Black Walnut Ideas

I just ordered five pounds of shelled black walnuts. Now, I'm not concerned about using them up, because I love them, and at worst I'll just eat them out of hand. However, are there any specific applications that I would be negligent in not trying?

Ice Cream!!!!

stevez wrote:Ice Cream!!!!

Any thoughts as to how to approach it? Steep the nuts in simmering ice cream base I suppose. Then you're going to have mushy nuts in your ice cream.

First thing I also thought was ICE CREAM as well.

Why not toast them a little, give a very rough chop, and then fold them into the base near the end of the cold mixing stage?
It would be more of an ice cream with nice chunks of black walnuts than a black walnut flavored ice cream.

teatpuller wrote:

stevez wrote:Ice Cream!!!!

Any thoughts as to how to approach it? Steep the nuts in simmering ice cream base I suppose. Then you're going to have mushy nuts in your ice cream.

I've had black walnut ice cream at Tampopo. It looked like they toasted and then finely ground some of the walnuts to a powder and mixed them into the ice cream base. It would also be good to include a few chunks mixed in as seebee suggests.

That's it! Grind the steeping nuts and add freshly roasted nuts right at the end.

Just be sure to not overdo the ground walnuts. They have a very strong flavor that can easily overwhelm the ice cream.

teatpuller wrote:I just ordered five pounds of shelled black walnuts.

Where did you order them from?

I ordered from this company, which is supposedly the largest black walnut producer:

http://www.black-walnuts.com/

Including delivery $61 for five pounds. Seems pretty fair given how hard they are to open.

In the past I've made foccacia topped with caramelized onions, bleu cheese, walnuts and mixed herbs. Very tasty combination.

Don't remember the details, but black walnuts were an ingredient in a sauce served with ravioli on an episode of Hell's Kitchen that we watched a night or two ago. Gordon Ramsey pronounced it delicious, or words to that effect.

I'm also looking for ways to work black walnuts into my autumn eating and cooking (this is the high season for them, isn't it?), so I hope others keep suggestions coming.

This is interesting! I planted black walnut trees about 5 years ago, and I'm getting my first crop this year!

razbry wrote:This is interesting! I planted black walnut trees about 5 years ago, and I'm getting my first crop this year!

Good luck getting the nuts! Let me know how it turns out!

I'm thinkin a cheesecake would be good. Not sure if chocolate would be too overpowering. I dunno, there's something about a rich creamy contrast to the flavor of those things...

teatpuller wrote:

razbry wrote:This is interesting! I planted black walnut trees about 5 years ago, and I'm getting my first crop this year!

Good luck getting the nuts! Let me know how it turns out!

Wear gloves when shelling. Those things stain like a mo fo.

Black Walnut Spice Cake...my mother used to make it in the fall, it was always such a treat.

teatpuller wrote:I ordered from this company, which is supposedly the largest black walnut producer:

http://www.black-walnuts.com/

The website sells flavoring for $3.99 which no doubt can be used for the ice cream. They have a recipe on their website as well, but the quantity is probably a little too....large for home purposes.

http://www.hammonsproducts.com/18F90204 ... F&pcs_key=

I sampled a black walnut potica at last year's Illinois State Fair and am still thinking fondly about it. This Central European nut roll is usually filled with walnuts or poppy seeds but black walnuts make it even better. It's pretty close to my ideal pastry—interesting flavor, rich but not overwhelming, not too sweet.



That's the prize-winning potica from last year. The recipe and its story can be found here. As I understand it, most poticas are long jellyroll-shaped pastries but this one is folded into a U and baked in a loaf pan. However you do it, I'm sure it will taste great. I think potica freezes well so you could make a few for future enjoyment.

Great ideas all. Hope this spurs others to appreciate our native nut!

It appears we do not have a thread on nuts in general, and I'm not sure my one question warrants one, so I'll ask it here. I am trying to increase my consumption of nuts and seeds, starting with walnuts and pumpkin seeds. (By the way, I found the latter for a good price in the fresh produce section of Jewel, and I found the former there too but found them for a better price in the baking aisle.)

