I've made some excellent wood stain with the husks. Stuff about 50 husks into an empty pickle jar, cover them with grain alcohol (Everclear), and put the lid on. Let it sit for several weeks, open the jar and strain the raw walnut husk "liquor" through an old t-shirt into a clean canning jar. This homemade stain is a nice warm almost-golden brown color. I use it on cedar and ash traditional arrow shafts, but it will work on any wood project. The more husks you stuff in the jar the darker your stain will be.
I just discovered that I have a black walnut tree on our property. Never knew what those green tennis balls were! They've been falling all August and I've started to collect them. It's very labor-intensive but I want to do it. Husband rolled his eyes at another one of my projects. 🤪 Thanks for the info. This looks a bit easier than the washing method I've been seeing. The real labor will be getting the nutmeat out. Oh well! Here I go!
if you want endeavors black walnut tree are a good choice. You can make an iodine tincture and a solid wood stain from the husks. You can also tap the trees and get tons of sap that you can boil down into syrup
If you have a wood stove, I lay them out on trays (seedling flats) under mine to dry. But I do wash them. I don't like having the hull dirt mixed in with the meat when I shell them. But my black walnuts are dry over night when dried under the wood stove. I then cure them for 3-4 weeks before trying them. I do like the mesh bag idea for curing them though. A milk crate works well too if they are thoroughly dried on the outside first. I find that a milk crate holds about 5 gallons worth of black walnuts....about 500-600 in shell nuts dependent on size of course. A 5 gallon bucket holds around 110-120 in hull black walnuts.. so you need about 4-5 of the in hull buckets of black walnuts to fill one 5 gallon bucket with hulled walnuts....in case anyone is curious lol Remember to float test them first! If they float after ALL of the husk is cleaned off (even a little husk can make even good nuts float) then they are bad and not worth my time drying, curing, or cracking.
The husk can be dried and sold for all sorts of purposes from herbal medicine to dye for wool. You can also feed small amounts to chickens if they have small maggets the chickens will love them even more. People use them to supplement iodine in the diet. Want a natural hair dye? Historically it was also used for that.
I love you method of removing the skins, I will not waste water to wash my any more. I always thought to speed up time their has to be a better way, and you have shown it.
We call the outer portion the hull. I find if you just hit them with a hammer it splits open the hull and you can pull it off easily. just be sure to have good gloves on. Ive never noticed them smelling like turpentine. I let them lay out on newspapers on our driveway to dry. My son modified a press to crack them with. works great! we put the nuts in freezer bags and store them in the freezer and I use them in just about any recipe that calls for nuts.
Oh my goodness!!! I had no idea walnuts were so labor intensive!!! So worth it onw of the greatest superfoods on earth. Thanks foe showing us. A great fall workout too! Great video
This is the easiest process I have ever seen. Everyone else makes it look so complicated I haven't even tried! I will save some citrus mesh bags and try your method. Way too many walnuts around here.
Just learned you put the outer green hull in a large jar with vodka and make a tincture. This is apparently a great parasite cleanse. Probably why the squirrels eat it on the outer hull.
I've saved them from time to time and even got some seemingly permanent stains on my hands. But I never tried them even though I want to. Its the drying phase. I forget them, then 8 months later wonder if they're any good. Unfortunately, its also then that I'm in the mood to toss stuff.
if i really dont have to wash them off then they just might be worth eating. Thank you! i watched so many video and this is the best method i came across
Most of the videos i have watched say that power wash is the way to clean them. Another person in the comment suggested soaking the nuts in salt water for two days... I tried both ways and i got the white mold... I will now attempt your method and see if this works better.
Give it a try! The avoidance of mold is the exact reason I don’t rinse them off. The bags help them to breath and dry quickly. I also have a dehumidifier in my basement which might be useful if your humidity is high. Have fun!
Yeah this year I didn’t get rain for a few weeks before I gathered them and they were super dry. The hulls slipped right off and didn’t even stain my hands. In hindsight it helps to have a dry spell in the late fall.
