcracker. walnut shells are good for tumble polishing ammo brass for reloading.. . . I once tried to make my own walnut stain. . .it sort of worked. . . .
I'm currently in Black Walnut processing mode. Currently have 2600 hanging and curing in mesh bags with about another 3500 to hull, clean and place into mesh bags. I should get close to 60lbs of shelled edible walnuts this from this year's harvest. It is free superfood just laying on the ground.
If you know any natural dyers, they'd LOVE some of that husk; it makes a gorgeous deep warm brown dye :)
When I moved to NC I met some very cool older gentlemen who gave me a tour of the county they had grown up in. They would see someone with a seal it tree in their yard, knock on the door and ask if they could harvest their walnuts from their lawns. It’s awesome they fill grocery bags with them and bring them home to process. Hundred of lbs of Walnuts that would have otherwise gone to waste.
I actually barter some chicken eggs with one of these men weekly he gives me beans and tomatoes through summer and broccoli and collard greens in late fall.
This video is such a blessing! I have a black walnut tree in my mom's backyard and I had no idea how to process them. Thank you!
black walnut syrup is a thing too. If you haven't had a freeze yet. you could still get some this year. Get or make a tap buy 5 gal bucket from walmart bakery for $1. just have to ask them comes with a lid too. then boil it down.
@@bored0987 wow what a good idea. I had no clue!
@@bored0987 walnut sap runs this time lf year? Not around February with the maple sap?
I watched another video of a guy in Ontario, Canada who soaks the walnuts in their husks for about a week or two, first. This method apparently softens the husks very well. Then he uses a small cement mixer, which can be bought from Lowe's, throws a couple large granite rocks that have nice sharp edges on them, in with the husked walnuts, and turns the mixer on for about a half hour per 10 gallons of nuts. This is my first year harvesting Black Walnuts and Hickory Nuts so I've been on a UA-cam Binge watching everyone's methods. Some are less labor intensive than others but I also learn something different from each persons method. Thanks for the video.
This is really a great system. Thank you for showing each step and explaining it so clearly.
Super happy to do it.
Juglone breaks down in the soil relatively quickly. If you cut down a tree in the spring, you can plant where it stood by autumn.
Finally someone tells the truth that no matter what the hull (outside, green pulp)
No matter what it looks like, collect them all.
Float them to figure out what's good and bad.
Floating? It's bad.
Sinks? Cure it.
4-6 weeks drying or use an oven at super low heat a couple hours can give you a great head start.
Good video 👍
Good process! I have Many trees my Dad planted 35-40 years ago. We have about 300 yards of gravelly ground along our creek. They grow Great here. Have been harvesting them by the "gator" load. Will use yer techniques to streamline our process.
Thanks!
There are SOO many black walnuts and hickory nuts this year in Eastern PA as well. I was just watching an older video of yours showing the same process the other day. Definitely going to try this with a stick and see how it turns out. Thanks! Hope all is well!
If you are going to go with a stick as your tool, experiment with at least some 'resting' long enough to have the husk become quite black and soft. Should work better. Lots of ways to learn here for sure :)
@@edibleacres thank you! I’m going to try a few ways out for sure! There is such an abundance of them this year 😊
Here in NE Ohio I have tennis ball sized walnuts this year, I've never had them this big.
My squirrels planted black walnuts in my yard so I’m letting them grow for future nuts. I can’t wait!
I took inspiration from your past videos about this and processed about 20# of pecans from a tree i found on my university's campus. I was going to make some crates like you had done, but then the thought struck to use some old bird netting material i had kept. gathered the nuts up, and tied them closed. Now i have 3 nut bags hanging up drying and i'll give them a jiggle every so often
So cool you are collecting and innovating!
Awesome to see more of Juan!
A friend placed black walnuts in a metal cage and pressure washed the hulls right off!! Super clean nuts ready to dry out and crack!!
Put on your heaviest boots and take the nuts out to the curb. Stand on them and roll them under your feet. The shucks come right off if they are not too green. Throw the nuts in one bucket and the shucks in another. I use a dust pan to scoop up the shucks. You can wash the shells, but you don't have to. It is really messy using water and what you get off is mostly color and a little fiber that will just dry up on its own and fall off as you crack them. I let them air dry and store for at least three months before I eat them. You have developed the messiest possible method guaranteed to ruin all of our clothes and stain your hands for weeks. Enjoy.
