by Terra Brockman

FROM THE NATIVE FOREST:

Go Nuts!

Every autumn, when the leaves and the temperatures drop, so do the wild nuts. and every year, the Black Walnuts take me by surprise. i inadvertently step on one, bruising its green husk so it releases its distinctive, sharp, almost citrus smell. This unmistakable aroma means one thingthe time for foraging wild nuts is here. For people who grew up with Black Walnuts, the aroma and taste are pure nostalgia. For me, its the memory of my grandfather picking up the nuts that fell from the big tree near the farmhouse. he gathered them up before the squirrels did, and then squirreled them away in the basement where he would make his way through the bushels all winter long. Black Walnuts have a strong, heavy shell that is notoriously hard to crack, but my grandfather did just fine placing the nuts on a big piece of steel on his workbench and using a hammer to crack them open.
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hed crack a pie tin full, and then bring them upstairs to the kitchen and slowly extract the nuts from the crevices of their shells. They would then be stored in Mason jars until my grandmother used the nutmeats in cookies and breads, and of course in her famous Black Walnut Lemon Pound cake. although the Black Walnut is related to the English Walnut and the Persian Walnut, it seems a breed apartwith a stronger, more complex combination of dark, smoky, earthy notes and sharp, fruity ones. and, it has a softer, denser texture than a regular walnut. Still, you can substitute Black Walnuts in any recipe calling for walnuts, although you may want to halve the amount because of the stronger flavor. My grandmother used the nuts exclusively in baked goods, but other popular uses include salads, vegetable dishes, rice dishes, meat dishes, and killer ice cream and fudge.

edible chicago | Fall Harvest 2012

Photo Phillippou/shutterstock.com

hickory nuts are another wild nut abundant in our autumn woods. i had never had hickory nuts until a neighbor put some on top of her apple crisp one year. and then i wondered why it had taken me so long to taste a nut that was literally under foot each fall, embedded in its egg-shaped hull. Like the Black Walnuts, they can be a challenge to crack, but the prize inside is worth it. hickory nuts taste something like a pecan, but richer and earthier. Black Walnuts and hickory nuts are ubiquitous in the deciduous forests of the Midwest, and were an important food source for thousands of yearshigh in unsaturated fat and protein, easy to collect, process, and store for eating throughout the winter months. Nutrient-dense and delicious, they made sense then, and they make sense now. What could be more local than a nut native to this area, harvested from trees that grow without the slightest help from cultivation, let alone pesticides or fertilizer? and, what could be more fun than seeking out and processing your own nuts, free for the foraging? With the growing interest in local foods and selfsufficiency, more new farmers are planting nut trees as part of their diverse, sustainable farm operations. andrea Vozar, a central illinois Farm Beginnings program graduate outlined her Black Walnut production schedule in her business plan for go Nuts orchard. The plan started with planting saplings in year one, beginning to harvest the first nuts in year five, reaping the bounty of full harvests in years 12 to 20, and then gradually harvesting some of the trees for their valuable lumber in years 60 and 70, with nut-bearing coming to an end in year 120. Yes, she had a 120-year business plansomething you dont see every daybut a plan that takes the seventh generation into account is something that would have made the iroquois very comfortable. So this year, look for a farmer or forager who harvests wild nuts. or if you like the idea of gathering delicious food for free, ask around and you might be surprised to find Walnut and hickory trees and their nuts nearby. Preparing wild nuts involves several steps: harvesting, hulling, cracking and storage. See the sidebar for a quick how-to, or find an old-timer to show you the ropes. Either way, youll have a great time going nuts.
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With a long family tradition of farming and foraging in Central Illinois, Terra Brockman writes about her experience first hand. She is also the author of The Seasons on Henrys Farm and is a regular contributor to Edible Chicago.