Another factor that I didn’t consider is the dehumidifier I have in my basement where my walnuts cure. The air isn’t allowed to go above 40% humidity and so my climate control system might be contributing to what is preventing mold. I put a link to the dehumidifier I use in my description. It just removes water from the air to keep mold from being able to survive.
They're great, but I remember dragging home about 8 apple boxes full to grandma to work about a week for 2 quart jars of walnut meat. The green hulls will stain anything permanently.
Thank you for this information. I have so many questions: It's 11/2 today is it too late to use the walnuts on the ground this year? How long do you let them dry out in the mesh bag? Where can you store them out here in rural WI so critters won't infest them?
I hang the mesh bags from the cellar/basement ceiling near my dehumidifier. They will still be viable they just have less of that earthy pistachio flavor the longer they sit on the forest floor.
Using your foot and doing three or four at a time is ridiculous! My dad and father-in-law (one lived to 92) laid them in the driveway and road the truck over them. My father-in-law always had a jar ready for me and made the neatest items from the shells. He also used a vice to crack them.
Thank you sir ! ❤idk why they all have to wash em 😅 but the cracking way I got my self a small 3 inch table vice 20$ princess auto and I’d break my fingers any more ❤❤❤
Are these the green balls that stink really weird and will give off a weird smell? I literally used to get headaches from the stench. I really hope this isn’t that cause I really want one in the house !
I save the hulls and make walnut stain with it. Let it sit for a couple of months, drain the liquid off into a bucket or store in jars with rubbing alcohol I think. Been awhile since i have made aomw and will look it up again
I hang the bags in my cellar. So being in my cellar keeps them away from squirrels. If you hug them outside near squirrels I don’t think the bag would stop a hungry squirrel.
The g loves does not stop the colour from coming off. I used my gloves but my hands were still black your gloves will not protect your hands from colour. My secret put some olive oil on your hands, then your gloves, and your hands will be clean
I just discovered I have 2 black walnut trees on my property and in SO EXCITED, are you sure you don't have to wash them? Cause that's amazing if I don't. Also, where is a good place to hang them to dry? Cause I have a lot of wildlife on my property, I would rather hang them somewhere animals can't easily access
I just use bags for boiling clams to let them dry/cure after removing the hulls and hang them in my cellar. I have a dehumidifier that keeps it from getting too humid and they dry pretty quickly. I don’t rinse them because the natural juice has an anti fungal that prevents mold. after they dry for a few months they taste amazing.
@@thechaosgardener i would think that by removing the hulls, they wouldn't take more than a month to be ready to eat. Thats what others have claimed in videos about harvesting butternuts.
@@BazookaIke maybe, took about 2 months for the terpenoids smell to fade. 🤷♂️ I know they tasted amazing 2 months later. I suppose you could eat them the next day if you really wanted to.
Haha sorry you dislike black walnuts so much. It might be a good source of emergency protein someday but you could just feed the nuts to squirrels and then eat the squirrels
Many videos show putting the nuts in water after d hulling and removing the ones that float(bad ones). So your method has you bagging good and bad. How and when do you find the bad ones? Getting ready to process our very first batch...thank you
Easiest and cleanest way ..... put them in a mesh basket, use power washer, they'll get peeled off and very clean. My problem is, after collect and clean a whole mesh bag full, what to do with them. The shell is hard but I use a vise to crack open it, but there's so little meat inside, just not worth the effort. Ended up giving them to the furry tail rats.
I would pick them up before it snows. You can let them cure on the ground in the sun as long as it’s a dry fall season. If it’s wet they will rot and flavor quality decreases.
I think it’s “edible” but it’s a lot nicer to eat when it’s hard. Also I believe there are natural tannins and other chemicals that cause most people some digestive discomfort when they are eaten uncured. Like eating eggs that aren’t cooked all the way. I’ve done it but I didn’t enjoy it.