Thank you for clarifying about the composting. I had watched another video that mentioned the toxin not being good for other plants, so I was worried when I saw a previous video mentioning the composting without clarifying the issue. We just moved to PA, and found out we have a big black walnut tree on our property. Feel very lucky, and looking forward to harvesting for the first time in a couple of months.
They are a miraculous tree to have around, you are lucky they are there!
the green walnut husk is the good stuff for anti parasitics
Thanks. Awesome video and process!
Tons of nuts in southeast Michigan too. I have more than I know what to do with! Thanks for the useful information!💕🌰
Hope you can find the time to process a bunch :)
Great video.... I use my mortar mixer on half speed and just let it go for 10-15 min. I then dump and rinse the nuts of hull slop and throw them in again with clean water and let them spin for another 15 min. Rinse and your done. You can process so many with this method. I find the mortar mixer is far superior to anything. Thx
Thanks for sharing!
Do you have chickens? Just watched someone else who gives the husks (that often has larvae in it) to their chickens and they love it. The remains get worked into the bedding/compost.
Thank you for your video!
2021 is definitely a good year. My son and I just picked up 108 five gallon buckets of walnuts in their husks from his yard here in West Virginia. We are planning to process only about 8 or 10 five gallon buckets, but they all needed picked up. I think the squirrels are in for a good winter.
I have a medium sized plastic drum that I have secured to couple a of 2x4's with a split removable top with a hole in the center of the top. I have a round wooden plate screwed to the bottom with a 1/2 inch hole drilled in the center and 3 or 4 1"x1" slats attached vertically to the inside. I place the mixer in the drum with the tip of mixer in the hole of the wooden plate to keep the mixer centered, pour in the walnuts and start agitating, reversing the drill ever so often. Remove the husk from the drum, replace the walnuts with some water and clean the walnuts by agitating.
Your videos keep me inspired. Thank you
Any tips for processing butternuts? I'm totally new to them- thanks
Here in wet Oregon. In a hurry? Husks still firm yet? I use the cap that fits over a chain link fence post. It has a round loop that holds the pipe top rail In place. Just push the green nut through the loop. The husk cracks away from the nut and the nut comes thru the loop dehulled.
I make a handle for this tool or use something close to the correct diameter and duck tape it on.
If husks are gooey I use a large tote and cover the whole mess with water then pressure wash and all the gunk overflows leaving the nuts very clean.
Cool notes, thank you!
I hope that you do a follow up and show us how you eat them and how tasty they are. Very curious. Maybe a clean and cook with Sacha?
We'll offer up more notes as we work with them more this winter.
I think there's a video on here where Sasha make a scape pesto with black walnuts by toasting them first. Give it a search on the channel.
@@kerem7546 yummmmm
Cool video. Im in MN and noticed a ton of walnuts this year as well.
Go get em!
Getting ready for 2022 walnut harvest just finished my hazelnut harvest of around 100 pounds of wild hazelnuts hope you have a great season also
Almost no hazelnuts this year unfortunately but oh well, always next year!
@@edibleacres I planted the hazelnut bushes in 2006 250 bushes i bought from the conservation here in Missouri
Hi! Very cool collecting and drying. But, how do you crack the nuts? Do you have a good machine? Many thanks!!
Delightful :) thank you for sharing your process with us.
Very well done. Any tricks you do on cracking these bad mamma jammas?
ua-cam.com/video/cTgvgqFfEvA/v-deo.html - Wonderful tool although I think they aren't selling them anymore?
Collecting black walnuts around my neighborhood. Collected a grocery bag of butternuts too. Been slowly processing them (stepping on them to get the husks off), but I think I'll try the water/ paint mixer method, only on a smaller scale. Tried to agitate with my hand, but I managed to mangle my fingers (butternuts are razor blade sharp!). Thanks for the info!
Power washer them in a milk crate. or bucket with a a bunch of holes.
i think you may be getting rid of the best bit, the freeze dried green walnut husk is gold anti parasitic
Great side product to be sure.
We used to have "snowball fights" with those...yeah ouch.🤣 I just put them under the tree for squirrels.
