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Index of Subjects This is what i remember about walnuts: As children we collected them every Fall. They are best when collected when they have fallen off the tree (as opposed to picking them), then the husk has often already split open. The husk is very rich in tannin and as boys we would stain our hands on purpose to show other kids in school……! Kind of a macho thing I guess, similar to getting our hands yellow in the spring from the sulphur that was used to spray on the fruit trees. After the husk was removed the nuts were dried for a couple of months. The fruit has a thin yellowish skin, (seed coat), which is very bitter when the nut is still fresh but can be removed if one has the patience for it, we often did as we didn’t want to wait a couple of months. After drying, the thin skin turns brown and loses its bitterness. Henk Kwindt, Cow Bay, NS. > On Dec 19, 2016, at 12:46 PM, Burkhard Plache <burkhardplache@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thank you, everybody, for sharing your insight and experiences. > > A few more details from my procedure: > > After collecting I removed the husks and scrubbed the nuts in water. > I did not find the staining on my hands as problematic as often claimed. > Then I put the nuts on a rack to dry. > > I should point out that describing taste is hard, so the word 'bitter' > may have different meanings to different taste buds. > Both my wife and I found the taste decidedly unpleasant. > And it is not a rancid taste, but a fairly strong taste (and smell, > but the smell dissipates after a few hours). > > I found an internet reference speculating that some people > are not able to discern the strong taste, while others are. > (Genetically difference?) > Another reference suggests toasting the walnuts, whereby the > strong taste is supposedly removed. > > Finally, Dusan's Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) on the SMU campus > may be one of the two trees I collected from. The other tree grows on > Vincent St. (between Young St. and Kaye St.) in Halifax. > I kept the nuts separate; both have the same (unpleasant) taste, > and size and shape are similar. > > It was a fun experiment, and I plan on sharing the nuts with more > people, to see if there is general agreement regarding the taste. > > Burkhard > > > On Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 8:50 AM, rita.paul@ns.sympatico.ca > <rita.paul@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote: >> Hi Donna and All >> I never had much experience with nuts - at least >> the kind that grow on trees but your observations are interesting. >> Nick included cucumber magnolia - a friend gave me a seedling >> of that species or at least a hybrid. No fruit yet but it is a >> very fast grower - nearly 1 meter per year. could be a useful tree in NS! >> Beech nuts are delicious but I hardly ever see them any more. I once >> saw a bear in the spring time searching the ground under some beech >> trees I presume it was getting last fall nuts. The trees were just before >> Peskawesk Brook - a long walk in early spring so I don't go there often. >> A relative once sent my Grandmother a fruit cake. It was nothing but >> nuts and a little dough. Everybody though it unfit to eat but I loved it >> and got to eat the whole big cake - excepting a few taste samples. >> I think it was Black Walnut so they are good! >> Enjoy the last of 2016 >> Paul >> >> >> >> >>> On December 18, 2016 at 10:03 PM Donna Crossland <dcrossland@eastlink.ca> >>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> Without having researched this species much, I would add that the fleshy >>> husks are full of tannins. I've learned that they can heavily stain the >>> hands that attempt to husk them. The tannin compounds would certainly assist >>> in lending a bitter taste, but the nuts are supposed to be delicious. (I >>> never actually got through the process far enough to taste the nuts.) Did >>> you dry the nuts first? Were they stained with tannins from the husks? >>> >>> My husband's aunt who lives in the region that would have originally grown >>> Carolinian forest, had plenty of black walnut trees. She used to >>> purposefully run over the husks in the driveway to get the nuts out of the >>> fleshy husks. Primitive, but I suppose it worked! >>> >>> I planted some black walnuts on my property in the valley, but the deer >>> promptly ate them, although the tannins should have kept them away. I am now >>> more interested in planting bur oak (producing edible acorns that the >>> Maliseet used to pound into flour, unlike our red oak that has far too many >>> bitter-tasting tannins to be useful to us... admit it, most of us have >>> tasted a red oak acorn somewhere in our childhood, right?). Butternut and >>> walnut might be better options. I have a friend who has cultivated a >>> hazelnut crop. That sounds like fun. >>> >>> All in all, I think it is worthwhile trying to grow more mast-bearing >>> trees, particularly as we've pretty well destroyed the beech trees with >>> their amazing nut crop (which is also delicious and nutritious whenever the >>> trees that remain on our landscape decide to produce a mast crop). >>> >>> Keep the gray squirrels at bay any way that you can, however! They are >>> expanding intruders. >>> >>> Donna >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] >>> On Behalf Of Burkhard Plache >>> Sent: December-18-16 7:01 PM >>> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >>> Subject: [NatureNS] The Taste of Black Walnut >>> >>> This October, I collected a few dozen black walnuts from two trees in >>> Halifax. Today I cracked a few open, and found they tasted quite bitter. >>> >>> I was planning on planting a black walnut tree as a fruit tree, but now I >>> have second thoughts. >>> >>> Is the bitter taste to be expected? >>> Is there a possibility to make them more palatable? >>> >>> Thanks for any insight, >>> Burkhard >>>