@@thechaosgardener yes I tasted a tiny bite of one, I’m was trying to find more conclusive evidence about whether or not it’s dangerous in those amounts. It def. Was not pleasant tasting to me
I would bet if you look it up there’s tannins or some other natural preserving chemicals included to keep the seed viable for a long period of time and likely prevent premature germination. Those chemicals don’t taste good but probably wouldn’t hurt you in moderation. Apples and elderberry have an unrelated cyanide creating compound in them to encourages the consumer to not swallow the seeds.
I couple people asked so I included a link to the vice-grips I use for cracking black walnuts in the description. I also use a dehumidifier in my basement to keep the humidity below 40% which makes it virtually impossible to get mold, also linked in the description as requested.
@@llamabahama4654 yup the only issue is the staining. We put my driveway in last year and it was not cheap. I think my wife would strangle me if I covered it in walnut stains. That would definitely work though. I bet an atv on a compacted dirt road would also work and would avoid staining an overpriced drive way. I kinda want to try the driveway method now though ngl :)
Can moldy walnuts be used? They're being stored in my shed and haven't gotten to them yet. Was gunna start soon and just noticed the top ones are moldy. Can I toss the moldy ones or does it not get through the shell to the nut itself? Thanks in advance!
It depends on how long they have been moldy. I would test a few and see if the nuts are spoiled. I would guess it would be fine because in nature walnuts won’t sprout if the mold penetrates the nut because that’s the embryo and mold would kill it.
Had an 80 yo walnut in my backyard. A least a 55 gal drum full of nuts every year. I cut it down and sold the trunk, firewood the rest. I had an allergic reaction from the Juglone while working it up. Its roots are not good for most other desirable plants. I guess they are ok in certain spots, kind of isolated . I'm a tree and nut guy🌰, but I can do without this one.
I've gathered and eaten black walnuts, whenever available, throughout my seven decades. Never found anything that'll remove the stain right away. Now, I just wash with Lava soap and within a couple of days the stain fades to the point that it's hardly noticeable.
I've made some excellent wood stain with the husks. Stuff about 50 husks into an empty pickle jar, cover them with grain alcohol (Everclear), and put the lid on. Let it sit for several weeks, open the jar and strain the raw walnut husk "liquor" through an old t-shirt into a clean canning jar. This homemade stain is a nice warm almost-golden brown color. I use it on cedar and ash traditional arrow shafts, but it will work on any wood project. The more husks you stuff in the jar the darker your stain will be.
im pretty sure this is the same exact recipe for the iodine tincture. alcohol and husks lol
When I was a kid we wrapped them in a canvas tarp a drove a car back and forth over them to remove the hulls.
I just discovered that I have a black walnut tree on our property. Never knew what those green tennis balls were! They've been falling all August and I've started to collect them. It's very labor-intensive but I want to do it. Husband rolled his eyes at another one of my projects. 🤪 Thanks for the info. This looks a bit easier than the washing method I've been seeing. The real labor will be getting the nutmeat out. Oh well! Here I go!
Good luck! It’s a delicious endeavor! To me black walnut tastes like a cross between the flavors of pistachio and English walnut.
There are nutcrackers designed for black and white walnuts (butternuts).
if you want endeavors black walnut tree are a good choice. You can make an iodine tincture and a solid wood stain from the husks. You can also tap the trees and get tons of sap that you can boil down into syrup
If you have a wood stove, I lay them out on trays (seedling flats) under mine to dry. But I do wash them. I don't like having the hull dirt mixed in with the meat when I shell them. But my black walnuts are dry over night when dried under the wood stove. I then cure them for 3-4 weeks before trying them. I do like the mesh bag idea for curing them though. A milk crate works well too if they are thoroughly dried on the outside first. I find that a milk crate holds about 5 gallons worth of black walnuts....about 500-600 in shell nuts dependent on size of course. A 5 gallon bucket holds around 110-120 in hull black walnuts.. so you need about 4-5 of the in hull buckets of black walnuts to fill one 5 gallon bucket with hulled walnuts....in case anyone is curious lol Remember to float test them first! If they float after ALL of the husk is cleaned off (even a little husk can make even good nuts float) then they are bad and not worth my time drying, curing, or cracking.
