Pickled green walnuts

[Scarlet]

Has anyone got a tried and tested recipe for pickled green walnuts?

[Brengirl]

Sorry no! but if only I could get hold of some green walnuts I woul love to have a go.

[Hilary B]

I did some a couple of years back. It worked OK. I'll see whether I can find the book I got the instructions from.

[Scarlet]

I hope you can find it - fingers crossed! I'm lucky enough to have a walnut tree in my garden but as they also come complete with squirrels I don't often get a look in! I usually just use them wet and then dry some for later use, I've been promising myself for the last few years to do some pickled ones but always leave it too late. I'm trying to be prepared for a change.

[Hilary B]

What I can remember is that, just like pickled onions, you need to brine them for a while, then rinse off the brine and add pickling vinegar. I used Sarson's Pickling Vinegar, which has all the spices in already, so you don't need to add them.
I need to look up the time, and whether there are any other ingredients.

[valmarg]

This is a recipe from an ancient Good Housekeeping booklet dated 1950, though I don’t suppose the procedure has changed much.

PICKLED WALNUTS

Wipe the green nuts, prick them well and put them into a basin, rejecting any that feel hard when pricked. Cover with brine and allow to soak for eight days, then throw away the brine, cover the nuts with fresh brine and re-soak for 14 days. Wash and dry the walnuts well and spread them out, exposing them to the air until they turn black. Have ready sufficient hot spiced vinegar, put the nuts into the pickle jars, cover with hot vinegar, and cover when cold. Allow to mature for 5 – 6 weeks before using.

The recipe for brine is 2oz salt to 1 pint water.

The recipe for spiced vinegar is:

To one quart (2 pints) vinegar allow

¼oz blade mace
¼oz allspice
¼ozcloves
¼stick cinnamon
6 peppercorns
¼oz root ginger (for a hot pickle)

Tie the spices in muslin, place them in a covered pan with the vinegar and heat slowly to boiling point. Remove from the heat, leave to stand for 2 hours and then remove the bag of spices.

Having read, and typed out, you can understand why they are so expensive in the shops.


I can remember the lady next door to my parents pickling them this way. I should have to say this is not a 'tried and tested' recipe, but being ancient Good Housekeeping I should imagine its authentic.

valmarg

[Hilary B]

OK, I found the book, the recipe is much the same as Valmarg gives (slightly different timings), but I remember simplifying it.
2 brinings, each of a week, then I used cold pickling vinegar (bought pre-spiced) and I didn't bother leaving them out to go black, because by the time they had had 2 weeks in brine they WERE black!
The result I got was very much like the bought ones that came in the jar I re-used for the purpose.

[Scarlet]

Fab thanks - I promised myself last year to do some and left it too late, I will let you know how I get on.

[gypsophelia]

I make pickled walnuts from our trees but they always come out black from the sitting in brine - i wall try these as i have seen green ones in a deli somewhere and they look a hell of a lot better!