I remember from my childhood people putting mixed whole nuts and a nutcracker in a bowl out on a table, and I thought it would be fun to do the same and thought it would help me remember to eat more nuts and seeds. I've looked around at various grocery stores and haven't found whole unshelled nuts, mixed or otherwise. Thanks to other posts, I now know where to get whole nuts of various types online. But I'm a bit surprised not to be able to find them in stores. Is this something the grocery stores only do around Christmas?

Katie,

I think you will be seeing mixed nuts available soon. I usually fill the nut bowl for idle nut eating around this time.

If you have a cat, I suggest buying additional hazelnuts for the cat to roll around the floor.

***
Black walnut related, what is a winning method for cracking them?

Regards,
Cathy2

Katie wrote:I remember from my childhood people putting mixed whole nuts and a nutcracker in a bowl out on a table, and I thought it would be fun to do the same and thought it would help me remember to eat more nuts and seeds. I've looked around at various grocery stores and haven't found whole unshelled nuts, mixed or otherwise. Thanks to other posts, I now know where to get whole nuts of various types online. But I'm a bit surprised not to be able to find them in stores. Is this something the grocery stores only do around Christmas?

I think I saw unshelled walnuts at the New City Mariano's in the produce section, at the back left if you're walking in from the parking garage. I'm sure I'll stop by there later this week and can verify.

Cathy2...When I was a kid in Kentucky my grandparents had black walnut trees in their yard, we used these to shell them but it really did a number on the hands.

Coogles wrote:Cathy2...When I was a kid in Kentucky my grandparents had black walnut trees in their yard, we used these to shell them but it really did a number on the hands.

Hi,

I have those very same tools. I have yet to crack one, but I can see it could be terrible on your hands.

I have read of people putting them in burlap bags, then driving over them.

Regards,
Cathy2

I haven't tried to crack black walnuts, but from what I've read here, I would think something like this would be more effective.

My mom planted a black walnut tree in our back yard without knowing the difficulty of opening them . . . or how sticky they were. Hammers and the like often did the trick, and they were fantastic . . . but I can't say anyone really looked forward to black walnut season. And I used to hate cutting the lawn!

Black walnuts have such a great flavor, and being one of the few local nuts, are really worth tracking. So, start with Oriana at Green City Market and Logan Square Market--both continue to run even as the days turn ever darker. I believe Local Foods off of Elston also has black walnuts (as an aside, they've also had frozen local persimmon pulp, which is another cool, hard to find regional speciality).

Two great sources for seeds and nuts are La Ordena Crema, the Mexican mini-superstore (I think 3 locations) and the Nut House in Bridgeview (7281 W 87th St). And as I think of it, also Maxwell St as another source.

Coogles wrote:I think I saw unshelled walnuts at the New City Mariano's in the produce section, at the back left if you're walking in from the parking garage. I'm sure I'll stop by there later this week and can verify.

Cathy2...When I was a kid in Kentucky my grandparents had black walnut trees in their yard, we used these to shell them but it really did a number on the hands.

I can confirm that the New City Mariano's does have walnuts in shell in the produce department. $3.99/lb, PLU 4943. They look to be English walnuts rather than black walnuts though.

Thanks to the heads-ups from fellow LTHers here, I found unshelled nuts tonight at the Vernon Hills (Milwaukee Avenue) Mariano's. I got a handful each of walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, and Brazil nuts. Each type was $3.99/lb except for the pecans, which were $6.99/lb. Only about 60-75 cents for each handful except pecans, less than $1.25. That was enough to make a lovely bowl of mixed nuts to start my nut project, get me back in the habit of eating them, and refresh my memory on how to open them and which ones I like.

Katie wrote:Thanks to the heads-ups from fellow LTHers here, I found unshelled nuts tonight at the Vernon Hills (Milwaukee Avenue) Mariano's. I got a handful each of walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, and Brazil nuts. Each type was $3.99/lb except for the pecans, which were $6.99/lb. Only about 60-75 cents for each handful except pecans, less than $1.25. That was enough to make a lovely bowl of mixed nuts to start my nut project, get me back in the habit of eating them, and refresh my memory on how to open them and which ones I like.

I saw pretty much the same at my local Mariano's on Elston today.

We used to have a black walnut tree in our yard as well, and my dad would use a bench vise grip like the one Katie linked to above to crack them open after they dried out a bit.