I live in Kent in the UK and have bought a house with a Walnut Tree. Thank you for this helpful video.
The husk can be dried and sold for all sorts of purposes from herbal medicine to dye for wool. You can also feed small amounts to chickens if they have small maggets the chickens will love them even more. People use them to supplement iodine in the diet. Want a natural hair dye? Historically it was also used for that.
I love you method of removing the skins, I will not waste water to wash my any more. I always thought to speed up time their has to be a better way, and you have shown it.
I appreciate the feedback, thanks for the comment!
We call the outer portion the hull. I find if you just hit them with a hammer it splits open the hull and you can pull it off easily. just be sure to have good gloves on. Ive never noticed them smelling like turpentine. I let them lay out on newspapers on our driveway to dry. My son modified a press to crack them with. works great! we put the nuts in freezer bags and store them in the freezer and I use them in just about any recipe that calls for nuts.
Great ideas! Thanks for watching
Oh my goodness!!! I had no idea walnuts were so labor intensive!!! So worth it onw of the greatest superfoods on earth. Thanks foe showing us. A great fall workout too! Great video
Thanks Mom!
This is the easiest process I have ever seen. Everyone else makes it look so complicated I haven't even tried! I will save some citrus mesh bags and try your method. Way too many walnuts around here.
I just cracked some and ate them and the flavor was preserved perfectly. Delicious black walnuts
@@thechaosgardenerI been eating black walnuts for 65 years and this clown is nothing but an odor
Now I know what to save all the mesh bags from fruits and vegetables for!
The outside is called the Hull.
Just learned you put the outer green hull in a large jar with vodka and make a tincture. This is apparently a great parasite cleanse. Probably why the squirrels eat it on the outer hull.
Yeah I’ve seen them stripping the hull. Makes sense!
My squirrels do not eat the husks they strip it and drop it in a pile under their favorite branch.
I was told it's full of tanic acid which is used for tanning hides. Not sure I'd want to tincture with that but I don't really know
Great iodine too
I just watched her!!!😂❤
I used to crack walnuts with my great-grandparents and I used to eat a good portion of my work. Lol. Loved cracking walnuts. They always had them.
It’s a good idea to fill a bucket 1/2 with water and put them in.. if they float don’t eat them😝
I've saved them from time to time and even got some seemingly permanent stains on my hands. But I never tried them even though I want to. Its the drying phase. I forget them, then 8 months later wonder if they're any good. Unfortunately, its also then that I'm in the mood to toss stuff.
I let mine dry for a year and they are still delicious
if i really dont have to wash them off then they just might be worth eating. Thank you! i watched so many video and this is the best method i came across
Yup I had zero mold growth and didn’t wash. The “juice” protects the nuts from insects and mold
Great tips and hacks brotha! Outstanding
Thanks!
You can soak the hulls in water and then pour it in a likely spot and it will cause worms to come to surface. Instant fishbait!
Does the black get all over your hands when you crack the shell to eat them ? Can you post a video of that ?
No once they dry the pigment doesn’t come off the shell
Most of the videos i have watched say that power wash is the way to clean them. Another person in the comment suggested soaking the nuts in salt water for two days... I tried both ways and i got the white mold... I will now attempt your method and see if this works better.
Give it a try! The avoidance of mold is the exact reason I don’t rinse them off. The bags help them to breath and dry quickly. I also have a dehumidifier in my basement which might be useful if your humidity is high. Have fun!
@@thechaosgardener tried your method still got white mold but not as much... I think the rain was the contributing factor.
Yeah this year I didn’t get rain for a few weeks before I gathered them and they were super dry. The hulls slipped right off and didn’t even stain my hands. In hindsight it helps to have a dry spell in the late fall.
Another factor that I didn’t consider is the dehumidifier I have in my basement where my walnuts cure. The air isn’t allowed to go above 40% humidity and so my climate control system might be contributing to what is preventing mold. I put a link to the dehumidifier I use in my description. It just removes water from the air to keep mold from being able to survive.
