Walnuts are healthy and should have a permanent place on every menu. The easiest way is to buy walnuts. But if you have a walnut tree in your garden, you have to dry your walnut harvest before you can enjoy it.
Walnuts are better dried at low temperatures
Different ways to dry walnuts
So that the walnuts collected in September and October do not spoil, you have to dry them and store them optimally. Mistakes during drying and storage are immediately acknowledged by the nut with mold formation. There are several ways to dry walnuts:
- air drying
- Drying in the dehydrator
- Drying in the tumble dryer or oven
Read which drying method is most suitable.
Harvest walnuts and prepare for drying
The walnut harvest extends from September to October. During this time the nuts fall from the tree and should be collected quickly so that no moisture can penetrate. Therefore, the walnuts must not be washed after collection. Remove only the green wrap if it is still attached. If the nuts are dirty, it is enough to brush them off with a vegetable brush.
Air dry walnuts
Store your walnuts in a dry place and let them air dry. Although this method takes time, it is free of charge. A dry, cool basement is best suited for this. Place the walnuts on newspaper or a special drying rack, turning the nuts periodically. The air can circulate around the nuts and after about 14 days they are dry.
Dry walnuts in the dehydrator
While dehydrators have many advantages when drying fruit and herbs, they should only be used in exceptional cases when drying walnuts.
Dehydrators work in a temperature range from 30 degrees. This temperature is too high for the oily nuts, they would go rancid. Only dry walnuts at low temperatures around 15 degrees.
Dry walnuts in the tumble dryer or oven
The walnut oil quickly goes rancid at higher temperatures and the nuts spoil. It is therefore not recommended to dry walnuts in the tumble dryer or in the oven. The oven starts with a number of 50 degrees, the tumble dryer is usually even warmer. At such high temperatures, only the nut shell would dry, the inner core would remain moist and would quickly go moldy.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself