Black walnuts. That’s what friends are for.
A few weeks back I was chatting with my long-time friend, John Williamson, when the subject of black walnuts arose in the conversation. I remember cracking with a hammer, or trying to crack walnuts on a log in the backyard of a neighbor’s house, who happened to have a black walnut tree. Breaking the shells of these tough devils is like trying to split an atom with a butter knife. It’s tough because they are tough. After seemingly hours of whacking away, you were lucky if you had a quarter-cup of picked walnuts.
John mentioned that he had some walnut trees on his farm in Prince Edward County and he agreed that black walnuts were not all that excited about leaving the comfort of their shells. Even squirrels give up gnawing after a few hours.
Later, John said he had a gift for me. It was a pint jar of perfectly picked black walnuts. I could have eaten the whole jar on the spot if I had a spoon. But we saved them. Nancy made Pumpkin Muffins with some of the black walnuts last week and we have a few dessert recipes in mind for the remainder.
Cracking the hard shells and picking black walnuts for you – that’s what real friends are for.