I've been working on black walnuts and butternuts I've gathered this fall
for the first time in many years. I can't recall if I already described in
this newsgroup the nut cracker I made for these hard shell nuts. Two
blocks of 2x2 were screwed to a foot long 2x6 to hold a hatchet blade up.
the nut cracker is held on the lap, a nut is placed on the blade and hit
with a hammer. It goes fastest when the nut is first split along the seam,
then between the chambers, into four pieces. Then the hatchet is pulled
out and laid flat on the block of wood and each quarter is laid on the
head of the hatchet in turn and hit with the hammer to open the chamber. I
use a mechanic's hammer with one flat and one round end. the meat is
dropped into a bowl. The husks and shells are dropped into a garbage bag.
the husks are put out in the trash rather than in the composter because I
read nut trees planted close to fruit trees can kill the fruit trees with
the chemicals in their roots. the husks are very aromatic when green so
probably contain some of the harmful chemicals. I spread a bedsheet over
my lap to contain the debris before putting the nut cracker on it. After a
session of cracking I have to run the carpet sweeper over the living room
rug.

I go over the pieces of nut meat in the bowl carefully to find and remove
any bits of shell from the pieces of nut meat. The method I've devised is
to dump the cup or so of nut pieces on a bread board and drag each piece
across to the other end with a knife blade, removing any pieces of shell I
find. When all the pieces have been moved across the board I drag each
piece back across to the other end removing the bits of shell I missed the
first time. It usually takes 3-4 passes before I find no more bits of
shell. I'm still not certain there are no bits of shell left in with the
meat but I'm reasonably sure they have all been removed. It's tricky
because some bits of shell are curved around the meat while others have
been embedded in the meat by the hammer. I intend to share nut pies and
cakes with friends and do not want them to bite down on a piece of nut shell.

I may have mentioned this before, something I find happening more and more
as my mind gradually turns to mush, but there is interesting information
on black walnuts and butternuts provided by the eastern Ontario chapter of
the Society of Ontario Nut Growers, all hobbiests as far as I can tell, on
their website at www.ecsong.ca. You'll see they have a registry of nut
trees in this area. I've been able to send them the location of nut
trees I've seen this summer which were not on the list.


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