Walnuts
Introduction
Walnuts are known among many people. It is a nut that grows not
only in countries with a tropical or subtropical climate, but also in
Northern Europe and North America. There are many types of
walnuts, often with the most beautiful names, but in this book I
will stick the most-sold and loved walnuts in Europe and North
America.
Countries and regions that produce a lot of walnuts are the US California and Oregon in particular - France, Chile, India, Turkey,
Eastern Europe and China.
France does export them, but it uses most of them for the
domestic market. The same applies to China: nearly all walnuts
are consumed in China itself.
We mainly eat Californian walnuts, the Diamond with its stamp
for instance, Chilean walnuts, a very delicious walnut with a soft,
sweet flavour, and walnuts from Eastern Europe. These are strong
nuts compared to those from India and Turkey, which have a
shorter shelf life and which acquire a strong, slightly rancid
flavour quicker.
Californian walnuts are sold both shelled and unshelled. There is
for that matter no difference between Californian Diamond
walnuts with and those without stamp. It's nothing more than a
smart marketing trick! A lot of people associate the stamp with
quality. And rightly so, because they are indeed good, but
Californian walnuts without the stamp are just as good.
In my opinion, Chilean walnuts are the best available walnuts.
They are almost always sold in shelled form.
Not only do they have a very nice shape and colour, they also
have a unique flavour: mild, creamy and slightly sweet. But there
are of course also people who prefer Californian walnuts, which
have a bit more 'oomph', or European walnuts, which have a
slightly stronger, nutty flavour.
French walnuts are often more expensive, but that is outweighed
by their high quality and long shelf life. French walnuts have the
longest shelf life of all nuts.
When walnuts are almost ripe, the outer green shell bursts open.
Walnuts are harvested by machines with big arms that shake the
trees, causing ripe walnuts to fall to the ground. This process is
repeated after some time, so that the nuts that were not ripe
previously are now also harvested.
It is important that the nuts are properly dried. The flavour of the
end product stands or falls with the drying process. A properly
dried walnut has a delicious flavour, while a walnut that has not
been properly dried has a bitter flavour and is prone to moulding.
Walnuts are also consumed when they are not dried. In that case,
the nut is soft and slightly milky. It is important to consume 'wet'
walnuts, as they are called, shortly after they have been
harvested, as otherwise they may get mouldy.
Unripe walnuts that are harvested have a different intended use:
they are used to make a liqueur called nocino.