cracking walnuts

[testcase]

"Black walnuts scoff at girlyman crackers."



My two Black Walnut trees give me a bumper crop of walnuts each year. Never could find a way to easily get the outer shell off to be able to reach the inner shell (we've even tried driving over them).



A Black Walnut tree also releases a chemical into the ground. We can NOT grow tomatoes on the side of the garden that's about 10 feet away from the tree. Tomatoes grow fine on the other side of the same garden.

[freeradical]

Are the walnuts in the backyard the same variety of walnut that you'd find in the store?


I found this interesting tidbit about walnuts:

Poor storage makes walnuts susceptible to insect and fungal mold infestations; the latter produces aflatoxin - a potent carcinogen. A mold infested walnut seed batch should not be screened and then consumed; the entire batch should be discarded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut

[Grateful11]

The Jaws might work for English Walnuts but they aren't going to crack Black Walnuts.

The guy at the local farm supply sells this one and he says it works, it has compound geared action:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FNK8JU?tag=pecanworld-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B000FNK8JU&adid=1613W8BRPD4RZS12WEDF&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pecanworld.com%2Fdukenutcracker.htm

[wurm]

I have another possible solution for you. Be advised. It's a 3MB mpeg and likely nsfw (depending on your employer).

[RAMd®d]

I have another possible solution for you

Now, that's a nutcracker. I'd use it regularly.

I remember the ad. It was a great one.

[GeneL]

That's a good one, wurm!

BTW, Mavis, my S/O, grew up on a farm in a really tiny town called Fiat. It's in the general area of Canton and Peoria, Illinois.

A one room school house, outside water and "facility!" She knows and appreciated the benefits that compensated for the somewhat primitive farm life in the '30s and '40s.

Among her many "happy" memories are the abundance of things like Black Walnuts and Black Raspberries. I mention this because she'll reminisce with me about these and the other wonderful treats that she enjoyed as a child.

Neither of these are available, locally, so if anyone on the forum is able to send us some, from time to time, we can pay shipping and offer in return some home made pie, if you ever come for a visit.

You've seen a few of Mavis' pies before…



Trust me when I say that I pity those of you that have to make do with "commercial" pies.

Actually, there's a cherry pie baking in the oven, right now! Yum!

I showed Mavis the clip and she laughed and then told me about the rigors involved with shelling Black Walnuts.

Who knew?

I've never seen them except in a bag. :dunno:

[NewtonMP2100]

have you ever tried fondling the nuts......???

[Frank]

GeneL wrote:


That's a good one, wurm!

BTW, Mavis, my S/O, grew up on a farm in a really tiny town called Fiat. It's in the general area of Canton and Peoria, Illinois.

A one room school house, outside water and "facility!" She knows and appreciated the benefits that compensated for the somewhat primitive farm life in the '30s and '40s.

Among her many "happy" memories are the abundance of things like Black Walnuts and Black Raspberries. I mention this because she'll reminisce with me about these and the other wonderful treats that she enjoyed as a child.

Neither of these are available, locally, so if anyone on the forum is able to send us some, from time to time, we can pay shipping and offer in return some home made pie, if you ever come for a visit.

You've seen a few of Mavis' pies before…



Trust me when I say that I pity those of you that have to make do with "commercial" pies.

Actually, there's a cherry pie baking in the oven, right now! Yum!

I showed Mavis the clip and she laughed and then told me about the rigors involved with shelling Black Walnuts.

Who knew?

I've never seen them except in a bag. :dunno:

Those pies look really good.
I grew up on a walnut orchard in the San Fernando Valley, California. We had lots of experience shelling walnuts and eating them in cookies and deserts. My Mom always kept a few sacks of walnuts in the freezer. Our German Shepherd learned how to crack the nuts and get the meat out. It was fun watching him pick up nuts around the yard and crack them.