Walnuts are not only delicious, they are also extremely healthy thanks to the around 90 nutrients they contain. If you have your own walnut tree, you can collect the ripe nuts from mid-September. Cleaned, dried well and stored properly, they can be kept for many months.

Walnuts should not be over-wetted

Harvest walnuts

Leave the nuts on the tree for as long as possible and do not knock them down. This is the only way to ensure that the walnuts are ripe, which you can tell when the soft outer shell bursts open. Only then has the full taste developed.

Collect the fallen nuts regularly so that they don't start to mold or rot. You should also pick up nuts that are infested with the walnut fruit fly and other pests and dispose of them in the household waste to protect against new infestations.

Remove fruit skins

First you need to peel off the soft fruit skins. Since these contain strong staining tannins, be sure to wear gloves and old clothes or an apron when doing this work.

  • Peel off the outer skin with your hands.
  • Then use a hard brush to remove any sticking peel residue.

Wash walnuts - or not?

This question has occupied nut fans for many years. An argument in favor of washing is that dirt literally dries into the wood of the nut during drying and can then no longer be removed.

On the other hand, damp treatment can lead to mold growth. Many walnuts have small cracks and fissures in the nut shell through which water can penetrate. As a result, the kernel spoils and the nut has to be thrown away.

If you want to wash the walnuts, proceed as follows:

  1. Clean the nuts very briefly with a sharp jet of water.
  2. Drain everything very thoroughly.
  3. Spread the walnuts out to dry immediately afterwards.

drying walnuts

The easiest way to store walnuts without losing quality is to dry them. To do this, proceed as follows:

  • Dry the nuts indoors at room temperature. The oven or dehydrator is not so well suited, as the nut fat quickly becomes rancid at higher temperatures.
  • Spread the walnuts out on large grids, in old fruit crates, or on newspaper.
  • Make sure the shells don't touch each other.
  • Turn the nuts every two days if possible. This prevents mold growth and ensures even drying.
  • Check the walnut harvest regularly and dispose of nuts whose shells have opened.
  • It takes four to six weeks for the walnuts to dry completely.

You can recognize dried walnuts by the following characteristics:

  • Open the nuts with a nutcracker, break open with a loud crack. - The walnut kernel is slightly brittle and lies dry on the outside in the shell.
  • If its consistency is rather soft and reminiscent of rubber, the nuts must continue to dry for some time.

tips

For storage, fill the walnuts in an onion net or potato sack and hang everything in an airy, dry and cool place. Here the nuts keep for up to two years.

Category:

Vegetable garden