They're great, but I remember dragging home about 8 apple boxes full to grandma to work about a week for 2 quart jars of walnut meat. The green hulls will stain anything permanently.
Thank you for this information. I have so many questions: It's 11/2 today is it too late to use the walnuts on the ground this year? How long do you let them dry out in the mesh bag? Where can you store them out here in rural WI so critters won't infest them?
I hang the mesh bags from the cellar/basement ceiling near my dehumidifier. They will still be viable they just have less of that earthy pistachio flavor the longer they sit on the forest floor.
Using your foot and doing three or four at a time is ridiculous! My dad and father-in-law (one lived to 92) laid them in the driveway and road the truck over them. My father-in-law always had a jar ready for me and made the neatest items from the shells. He also used a vice to crack them.
Thank you sir ! ❤idk why they all have to wash em 😅 but the cracking way I got my self a small 3 inch table vice 20$ princess auto and I’d break my fingers any more ❤❤❤
Black walnut hulls are worth $$$. Excellent parasite cleanse
Are these the green balls that stink really weird and will give off a weird smell? I literally used to get headaches from the stench. I really hope this isn’t that cause I really want one in the house !
I save the hulls and make walnut stain with it. Let it sit for a couple of months, drain the liquid off into a bucket or store in jars with rubbing alcohol I think. Been awhile since i have made aomw and will look it up again
Thanks for video! Question does that net bag prevent squirrels from eating while drying? Thanks!
I hang the bags in my cellar. So being in my cellar keeps them away from squirrels. If you hug them outside near squirrels I don’t think the bag would stop a hungry squirrel.
The g loves does not stop the colour from coming off. I used my gloves but my hands were still black your gloves will not protect your hands from colour. My secret put some olive oil on your hands, then your gloves, and your hands will be clean
I just discovered I have 2 black walnut trees on my property and in SO EXCITED, are you sure you don't have to wash them? Cause that's amazing if I don't. Also, where is a good place to hang them to dry? Cause I have a lot of wildlife on my property, I would rather hang them somewhere animals can't easily access
I just use bags for boiling clams to let them dry/cure after removing the hulls and hang them in my cellar. I have a dehumidifier that keeps it from getting too humid and they dry pretty quickly. I don’t rinse them because the natural juice has an anti fungal that prevents mold. after they dry for a few months they taste amazing.
@@thechaosgardener i would think that by removing the hulls, they wouldn't take more than a month to be ready to eat. Thats what others have claimed in videos about harvesting butternuts.
@@BazookaIke maybe, took about 2 months for the terpenoids smell to fade. 🤷♂️ I know they tasted amazing 2 months later. I suppose you could eat them the next day if you really wanted to.
Nope! Don’t need this info ever! (You know that means someday I WILL need it)
Thanks for sharing though! As always very good teaching!
Haha sorry you dislike black walnuts so much. It might be a good source of emergency protein someday but you could just feed the nuts to squirrels and then eat the squirrels
@@thechaosgardener, now that is a plan!!!
Many videos show putting the nuts in water after d hulling and removing the ones that float(bad ones).
So your method has you bagging good and bad. How and when do you find the bad ones?
Getting ready to process our very first batch...thank you
The ones that float are hollow you’ll know when you open them :)
Pickled walnuts made before the shell hardens
are you picking them off the tree or just taking the ones that fell to the floor?
Waiting for them to fall
Just line them up in your garage and in a few weeks the hulls dry up and your left with a pretty nut God does all the work ❤❤❤❤😂
Easiest and cleanest way ..... put them in a mesh basket, use power washer, they'll get peeled off and very clean. My problem is, after collect and clean a whole mesh bag full, what to do with them. The shell is hard but I use a vise to crack open it, but there's so little meat inside, just not worth the effort. Ended up giving them to the furry tail rats.
Can I leave the walnuts outside to dry with the shell or skin on the nut when it snows
I would pick them up before it snows. You can let them cure on the ground in the sun as long as it’s a dry fall season. If it’s wet they will rot and flavor quality decreases.
