“Black nuts”: pickle green walnuts

“Black nuts”: pickle green walnuts

Where can I get green walnuts from?

You won't find either fresh or pickled green walnuts in the supermarket. The black nuts are therefore a very special specialty that you can either buy from specialist shops or make yourself in early summer. Since you cannot find unripe harvested walnuts at the weekly market, you have to grab a ladder and scissors yourself and harvest the green walnuts yourself from the tree. If you keep your eyes open, you will come across walnut trees in many green strips and parks.

The green walnuts are suitable for pickling as black nuts if the nutshell, which is under the green shell, is not yet lignified. This is usually the case in June, when the fruits are about the size of grapes. In some regions, black nuts are also called "St. John's Nuts" because they are harvested around St. John's Day on June 24th. Use a wooden skewer to check whether you can still pierce the green nut without any problems. If that works, you can start inserting it!

also read

  • Store walnuts as winter supplies
  • Drying fresh walnuts - but in the tumble dryer?
  • Freeze nuts and store nuts like squirrels do

Black nut recipe

You need:

  • 1 kg of unripe walnuts
  • plenty of water for soaking
  • 1 kg of sugar
  • 600 ml of water for the brew
  • Spices like cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, cardamom
  • Mason jars

Step by step:

  1. Wash the green walnuts and discard any damaged ones.
  2. Take a wooden skewer and pierce the nut halfway in several places.
  3. Put the prepared nuts in cold water that you change twice a day. They lose their bitter substances within three weeks.
  4. Just before picking them, pour fresh boiling water over the walnuts and rinse them off with cold water after a few minutes.
  5. Make a sugar stock by boiling the water, adding the sugar and spices and stirring under the boil until the sugar has dissolved.
  6. Stir the soaked walnuts into the finished sugar solution and cook for half an hour.
  7. After the cooking time, skim the nuts and place them in sterile jars.
  8. Boil the sugar stock again and then fill the glasses with it so that the walnuts are covered in liquid.
  9. Immediately close the jars carefully, let them cool and then put them in a cool, dark place to pull through.
  10. You can try it for the first time after six months at the earliest. However, the black nuts only develop their full aroma after about two years of steeping.

The garden journal freshness-ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • Order here cheaply as an A3 print for your kitchen
  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself