Nuts!

 We've had bags of walnuts sitting in our old laundry room for quite a while. 

We finally got our nut cracker out. . .

and started cracking!

We've got a quart of them so far, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.

They sure are pretty.

I got some out of the freezer today and made German Chocolate Icing for my husband's cake for his birthday.

You can click here to see my YouTube video on making German Chocolate Icing.

 

Watch our you tube video on cracking the walnuts.

Oh, Nuts!

Hickory nuts and black walnuts, that is.

How do you get this bag of black walnuts. . .

and, this box of hickory nuts. . .

to turn into this?

and this?

All you need are the nuts gathered from out in the woods, a hammer, a hard surface and nut picks. I always crack my walnuts out on our driveway.I put a clean rag underneath, for easier clean up. You will find that black walnut shells sometimes have a tendency to fly in all directions when you hit them with a hammer. You will  be picking up pieces of shell from here, there and everywhere when you are finished.

I have been sitting out on the concrete steps of our front porch and cracking the hickory nuts.

I have found that if you hold the hickory nut on it's side this way, you will get the best chance of getting the big butterfly pieces of the nuts. Don't hit it on the fat, flat side, but on the skinny side, if you know what I mean.

This is what you like to end up with. The big butterfly shaped pieces.

I have already cracked a quart of the hickory nuts. There are still lots left to crack, I should end up with at least another quart or more when I am finished. My son has been helping me with the hickory nuts.

I still have a lot of black walnuts to crack. I'm going to have to start cracking them in the garage, since our weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse.

I posted here on how to hull the black walnuts.

You can use these nuts in just about all your baking projects. They are delicious in your fudge, cookies, banana breads and cakes. I haven't did it yet, but they say you can use hickory nuts in place of pecans in your favorite pecan pie recipe. I think I am going to try that. My neighbor says her mom used to make the best hickory nut pie! She told me she thought she made it  like pecan pie and just used the hickory nuts instead.

Have any of you every made hickory nut pie? If so, tell us your recipe.

Black Walnuts - Yummy

The West Virginia Black Walnut Festival will be held in Spencer, Oct 14th - 17th. Go here to read all about it. The Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall will be there this year.

It's that time of year again, time for harvesting black walnuts. I've always heard that they start to fall from the tree after the first frost. Well, we've have several frosts and the black walnuts are on the ground.

We went to a friend's house and picked a bunch of black walnuts.


A lot of people don't like messing with them. But, they are worth all the effort. My son cut a hole about 1 3/8" to hit the walnuts through.


Be sure and wear gloves! I repeat...be sure and wear gloves!


Black walnuts stain just about everything they come in contact with. If you get the stain on you, it will take a while for it to wear off.

You need to get the hulls or husks (whatever you happen to call them) off pretty soon after you pick the nuts off of the ground. If you are squeamish, you might not like this job. Worms are inside a lot of the husks of the black walnuts. They are the larvae of the husk fly. This is normal. If you have a lot of nuts, you just need to get used to the sight of them.

Lay them out to dry. A couple of nice days is all it takes. Then have someone pick them up and store them in baskets or bags until you are ready to crack them and get out the delicious nuts.


I read somewhere that black walnut shells are one of the hardest organic substances known. If you have ever cracked black walnuts, you will agree with this statement.

I am going to wait a few more weeks before I begin to crack them. I will then put them in Ziploc bags and store them in the freezer.

I LOVE black walnuts. I put them in cookies, fudge, brownies, cakes, breads, etc. They have a stronger flavor than English walnuts. They are very good.

I found this cookbook at a yard sale or thrift store a few years ago. It is the W. Va. Black Walnut Festival Award Winning Recipes for the years 1955-1984.



Along with providing us with great tasting nuts, the wood of the walnut tree is beautiful. My son made this small bowl and vase from black walnut wood.




He also turned this beautiful bowl from the trunk of a walnut tree.



Do you like black walnuts?