Wrong forum for walnut question?

[Gman]

Hey folks,

Sorry if this is wrong place for a walnut question.

can anyone offer advice on these? We have a big old walnut tree and about this time every year, lots of fruits/nuts come down. a small proportion the fruit cracks off the shell, we can dry them and the nut inside is good to eat.

most of them, the fruit adheres closely to the shell and I can’t get it off. Have tried cutting with a knife, cracking it with a rock, storing to see if it will dry, but usually the fruit rots, goes black and the nut inside is spoiled.

are these just not ripe yet or is there something I can do to get the nuts out? I will try to attach a photo of the fruits that have come down so you can get an idea of size.

cheers,




a s

is the problem that they are just coming down

[MelanieSW]

These don't look ripe yet. From what I remember from the old walnut tree in the garden where I was growing up, they should come down when the green husk is more brown/dried/shriveled up and cracks off fairly easily.
To get to the nut when it is still so green, we just whacked it with stones until we could get the flesh away, however that invariably ended up with very stained fingers that were impossible to clean. Actually, that was the case even when they were ripe

[ameno]

They're not properly ripe yet, but I've found they can be matured in storage.
You need to get the fruit off them first, though, or it'll go bad. I've found the best way is to roll them underfoot on a concrete or tarmac surface (I harvest walnuts from a local park). The flesh scrapes off fairly easily.

[Plot70]

I harvest them from trees that overhang the pavement along side a private meadow.
It is a bit early for them at the moment. The wind must have brought them down early.

[Gman]

Thanks folks.

suspect only knew that escape the squirrels are the ones that come down early. I’ll try ameno’s trick, having failed with other methods.