These nuts have a very tough outer shell, any tips on cracking them?
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When I was a kid, we used to run over them with the car. Put a bunch in the driveway and drive over them so they got a single pass from a tire. That usually crushed a few beyond help, but just split the majority open nicely. They were still a lot of trouble to pick from the hulls, and ultimately not very nice to eat, IMO. |
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A nutcracker won't work. I've used a hammer with success. Place the pointed end up on a hard surface and whack with the hammer. Practice will teach you how hard you need to swing. |
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We had a black walnut tree at one of the homes where I grew up. Hopefully, you're not working from this state, or you'll have to remove the husk as well, which will stain your hands for months. (wear gloves, and don't take them off, until you've cleaned everything). We'd collect them up, and let them sit for a few weeks in the garage (warning : they stink when they're in the husk; my mom tended to deal with the husks, and it was years ago, so I'm not sure what technique she used. For cracking, I preferred using a bench-mounted screw-drive vice. I've also used a heavy-duty C-clamp in the early days, but you almost need three hands to deal with things. They do make special screw drive nutcrackers for macadamia nuts, which are easier to use (the screw comes through the middle) but they don't tend to be large (or heavy) enough to deal with black walnuts. You might be able to get away with large vice-clamps. (size it to the nut, remove it, give it a few twists to constrict it, then clamp again on the nut) There are also nut crackers specifically built/rated for black walnuts, but I've never used them. If you're going to use a hammer, it might be worth investing in an engineers hammer, aka a hand sledge, which are heavier, and have a larger face. |
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As already mentioned, a bench vise works pretty well. If you want to go that route, be sure to cover the floor under the bench with plastic or similar. Otherwise residual juice from the husks will stain the floor dark brown. |
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My brother-in-law always has a giant bowl of assorted nuts on the table, he uses a grip wrench like the one below. It is easy to adjust the wrench for all sorts of nuts and it isn't that difficult to use. Also, it doesn't make the shell pieces fly when the nut is cracked if you do it correctly.
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http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UMXBW 24 October 2011 Cracking Black Walnuts(Juglans nigra) The Black Walnuts(Juglans nigra)is avoided by most people due to the effort required to crack, and obtain the meat. The meat is enveloped in a structure, with small ribs or folds over the meat. Even when the meat is exposed, the ribs hold the meat, unless this is broken. The meat is in four quadrants around the longitudinal axes of the nut. Presented is tool combination, that successfully cracks the nut almost completely, and exposed the meat, which is readily collected. A heavy wooden block, smaller inner pulley which supports the shoulder, sharp or pointed end down,of the nut. The outer pulley limits travel of the hammer, and prevents crushing of the meat. A heavy hammer is necessary to prevent bouncing when smacking the nut. The nut rib structure is broken and the meat separates from the four quadrants of the nut. Collection is almost complete, simply by picking up the meat pieces. The nuts must be slightly dry. The one in this demonstration have been dried for five days. Happy nutting. |
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