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Index of Subjects Without having researched this species much, I would add that the fleshy husks are full of tannins. I've learned that they can heavily stain the hands that attempt to husk them. The tannin compounds would certainly assist in lending a bitter taste, but the nuts are supposed to be delicious. (I never actually got through the process far enough to taste the nuts.) Did you dry the nuts first? Were they stained with tannins from the husks? My husband's aunt who lives in the region that would have originally grown Carolinian forest, had plenty of black walnut trees. She used to purposefully run over the husks in the driveway to get the nuts out of the fleshy husks. Primitive, but I suppose it worked! I planted some black walnuts on my property in the valley, but the deer promptly ate them, although the tannins should have kept them away. I am now more interested in planting bur oak (producing edible acorns that the Maliseet used to pound into flour, unlike our red oak that has far too many bitter-tasting tannins to be useful to us... admit it, most of us have tasted a red oak acorn somewhere in our childhood, right?). Butternut and walnut might be better options. I have a friend who has cultivated a hazelnut crop. That sounds like fun. All in all, I think it is worthwhile trying to grow more mast-bearing trees, particularly as we've pretty well destroyed the beech trees with their amazing nut crop (which is also delicious and nutritious whenever the trees that remain on our landscape decide to produce a mast crop). Keep the gray squirrels at bay any way that you can, however! They are expanding intruders. Donna -----Original Message----- From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of Burkhard Plache Sent: December-18-16 7:01 PM To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: [NatureNS] The Taste of Black Walnut This October, I collected a few dozen black walnuts from two trees in Halifax. Today I cracked a few open, and found they tasted quite bitter. I was planning on planting a black walnut tree as a fruit tree, but now I have second thoughts. Is the bitter taste to be expected? Is there a possibility to make them more palatable? Thanks for any insight, Burkhard
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