@@thechaosgardener thanks
Curious if you can eat the nut meat raw before the drying process at all? Or is it super toxic this way ?
I think it’s “edible” but it’s a lot nicer to eat when it’s hard. Also I believe there are natural tannins and other chemicals that cause most people some digestive discomfort when they are eaten uncured. Like eating eggs that aren’t cooked all the way. I’ve done it but I didn’t enjoy it.
@@thechaosgardener yes I tasted a tiny bite of one, I’m was trying to find more conclusive evidence about whether or not it’s dangerous in those amounts. It def. Was not pleasant tasting to me
I would bet if you look it up there’s tannins or some other natural preserving chemicals included to keep the seed viable for a long period of time and likely prevent premature germination. Those chemicals don’t taste good but probably wouldn’t hurt you in moderation. Apples and elderberry have an unrelated cyanide creating compound in them to encourages the consumer to not swallow the seeds.
Brilliant
How long do you dry them in the bags?
I just started eating them so I dried mine for about a year but they should be sufficiently “cured” after a month or two.
I couple people asked so I included a link to the vice-grips I use for cracking black walnuts in the description. I also use a dehumidifier in my basement to keep the humidity below 40% which makes it virtually impossible to get mold, also linked in the description as requested.
It would have been nice to see inside when you cracked it open
I’ll have to do another video of cracking them open. I do it inside of a bag so it doesn’t make a huge mess and crack with vicegrips
Best method is to put in driveway and drive over them. I think the shoe method would take forever.
I tried running over them with the car and they just got crushed 🤷♂️
That's what my grandfather used to do
do you have like gravel or pavement? I'd think gravel would be ok and have some give but pavemtn likely you crush altogether.@@thechaosgardener
@@llamabahama4654 yup the only issue is the staining. We put my driveway in last year and it was not cheap. I think my wife would strangle me if I covered it in walnut stains. That would definitely work though. I bet an atv on a compacted dirt road would also work and would avoid staining an overpriced drive way. I kinda want to try the driveway method now though ngl :)
Where do you buy meshed bags?
I put an Amazon link above in the description for the ones I used. They are the same bags you can use for boiling clams.
Can moldy walnuts be used? They're being stored in my shed and haven't gotten to them yet. Was gunna start soon and just noticed the top ones are moldy. Can I toss the moldy ones or does it not get through the shell to the nut itself? Thanks in advance!
It depends on how long they have been moldy. I would test a few and see if the nuts are spoiled. I would guess it would be fine because in nature walnuts won’t sprout if the mold penetrates the nut because that’s the embryo and mold would kill it.
@@thechaosgardener okay, thank you for the advice! I'll just have to see!
Spoiler alert: A man with common sense. WELL DONE
i use a pressure washer with a screen mesh. takes off the hull in seconds in bulk.
Husk 🤠
Had an 80 yo walnut in my backyard. A least a 55 gal drum full of nuts every year. I cut it down and sold the trunk, firewood the rest. I had an allergic reaction from the Juglone while working it up. Its roots are not good for most other desirable plants. I guess they are ok in certain spots, kind of isolated . I'm a tree and nut guy🌰, but I can do without this one.
🥱 always someone complaining about life.
How ro remove the black stains from your hands please
That’s why I had dorky gloves on. Try pumice scrub
sandpaper lol
Just was with regular soap and water...for about three weeks. Most of the stain will be gone.
I've gathered and eaten black walnuts, whenever available, throughout my seven decades. Never found anything that'll remove the stain right away. Now, I just wash with Lava soap and within a couple of days the stain fades to the point that it's hardly noticeable.
I think they smell like lemon pledge
It will also blister your skin
If you get blisters you might have an allergy. Definitely don’t touch them if you do.
🥱 If you have an allergy.
How to remove p
stains from my hands
I'm a doctor and will say that physically you seem very fit. But, mentally you are a little nuts.
Buy a pavement tamper. It works best.