My mom used to lay the black walnuts out on the area she parked the car. She used to drive over the nuts and in a few weeks she would have us outside picking the nuts up and that was it. Fall is a time the ozarks gets lots of rain and the squirrels would always get a few. They also planted several trees in our yard.😊 to this day walnuts are my favorite nut.
What a nice passive system!
My black raspberries were being decimated by orange rust so i decided to experiment with black raspberry leaves: mulching the berries with them since they have natural antifungal activity. It was hardly effective but the black raspberryb is surprisingly resistant to juglone and had huge beautiful fruit. I was shocked the birds didnt pillage them as normal untill i ate some... they were absolutly horrible: tasting like juglone. If you had a problem with birds thievin your berries, it seems this could be a great deterrent, to strategically juglone-ificate some berries so the local birds think your berries suck and wont mess with them. Much like painting rocks red and placing them in your strawberry patch.( James Prigioni has a good video)
I wonder if one of those little cement tumblers would be good to agitating them, if you or a neighbor happened to have one.
The black walnut does well in the southeast, also!
Hey guys, thank you very much. A really good idea. I'll try it this year 😉 thanks again 💪
Brilliant! I've been attempting to process my walnuts by hand but it takes forever. Time to bust out the hose and milk crate.
If you are not too worried about conserving water. Idk could be the same amount of water. just use a pressure washer when they are in the milk crate.
ua-cam.com/video/Ws2qFyqtDbg/v-deo.html sixtyfiveford has a good method. also built a diy nut cracker. if you want to build one of those.
@@bored0987 Thanks! His nut cracker is awesome.
Need woodchips! Checking the roads today FOR WALNUTS! TY
I found it was easy for me to use a wooden board or hard surface Id just smash/roll each husk under my boot and the shell would pop right out. So I had a system of a pile of shells off to my left, a pile of shells to be hulled to my right and across the board on the ground I'd kick the separated hulls. Then after stepping on and separating each shell I'd then put the shells into a bucket of clean water with a paint mixer to clean and then I'd run that mixture into a plastic planting pot (or milk crate) which would hold all the shells but let all the black mucky water drain through the bottom drain holes, I'd do a couple rinses like that and they were good to dry from there. I found I didn't have to handle the black staining tary hulls and my clothes easily stayed clean it was a clean process since the bottom of my boot handles all the hull matter worked for me. I got least 7 5-gallon buckets full of cleaned shells, this is the first time I've processed black walnut so I'm excited to supplement the diet with free healthy wild forage
Awesome you figured out a system that works well for you, and that is a serious amount of extra food for the winter, wow!
Great ideas, keep up the good work
Can you please show us what you do cooking or how you like to use the black walnuts thanks
We certainly plan to make some videos about that this winter.
A trampoline in the sun is also great for drying. Will you be sharing your cracking technique? Here in Sweden black walnuts are hard as hell to crack.
They are super hard for sure. We made a video about it a few years ago, search for 'master nut cracker' and see what you can find.
I've been collection black walnuts, pignut hickory, beech nuts and acorns lately. Last year the black walnuts around me didn't produce enough nuts for me to even bother collecting, but this year they're really producing.
Great to collect from various types of tree crops each year so there is a revolving abundance.
Have you tried a cement mixer? you can add a few small stones to help the process.
I've heard good things but haven't tried it
Got a tree right down the road and they are right going to grab some tomorrow.....
These are great for dying fabric!
big nut and persimmon year here too! QUESTION! will either the nuts or persimmon seeds germinate if stored cool and dry then soaked later and stratified?
I've only once had persimmon seeds, and if I remember correctly, I had to "overwinter" them in a fridge to germinate. I managed to kill them afterwards with my depression. but definitely check it if they need to go in the fridge... it was few years back, so I might be mixing things up...
