Walnuts from the garden must first be dried before they can be eaten. Find out here how best to dry the delicious nuts and what you should bear in mind when doing so.
Why dry fresh walnuts first?
During the walnut harvest, the nuts are not picked from the tree, but picked up from the ground. Ripe walnuts usually fall from the tree by themselves between September and the end of October. You should then collect them quickly: If soil moisture penetrates through the wooden nutshell, mold will form after a short time.
The walnut harvest can extend over a longer period of time because the nuts do not all fall off at the same time. It is best to check the ground under the walnut tree every day for freshly fallen, ripe nuts that you can pick up.
A walnut tree can easily bear up to 130 kg of fruit. If you want to store a large amount of walnuts, be sure to dry them first. This is the only way to prevent your harvest from spoiling.
Drying walnuts: This is how you prepare the nuts
After harvesting, you should prepare walnuts as follows:
Clean: The wooden walnut shell may still be surrounded by the soft outer shell. Remove these thoroughly and completely with a brush, otherwise mold can form. It is best to wear gloves when working: this way you avoid the peel discolouring the skin on your fingers and hand.
Never wash the walnuts with water, as moisture can spoil them quickly.
Sort: Dry only pristine and ripe walnuts. If they have black spots or appear shriveled, this indicates mold or parasites. These walnuts absolutely must be sorted out.
How to properly dry walnuts
After these steps, you can dry the walnuts. Pay attention to:
The right temperature: It is best to dry the nuts in a room in the house that is around 20 °C. Suitable are, for example, an insulated attic, the boiler room or the house entrance. But make sure that the room is not too warm.
The Right Place: Dry the walnuts in fruit crates lined with newspaper. Wooden frames over which grids are stretched are also very suitable.
Enough space: The most important rule when drying: Only place the walnuts in a single layer in the fruit box or on the grid and leave enough space between the individual nuts. Make sure they don’t touch. The air must be able to circulate around the nuts so that they dry evenly and do not form mold.
Sufficient time: The walnuts need about 4 to 6 weeks to dry completely. Turn them every few days so they dry evenly. Finally, check if the nuts are dry: open one or two and take a good look at their kernels. If it’s not brittle, but rather rubbery, the nut isn’t dry enough.
Once the walnuts have dried, you can store them. Fill them in a basket or in a potato sack and keep them in the pantry. There they stay fresh for up to 12 months.
