Tuesday 28 September 2010

A nutting crook in hand, I turn'd my steps towards the distant woods


We seem to be in nut season once more, locally at least, the walnuts are tumbling down again. Adam went out to do a tour of our local trees on Saturday morning where he met nut gathering competition in the form of (in his words) a 'proper nutter'. Apparently a broom and a wicker basket doth a proper nutter make. Although I was surprised to hear that our rival was hatless which is a schoolboy error in our book, on a windy day a high velocity walnut can be painful on a bare head.

According to Adam's account, the two men circled each other like wary tigers, exchanging cagey pickling vs drying information, both careful to boast that their respective 2009 nut stores were prodigious enough to have not yet run out.

I pointed out that Adam may have carrier bags rather than a wicker basket but he was, nonetheless, also a proper nutter. He seemed wounded by the suggestion, pointed out his Converse, twisted his baseball cap backwards and claimed to be a 'Street Nutter'.

Yes dear, whatever you say.

Anyway, our walnut foraging tips are:

The best time to go is early in the morning after a windy night. Nuts will have fallen overnight and if you're out at first light you'll beat the proper nutters and catch the worm (or something)

Be wary of getting the juice from the green cases on your fingers. Walnuts are used to make dye and will stain like nothing else. Once your hands and finger nails are black there is nothing you can do other than live with the mechanic look til your skin renews itself and the discoloured nails have grown out. On the bright side, you can measure the new nail growth and plot their progress on a graph.

Further to the above, try to squash any walnuts still in their case with your foot to get them out. Failing that wear rubber gloves to prise them out - not gardening gloves as they're not waterproof and the juice seeps through.

In my humble opinion fresh, wet walnuts have a horrible, bitter taste. I much prefer them dry. I dried mine by putting them in onion nets and laying them on the floor in front of a radiator. If they don't seem to be drying fast enough they can be put into a very low oven with the door open or an airing cupboard may work. Once dry they will keep for ages, we have some a year old which are still fine to eat.

By the way, that poem 'Nutting' by Wordsworth, why is he taking a nutting crook with him if the hazels are in bloom and, presumably, haven't actually formed any nuts yet?

12 comments:

  1. " Be wary of getting the juice from the green cases on your fingers. Walnuts are used to made dye and will stain like nothing else."

    I found this out the other day, I found some trees I thought were walnuts, but wasn't sure, so I picked one of the pods ? and proceeded to slice it open with my pocket knife, and sure enough it was a walnut, which I was happy about until I realized that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the brown stains of my fingers, thankfully they have gone now, but it took a week or so, and I only had a few spots, still we learn by our mistakes :-) and I do love nuts.

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  2. The stains come off your hands relatively quickly as the dead skin cells come off but it's fingernails that are the worst! I tried painting my nails to cover up the stain but I just looked like a chimney sweep in drag!

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  3. I like the reference to the mechanic look (for obvious reasons).

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  4. Just to explain for those not in the know: Anonymous is my Mum and my Dad is a mechanic.

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  5. Wordsworth clearly knew NOTHING. :)

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  6. I should just be grateful he's not around to pick holes in my syntax.

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  7. Oooh lucky you. Haven't even seen any filberts this year which I absolutely love. You are lucky around here we don't have the depth or variety of produce this way on although am grateful for what we do have. Thought anonymous was your mum. My dad was a mechanic too. And father's and syntax... Still remember homework nights from when I was a child. How are you doing on the puffballs still getting some. That's one thing we do seem to be regularly getting fresh supplies of.

    Anyway take care catch up shortly

    Pattypan
    xx

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  8. We've had 2 more puffballs (smaller though) since the last post but nothing for ages now, I think because the weather went quite dry. It's been raining for a few days so I'm going out to look for some tomorrow. Re the produce - are you not quite rural?

    Oh, and btw, just to clear up any confusion, the 'he' who is not around to pick holes in my syntax is Wordsworth, not my Dad. Fortunately my Dad is still very much around, he's no Wordsworth though!

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  9. Tracey live in Peterborough although I am a Lincolnshire village lass -there are lots of areas of countryside round the town but not with the depth of wild produce that you seem to have found. It was only by chance we found the cherry plums this year and so the puffballs.

    I enjoyed your post on the sea buckthorn and am sorry you had difficulty with it. I did a little research on other sites and there was a suggestion on one to cut the branch off then stick it in the freezer to freeze the berries and then strip them off when frozen. Sounded a bit drastic but something in me thought it might perhaps work - especially with you saying that the berries squished easily and made the harvesting difficult. You also helped me recognise the plant. There is some growing in the hedgerows where I get my elderberries from.

    Did get a load of crab apples and eating apples at the weekend though so I am hoping to play at the weekend.

    Take care

    Pattypan

    xx

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  10. Apologies - It turns out Anonymous is actually my Aunty, not my Mum. Sorry Carol!

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  11. I have never collected nuts...nor to my knowledge had=s my husband yet he is definitely a nutter so maybe it's a throw back from a previous life...lol.

    I don't even know where to find any nut trees in my area which is a shame as I do love them...any tips for hunting them out??

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  12. Walnuts look a bit like Horse Chestnut trees in that the leaves are like 'hands', the walnuts are inside a green case and look a bit like limes. Once you've spotted one you'll probably start noticing them everywhere.

    The only trouble is they tend to be on private land rather than public planting but we've found a few on car parks etc

    Hazels are everywhere, the difficult thing is finding bushes which aren't stripped by squirrels! We use a small patch of trees, local authority planting, on a small patch of green surrounded by roads. Squirrels don't live there.

    For both, keep your eyes on the ground. Ripe nuts fall onto the floor, if they're still on the tree they're probably not ready. If you see a pile of nuts, look up, you're probably under a nut tree!

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