as for walnuts, yes, you need to make a crack in the shell, but not to much, not so much as to split the kernel in half. I used groove joint pliers to make a little crack, but not destroy the seed. you wrap then in a wet tissue, and leave them in a cold dark place, with some sort of humidity done, plastic bag would suffice, but start checking on them relatively quickly... I keep thinking a week, but I have adhd, so it was probably longer than that. they will push out really quickly, and you want to avoid them growing crooked, so make sure to check them on time
I cracked four of them this way, and one rotted away, and the other three germinated. I planted them quickly, with the nut still attached, and at some point, in odd time, their leaves dried out, and I threw away the first one that did that, thinking it died. then the other two lost leaves, but I was too depressed to throw them away, and they regrew leaves again. they will grow really fast after you repot them, but they will stop growing once they reach the size of the pot, so, if you have a yard, you might want to plant them in there relatively quickly, I grow them in small pots, so they are quite stunted, but they do grow fast when they have enough soil to stretch their roots
As it's always case with seeds, you need to keep in mind that they are fruit of sexual procreation, so they will not be the same as the parent plant. They might be really bad tasting, or much smaller, or who knows. also, it would take years for them to bear fruit. if you have access to plants, you can use seed grown tree as a root stock, and graft a fruit bearing branch on them, or if you already have access to trees, you can look up how to root a cutting, if that is doable, it will surely be a better path to take to grow fruit bearing trees.
if all you want to experiment, sure, you can grow them from seed
Persimmon I'd store cool/moist and nuts cool/semi-moist. Both protected from rodents, and then sown in spring. If you have ample ample seed you can fall sow for sure.
Do you guys have a process for extracting Black Walnut Oil
i have a a feeling you will sell them all
I only know of 4 walnut trees near me its not a very Australian thing to have everywhere but most years the cockatoos and corellas get to them when they are still small and green and nobody gets any nuts
Great video outlining the process! I harvested a bunch this year, and there were some I didn't get to processing yet. I went to go process them the other day, and many of the hulls have a white mold on them, and when I break through the hull, some have white mold on the outer shell, too. Do you have experience with dehulling black walnuts that have sat for a while? My first thought is it shouldn't matter, since the nut itself is protected by the shell. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated, thanks!
I"m not sure what to suggest other than definitely process at least a few, crack them open and see what the average nut is like. I bet most of them are fine, maybe a stronger flavor, but probably fine... Do some and learn!
@@edibleacres Thanks! I'll crack a few open and give them a look. My concern comes from reading about the potential for mold on nuts to be a mycotoxin and carcinogenic.
I collected what I thought was black walnut but instead of everything being stained black, everything was stained more of a deep yellowish orange. Any idea what kind of walnuts I have? Are they still edible or even good?
Loved this video!
TY 4 sharing
Do you have a process for shelling them in bulk once you've removed the husks and cured them?
Not really
Nice vid, lots of black walnuts this year, question,... as with Hickory nuts do you float test black walnuts?
You can certainly do that. Sometimes there are 'false negatives' and some will float that are still in decent shape, but if you have a bunch you are processing and limited storage space it seems quite worth filtering those out.
We have so many black walnut trees here is Eastern Ontario. I've never seen them processed before. I normally just leave them for the squirrels.
They are so incredibly valuable to harvest and process!!!
Acorns can be processed and eaten processed as flour as well.
Absolutely.
I just stomp on the nut before i pick it up and it easily separates from the husk. This all seems unnecessary to me. Compare an immaculately cleaned nut to one of this simple method and see if it doesnt taste better and store as long or longer.
How long do you let yours cure before eating?
We have a "local" black walnut tree but it's kind of sad. We had a late frost this year so its flowers burned and we didn't get any nuts this year. I was hoping to plant some of them and start a couple of trees. I think it's slightly unusual around here, considering we're in far northern Minnesota, and if it survived up here, maybe its offspring will also survive and prosper.
How long do you do the direct drying before the cool dry storage?
I gave you guys a shout out on my latest video. Thank you for bringing to my attention the paddle mixing method. I believe you'll like my modification with a 2nd can used as a strainer. Thank you.
Would like to see you talk about saving some of the walnuts for tree production. Good video though seems quite labor extensive and water excessive but some times there's know other way.
You might be surprised how much water is actually used. Maybe 20-30 gallons so far for 200 pounds of nuts...
@@edibleacres that's not bad!
Might this be a Mast year? Are the other nut trees near you having extra abundant crops?
Many trees are at peak this year, walnuts and hickory at super peak. Last year this good was 2013... Maybe they are on 7 year cycles.
