Hunting Pecans and Walnuts
A black walnut in its shell(left) . Out of its shell (right).
I remember when I was a kid and even later after I was married, we used to go hunting in the fall for pecans or walnuts. We could always find a lone tree somewhere that seemed to belong to no one--although I am sure it did--and we would pick up enough nuts to last us for our Christmas cooking and even after Christmas. Pecans were harder to find because usually someone else would get there before we did and take all of the nuts.
The walnuts, black walnuts, were easier to find but they were much harder to use. They have a thick shell covering them and it is a job getting that shell off. Then even after you got that off there is the regular shell that was really hard to crack. So you really had to work for the nut meats of them. They also stained your hands with a brown or greenish stain that was hard to get off.
We also a few times found Hickory nut trees. They are also harder to crack and pick out than pecans but they are a delicious nut to use for cooking, or just eating.
We once found a black walnut tree that was just along the side of the road. Most of the nuts fell in the road and cars had run over them and got a lot of the outer husks off, leaving the walnut free of the tough outer shell. That made them much easier to crack. We went to that tree a couple of years to get our supply of nuts for the winter. Pecans are much easier to crack and pick out the nut meat than are the walnuts.
I have a supply of pecans for this winter because my sister gave me about four pounds of them all picked out and ready to use. I treasure them because I love using them for cookies, salads and other things I bake. I have not had a chance to go nut hunting for many years. I would not have any idea where to go now to look for them. But I do remember how much fun it was to go and find a beautiful tree somewhere with many nuts lying underneath waiting for us to pick them up!
posted by kyra lafain @ 11/16/2008 12:30:00 PM
1 Comments:
Grandma love picking up the pecans from her trees. I can just see her out in her old brown sweater raking through the leaves and filling her paper sack.
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