Aw Nuts!

[Doc]

So, this year was a record year for bumper crops of nuts. The hickory nuts were covering the ground, and they actually had had that outer shuck already peeled off. I picked up a 1/2 peck basket full in just a few minutes. That was so quick and easy, that I visited one of our local black walnut trees, and gathered up a pile of those too. Just stepped and squashed the soft green outer shell and picked the walnut out. I took them all up in the basement and laid them all out on newspaper for about a week and let everything dry off. Then during one of those wet throw-away days, I sat in the shop cracking hickory nuts and walnuts. You really need a lot of patience to sit there and do that ..... kind of makes you wonder if you'll ever get a life some day .... lol.

 

Well anyway, when I got done I had quite a pile of shelled nuts ready for cooking. So I put them in the freezer and yesterday the wife got into a baking frenzy and did up several batches of cookies and a few cupcakes that featured these two kinds of nuts.

 

First of all, let me point out that to my knowledge there is no place that you can buy shelled hickory nuts and shelled black walnuts, so basically we are talking about a rather scarce delicacy. Second, I have to say that each of those two varieties have a very distinct and unique flavor. Third, I will say that those cookies (and cupcakes) were some of the best tasting things I have ever had. I believe that I have tasted some stuff that is absolutely fantastic and that 99.99% of the people have never and will never get a chance to taste.

 

So, am I the only one here who has ever gathered and shelled hickory nuts and black walnuts? Because I will say that if my time were counted for anything at all, those nut-meats are quite a bit like gold in terms of value. I believe that they are a harvest that is impossible to commercially automate. But as a once in a lifetime experiment, it was worth every minute.

[fasteddie]

I used to get the walnuts for my mother . I would squish off the soft outer shell with a pair of RubberMaid gloves so I wouldn't get all stained up . They would get dried out and mom would crack them open on an old anvil then pick out the nut meat . I have her old picks now .

[Doc]

I discovered that using a vise was pretty quick and a more controlled way to keep from bashing them up too much. I got a lot of complete halves. Same thing with the hickory nuts. It actually went along pretty quick.

[ncountry]

Good for you..Tasks like that really brings out my short attention span...lol...Do you need my address ,so you know where to send the cookies?

[Lawdwaz]

Have they finally disproved the old theory that black walnuts were............oh heck, never mind.  I'm sure it is an old wives tale anyway.

 

I bet they were good!! 

[Early]

Hickory nuts...black walnuts...all you are missing are butternuts!!!

[vizslas]

black walnuts in banana bread. great stuff that you just can not buy at the store. sometimes my childhood was just the best.i took my girl into the woods one day and i found  hickory nut .I split it open she tasted it she liked it. I found an acorn.......she got mad at me... I thought it was funny.

 

Edited January 8, 2014 by vizslas

[Doc]

Hickory nuts...black walnuts...all you are missing are butternuts!!!

 

No butternuts this year. I don't know what happened, but in our area butternuts and acorns didn't come on like the other nut crops did. Maybe next year.

 

[Doc]

It is amazing how completely different all of these nuts taste. The black walnut is a stronger flavored nut and nothing like an english walnut. To be honest, I don't remember how the butternuts tasted. The bad thing is that everything that you put any of these nuts into will make you fat ..... lol.