@@edibleacres Sounds like it is a Mast year. The Mast year is a tree strategy to out wit the squirrels. Every 5 to 10 years the trees produce huge amounts of nuts. The squirrels plant as many as they can gather, but they will not find most of them later. The trees only do it once or twice a decade, because squirrel numbers can't build up enough numbers to take all the nuts in that year if most years are normal.
Looks great, I consider planting a turkish hazel tree as an alternative nut producer. Have you any experience of growing them to share?
We haven't grown that type enough to offer notes.
By chance are you the author of the video “we will witness what Nephi saw in vision” videos? Your voice is uncannily similar. Great vids!
Damn, 2022 and mine in Maryland started dropping in early September. That is extremely early compared to past years.
I grab them green and just roll them under my boot and the husk falls right off the black walnuts. My butternuts I have to do a lot more work and agitation with, but the black walnut husks just split into 2 very cleanly and easily.
I have quite a lot of black walnut seeds that I processed cured a couple years ago. I was wondering how long the nuts may remain viable for germination and how long the nuts keep in general if stored in a dryish space?
I have almost a dozen black walnut and about 6 hickory trees on my property.
I love the hickory nut but would like to start working with the walnut.
It seems like so much work, though! 😭
Lots of work, but then you're done :)
This is great, thanks for sharing! On a much smaller scale, I’ve been collecting (ripe?) but from the side of the road after the husks have mostly softened and broken off. I then pick the husks off as I collect them. I’m certainly not getting nearly as many nuts this way, as small mammals and bugs are getting to them first- I don’t take any nuts that have visible insect damage. Any downsides that you can see to this method? I’m sure your method results in a many more nuts but I don’t have the time this year for that level of processing. Also, the black walnuts in your area are HUGE, the ones around here are about 1-1/2” max.
We collect mainly from trees that make larger nuts. Since there are so many, we're a little 'picky' about it since we have limited total time to spend...
Your method is OK for a very small scale, and a good way to ease into the process, but maybe it is worth spending a few hours to try processing at a more effective approach and see what you can make happen. With some finess, you may be able to get quite a lot.
@@edibleacres I agree. This is my first year putting any effort into harvesting walnuts, I do plan to scale up in the future
I just got a new house and across the street is a stand of mature black walnut so I have my living room full of drying shells currently..
Yay!
Pressure washer works very well
The black walnuts I've collected always taste quite bitter- is it an acquired taste or do you have some curing tips that would help with the flavor?
They may need to 'rest' or cure for a month or more before you try to eat them.
Do you know how old Black Walnut trees have to be before producing nuts? Also, are the nuts from the first years of production as good as any other year? I realized I have two trees at my house but didn't notice nuts on the ground previously. I harvested some of them but when I cracked them open the nut meat was kind of soft and smelled a little rancid. Both of the trees are less than 1 foot in diameter.
Thanks.
I welcome the juglone from the big pile left of processed hulls, I just use them as mulch under my paw paws they don't mind it
For sure!
We don't really have any nuts here in Finland (except the occasional hazelnut) but I'm going to change that for my property...
Yay!
@@edibleacres have you considered shipping seeds? It's hard to find reliable suppliers for certain cold hardy tree seeds, including nuts, chestnuts and pawpaw. Everyone is just selling seedlings but those can't be shipped overseas...
I wouldn't mind paying extra to support a good content creator and to know I'm getting my seeds from a reliable source. I don't want to order from ebay to find out ten years later I didn't get what I wanted...
Do you use the super thick water to dye fabrics?
We dyed a few things and it worked pretty nicely.
Do you use the fan technique after the sun dry? What about the storage after they dry?
We'll share more notes, but yeah, we stack with a fan to cure then onion sacks hung in basement.
we let them dry on dry surface in the fresh air ... once they dry gently beat them with a stick or roll a heavy pole on it peals right off
Our local oaks are having a mast year. Don’t remember this many acorns falling! The pigs love it but I am wondering if it’s climate response?
Yup just like the climate has cycles so do the trees. In turn so do the squirrels. The squirrels are everywhere in the bumper crop years and then die off when the trees don’t produce as much the next year. Our oaks were loaded last year and next to nothing this year. The apples, pear, peach and even our mulberry trees have the same cycle although not the same years. We also get a surplus of possums and skunks during these years and then again only the strong survive and the rest starve to death.