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Where to Get Local Nuts

Black Walnut and Hickory nuts grow throughout our Midwest forests, so foraging is quite easy if you keep your eyes open. If you dont want to harvest your own, look for local nuts at your farmers markets. If you dont find any, ask the farmers if any of them can forage some for you. If you cant forage nuts in your own back yard, here are a couple Midwest sources from whom you can order:

From Nuts on the Tree to Nuts on Your Dinner Table

1. Find the trees and pick up the nuts soon after they fall. The best time is after the first frost, but
before December. Enlist children and the task will go faster and be more fun.

2. Hull them. Black Walnuts have an almost fluorescent

green hull, full of tannins that will stain your hands. The hull is thick and tough, but it gets softer and darker as it ages. There are various hulling machines and advice on the internet, but Ive found you can just stomp on the nuts to get it off.

Hickory Nuts. Linda Schaalma and her 90-someyear-old father, Ray Pamperin, forage wild Hickory nuts from their Shagbark Hickory trees in Dodge County, Wisconsin. www.rayshickorynuts.com Juneau, Wisconsin

3. Crack them. Native Americans made a divot in a rock

to hold the nut, and hit it with another rock. Thats more or less what my grandfather did, substituting a hammer for one rock and a piece of steel for the other. Or you can invest in one of the contraptions invented to crack the hard shell. I must confess though, the $40 contraption I bought some years ago crushed the nuts into oblivion, and made it nearly impossible to get shell shard-free nutmeats.

Black Walnuts. Hammons Products of Missouri is the main producer and seller of Black Walnuts in the United States. They are family-owned, and buy Walnuts from foragers around the Midwest. www.black-walnuts.com Hammons Products, Stockton, Missouri

4. Pick out the nuts and sort them. Once the shell is
cracked, the nutmeats dons just fall out in neat halves like they do from English Walnuts. They still have to be loosened and pried out. You can use a nut pick, a small screwdriver, or dental tools to do this. Once you have the nutmeats, you should sort through them carefully to get out any pieces of tooth-cracking shell.

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5. Store. The nuts are full of oils which will get rancid if
they are kept at room temperature, so use them right away, and store any extra in the freezer.

6. Use! Check out the following recipes, or substitute

wild nuts for regular Walnuts or Pecans in your favorite recipes. Terra Brockman

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edible chicago | Fall Harvest 2012

Photo

Pear, Fennel, and Black Walnut Salad

cup Black Walnuts, toasted 4 cups fennel, cored and sliced cup white balsamic vinaigrette 1 large or 2 small pears, quartered and cut into thin slices 1 to 2 ounces goat cheese in small crumbles 1. Place walnuts, fennel, and vinaigrette in a mixing bowl, gently toss. 2. Arrange pears on four salad plates, Top with the fennel/walnut mixture, sprinkle goat cheese on top.

Vinaigrette
cup olive oil cup white balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoons honey salt and pepper Place ingredients in jar, cover with lid and shake vigorously.

Black Walnut Pumpkin Pie

1 pie crust (frozen or home-made) 1 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed, divided 1 cup Black Walnuts, finely chopped and toasted 3 tablespoons butter teaspoon vanilla 2 cups cooked pumpkin or butternut squash flesh 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon teaspoon ground ginger teaspoon ground allspice teaspoon ground nutmeg Whipped cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Put crust into a 9-inch pie plate; fold edges under and crimp. Bake for 6 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, let cool. 2. Increase oven temperature to 425. Combine cup light brown sugar, Black Walnuts, butter, and vanilla; spread on bottom of baked pie crust. 3. Beat pumpkin, cream cheese, eggs, and the remaining brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer. Add flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg, beating until blended, spoon pumpkin mixture over Black Walnut mixture in pie crust. 4. Bake in a preheated 425 oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350, and bake 30 minutes or until pie is set. Remove pie to a wire rack; cool. 5. Serve warm or chilled with whipped cream, if desired.

Photo left 54613/shutterstock..com Photo right Elena Elisseeva/shutterstock.com

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