Going Nuts

After the disappointment of discovering that the bountiful chestnut tree was laden to capacity with sterile and shrivelled fruit, it was an extra pleasant surprise to encounter the start of what appears to be a reasonably good 2013/14 crop of walnuts from our walnut tree, whose fruit have started to mature quite quickly.

From early childhood, we only knew walnuts as part of the Christmas fare, once a year when packets of mixed nuts were bought and served as festive snacks. Occasionally, one would buy the odd packet for inclusion in trifles and selected baking.

Although Bianca did not keep an accurate record of the 2012/13 walnut delivery, she recalls that there was quite a bit of eating that took place during the harvesting and preparation processes, and that “a number” of bags of nuts were stored in the deep freeze – if fact, as evidence, the last bag is still preserved there!

(Above): The walnut tree, centre of left, with the light green leaves is located in a good sunny spot  in the Secret Garden. It does not lend itself to any sort of climbing, so you need a stout pole with a hook to gently shake the upper branches. Then mind you head, or a hard nut might land on your nut.

(Above): Spot the Walnuts.  Ripe fruit which is fully mature or part of a windfall on the ground among the leaves are not so easy to detect when one is visually challenged. I tried to find errant nuts, wearing my reading glasses and crouched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but still failed to see some of them – luckily, we’ve got younger family members who can spot a needle in a haystack. Needless to say that we’re not searching for needles.

(Above): In the past, I have not been exposed to walnut trees. This out of focus –apologies – photo, shows the stages of development of the walnut. On the tree, a dark green berry starts swelling and changing colour first to a lighter shade (1) and then a leathery brown (2), which pops open and expels the nut in a textured brown husk (3)

(Above): Bianca and Brynn arrived from a trip to the Secret Garden, with a basketful of peaches and walnuts.

(Above): The first step of the treatment was to clean and disinfect the husks before opening. You can never tell which dog has done what on top of the nuts, or perhaps the possums have been there spreading their germs. So, we scrub and rinse in clean water containing a dash of bleach. All the black afterbirth “hair” gets removed from the husks, hence the dark colour of the water.

(Above): The cleaned and towel-dried fruit ready for the oven, are allowed to air dry for a while.

(Above): The nuts are spread out on a baking tray in a single layer to dry and toast evenly in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. This minimises any bitterness which may be present. The nuts can also be shelled and then roasted in the oven or toasted in a frying pan on the stove top.

(Above): The first crop of this year’s harvest yielded a quarter kilo for freezing. The rest has been consumed by the nut-workers!