So many variables, it's hard to know... I just know to collect intensely when the trees give the green light :)
I inherited a black walnut stump when I bought my home 6 years ago. That half of my yard is still a dead zone from the juglone in the soil. I planted a mirror image on either side of my front yard. Golden curly willows, Artic Blue Salix willows, Rver Birch and lilacs. The side with the stump is dwarfed or dead. The curly willow on the good side is 30 feet tall, stump side is only 4 ft. River Birch on good side is 25 ft, stump side less than 5 ft. Good side Blue Salix is 6 ft around and 5 ft tall, stump side dead and gone. Lilacs on the good side are 12 ft and bloomed beautifully the last 6 years. Stump side all but 1 is dead and it's only 3 ft and has never bloomed. I'd never, ever, plant one or even bring the water from them into my yard. Black walnuts are considered noxious here and planting them is outlawed. I would really worry about your crops Sean..the water is loaded with juglone..it's devastating to other plants. I had my soil tested when things started dying and didn't know the stump was a black walnut and was killing that side. I was advised to only plant very shallow rooted annuals for 7 years at least on the stump side or create a hardscape with no plants at all. I hope this finds you and Sasha well and hi to Juan. It's always nice when he makes an appearance. Hugs from Spokane WA. Tricia
Thanks for sharing your experience here. Most of the potency of that effect is in the roots and their juices, much less so in the husk, especially when fully composted. In our system I'm not worried about it...
i am in spokane too and have same dead zones from black walnut roots. even killed a curly willow Which supposedly tolerates juglone. I tried killing one by chopping all the branches off but it has come back so I guess I will let it grow to maturity since there's not much else around it now that the willow is dead
@@nickthomas6206 the only thing I've found to kill the 300 plus saplings in my yard when I bought my home 6 years ago was to apply blackberry killer with a paint brush on fresh cut stumps.
Boy, those are nice walnuts! I have ben collecting and have around 20 gallons of in shell nuts, but, if they were as large as those I'd probably have 10 gallon more! I don't have walnuts on our property, so would have interest in possibly purchasing a few trees from you, if you are selling them. ;-)
We hope to offer trees again next year. We'll probably end up growing a bunch.
@@edibleacres I’ll keep watching. I ordered a few today from MO State Nursery. I hope genetically they’re the same strain. How satisfying it must be to crack those beasts open!
My drill burned up doing this . What kind of drill are you using,?
This is a Makita 1/2" drill with a side handle attachment. If you are doing this for a while you'd want a heavy duty drill like that, or take your time and do it in smaller batches
@@edibleacres Thank you .
Should I be taking the husk off if my plan for the walnuts is seed? How do you process for seed?
Stick it in the ground about 2 inches where you want it to grow. It will come up next spring. Likewise if you want it in a pot.
We don't fuss over cleaning husks for seed... We just pack them in rodent protected containers mixed with sawdust and heallthy soil and they are just fine for the winter this way.
@@edibleacres Ok thank you!
I used to eat those things like crazy when I was a kid up north. It was the only nut tree we had that I knew about anyway. I'd end up with those black stains everywhere. I lost my taste for them of late though. I'm not sure if it was a bad batch or what, but they had the strongest taste. It was too much. The price was crazy to boot. What is the flavor of the Chinese walnut like?
The Japanese Walnut is mild and buttery, really pleasant. The Black Walnut, if cleaned decently and allowed to mature/mellow for a while, is a very lovely flavor I think. Maybe they sat around too long?
@@edibleacres I think that is very possible.
Fun thing I learned as a child, I am allergic to the green part of the un-ripened black walnut, but not the walnut itself.
How do you add lots and lots of carbon? Could I also compost black walnut wood/leaves?
Lots of carbon comes from wood chips, sawdust, leaf bags in the fall, straw, biochar, etc. etc... Ample sources around :)
20 gallons from 2 trees so far. Got another tree that just hasn't let go yet.
So glad you are harvesting!
Now you’re going to have to do a video on how to extract the nut from the shell. Lol that’s the time consuming part.
Diy electric nut cracker from sixtyfiveford. ua-cam.com/video/u0TK9qLcNf0/v-deo.html
i wish i saw this a week ago
We woulda made it sooner but we've been busy doing the processing!
❤️❤️❤️
try boiling and filtering that black water and using it as a brown dye! might work for you might not