Harvesting walnuts: all about cleaning and storing

Walnuts are not only delicious, but also very healthy. In autumn it is walnut time again. Then the up to 8 cm long and 5 cm wide fruits can be harvested, eaten fresh or dried. It doesn't take long for the first fruits to fall to the ground. All you have to do is pick them up. However, there are a few things to consider both during harvesting and subsequent cleaning and drying.

Harvest time

Harvest time for walnuts

The egg-shaped, spherical fruits of the walnut tree have a smooth green shell that turns brown and cracked as they ripen. Under the green shell are the actual walnuts, as we know them from the trade. You can harvest them from mid-September to the end of October. As soon as the outer, about 2 mm thick, fleshy shell cracks, bursts and releases the hard nut, the fruits are ripe. The first fruits will soon fall from the tree. Then they shouldn't stay too long on the damp ground. The right time for the walnut harvest has a significant influence on the taste of the fruit as well as the subsequent drying and storage.

Harvest Instructions

Basically, you should leave walnuts on the tree as long as possible and wait until they fall on their own. Only then can you be sure that they are fully ripe and have developed their typical nut flavor. Early frosts cannot harm the nuts.

• Never knock the nuts off the tree
• Injuries to the tree could result
• the harvest of the following year would also be affected
• Nuts cut from the tree not fully ripe
• lack of ripeness affects the taste
• Quickly harvest or remove nuts that have already fallen from the tree. collect
• Consistent harvest is important, especially on rainy days
• Check the floor daily for nuts and pick them up

In order to prevent the fruits on the ground from rot and mold, it is advisable to keep any grass growth under the walnut tree short during harvest time. To the problem, especially at harvest time, various pests such as z. B. the walnut fruit bed will be. Due to the feeding activity of their larvae, the nut kernel rots and becomes inedible. It is all the more important to control the nuts and sort them out accordingly.

Tip: In order to be able to enjoy freshly harvested nuts, the white, thin skin surrounding the nut must first be removed because it tastes very bitter. When drying, the bitter substances are lost with the removal of moisture.

Clean nuts

Before the nuts can be dried, they have to be cleaned. To do this, sick and rotten fruits are sorted out first. Then the soft, green outer skin is completely removed. It is best to do this with your hands and remove adhering residues with a coarse brush. Under no circumstances should the nuts be washed. Moisture and with it possibly also mold spores could get into the fruit's interior and cause it to spoil.

Tip: It is advisable to wear gloves to remove the green outer skin. Otherwise the contained tannic acid could discolour the hands brownish.

Instructions for drying

Now you can dry the cleaned nuts. In order to minimize the risk of mold formation during the drying process, the walnuts must dry as quickly as possible.

• to do this, place the nuts in a single layer in flat boxes, on sieves or grids
• they shouldn't lie on top of each other or touch each other
• put the whole thing in a dry, airy place, preferably outdoors
• constant temperatures of 20-25 degrees are ideal for drying
• Avoid temperatures over 28 degrees
• Bring the nuts into the house overnight
• the next day, when the morning haze has cleared, put it out again

A dry and well-ventilated attic is also suitable for drying. To ensure that the nuts are well ventilated on all sides, it is important to turn them several times a day. In addition, sick and moldy nuts must be consistently sorted out. When the drying process is complete, the nuts will have lost about 50% of their original weight.

Tip: We do not recommend drying in the oven. The reason for this is the nuts' sensitivity to heat. At temperatures above 28 degrees, the fat contained in the nuts becomes rancid and the nuts inedible.

storage

Store walnuts properly

The dry walnuts are easy to store in air-permeable bags and nets, preferably hanging. The bags and nets used should preferably be made of natural fibers and not plastic. The storage location itself should be permanently well ventilated and not have excessive humidity. The stored goods must be protected from light and direct sunlight. Temperatures between 10 and 18 degrees and a relative humidity of 55-65% are ideal for storage. This way, walnuts can be stored for at least 1 year.