Sunday, September 25, 2011

Black Walnuts

Indeed a rare delicacy: local black walnuts.  In the nearly 20 years of going to the Union Square green market I dont know that I have ever seen them before.  These were at on o f my favorite farms tands Keith Organics (who sells the best racambole garlic) but because they are such a challenge to process they were practically giving them away at 6 for a buck. The skins make a great natural dye (brown) so gloves are needed, and the hard shells require a hammer then once open you need a sharp knife to pry open the flesh....sounds like a lot of work!  Guess that's why they are so cheap!

3 comments:

chris and skip said...

Skip and I forage these around our West Asheville neighborhood. Best way to remove hulls is how country folk (i.e my family) did it. You put them in the driveway (but not under where the car rests!) and after 2-3 weeks of back & forth they're clean, dried, and ready to crack. It takes a very special hand to crack them too. They easily shatter into mush. Fortunately they have the most concentrated and funky flavor of any nut (of the tree variety, that is) so a little goes a long way. My family agreed that my aunt Dixie (!) made the best Black Walnut Pound Cake there was. I make one every Thanksgiving using our urban West Asheville Urban nuts.

Chris and Skip said...

...that would be a gravel driveway on which people scattered their nuts. Only fancy people had paved ones....

Urban Food Guy said...

I want your Walnut pound cake recipe!

 
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