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Re: Wild Edible Plants
Black Walnuts (Native to Eastern North America):
Fruits, inedible. But they contain a prized edible seed, the walnut.
The fruits ripen and fall off the tree. No longer attached to the tree, the green flesh turns black.
Break this open and crack the shell during fall (october is when walnuts are fully mature), and you'll get at the walnut!
The shell needs to be broken in several places to release the nut. It is considerably harder than the common walnut shell we're familiar with.
It is easy to stain your hands with its strong dye when processing. It leaves a blackish/greening stain on your skin.
To minimize staining, place the fruit on a rigid surface, such as a cement floor or a rock surface, and smash the fruit hard with a stone or a hammer. This will release the walnut (with its shell) from the fruit.
Next, to release the nut from the shell, repeat the process, smashing the walnut itself this time. Experiment with your strikes (I still am), so that you'll eventually break the shell in a way that releases the most nutmeat in one piece (instead of shattering it into many tiny pieces).
Black Walnuts (Native to Eastern North America):
Fruits, inedible. But they contain a prized edible seed, the walnut.
The fruits ripen and fall off the tree. No longer attached to the tree, the green flesh turns black.
Break this open and crack the shell during fall (october is when walnuts are fully mature), and you'll get at the walnut!
The shell needs to be broken in several places to release the nut. It is considerably harder than the common walnut shell we're familiar with.
It is easy to stain your hands with its strong dye when processing. It leaves a blackish/greening stain on your skin.
To minimize staining, place the fruit on a rigid surface, such as a cement floor or a rock surface, and smash the fruit hard with a stone or a hammer. This will release the walnut (with its shell) from the fruit.
Next, to release the nut from the shell, repeat the process, smashing the walnut itself this time. Experiment with your strikes (I still am), so that you'll eventually break the shell in a way that releases the most nutmeat in one piece (instead of shattering it into many tiny pieces).
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