Nutty problem
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Nutty problem
| Mon, 10-06-2008 - 8:41pm |
I brought back 2 bags of black walnuts from the sportsman's club. They already out of the tennis ball size outer husk. This inner part is hard to crack. Are there any tips like freezing or putting in boiling water? What's interesting is that 2 weeks ago the ground was covered with the large black balls. Today, the balls had naturally split into quarters and the inner nuts were everywhere. At least I didn't try to crack the outer shells they way my former neighbor did. She put them on the concrete driveway and drove over them. Guess she'd never heard of black walnut stain, 'cause her driveway was striped like a zebra. Her DH just hit the roof when he came home from work. DH and I picked them most of them up. My DMIL had a tradition of making divinity candy with chopped black walnuts and I'd like to try this. Surely some here has cracked these goodies.

Sorry, can't help you.
I think the drying must apply to the outer hulls - seems once mine were dry enough they popped open on the ground. The inner shells are nothing like English walnuts - very hard to crack. But - I got the metal dog nutcracker that my parents received for a wedding gift in 1939 down from the shelf and it worked pretty darned good. Most of the internet sites said to wash and dry the nuts in shells before cracking, so I think that's my next step. I did get on open and the taste is so good. Black walnut ice cream is my fav.
Jacquie