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I have a friend, Petr, who works exclusively in the autumn. In spring and summer he lives in the countryside and returns to the city in September. He says that in three months he can earn enough for a year in advance. The main source of his income is walnuts.
How to shell a walnut
If you want to make decent money, you don’t need huge plantations and hectares of fields. On average an adult walnut tree can produce up to 100 kg of fruit. But this tree must have a trunk at least 1 m wide and must be at least 20 years old. Nuts aged 10 to 20 years can produce only 20 – 30 kg of walnuts per season.
A lot also depends on how the walnut grows, under what conditions, in what terrain. Varieties and weather conditions play an important role. There are many conditions. And in the end it is not the number of kilograms of nuts obtained that matters, but the yield in the form of the kernels themselves. And we all know that in recent years walnuts have skyrocketed in price.
Don’t buy shelled ones – this way you get twice as much from a nut
If you want to save, always opt to buy unshelled or uncracked nuts – they are not only cheaper, but with a bit of skill you can obtain intact nut kernels. Not to mention that you can also make great use of the nutshells.
Nuts in shells are stored in a dry, cool and well-ventilated place, in tarpaulins or in wooden containers. If the fruits are good, from 3 kg of whole nuts you will get almost 1.5 kg of kernels.
But how to shell walnuts without damaging the kernel?
If there are many of them, it is better to use special equipment for these purposes. These are mechanical and household nut peelers and home “crackers”.
The best method available at home is to rely on a trick with an ordinary glass bottle. A little practice is enough and you will easily obtain whole intact nut kernels without crushing them.
For this purpose a champagne or beer bottle is suitable. Place the nut on the neck of the bottle with the bottom down and tap the “nose” with a hammer. Try to distribute the impact force evenly and be careful!
In this way it is possible to break even the toughest, densest shell so that the kernel remains untouched. With an ordinary bottle you can shell up to 5 kg of nuts per hour using this technique.
More tips from you:
- Put the walnuts into a container and pour boiling water over them. Let them stand under a lid for about twenty minutes, then they peel easily. This also applies to Brazil nuts and pecans.
- This also works if you put them into a pot with cold water, bring it to a boil and cook for about five minutes, then drain, pour away the water, return the nuts to the pot and let them cool under a lid.
- At the point where the shell is joined, pull with the tip of a knife, press only a little, but this will also help it to shell more easily.
- Place the nut in the cracker with the seam vertical, then you don’t have to press so hard.
- Especially men swear by cracking them with pliers.
- If you try to crush a nut in your palm, put two in — you’ll crack them against each other more easily.
- Don’t throw away the shells; they are enormously useful!
- When we asked our elders why they kept walnut shells, they answered completely automatically — because they improve blood circulation and thin the blood. So we investigated how, for example, to process the shells and the hard parts of the kernel so that they have medicinal effects?
For coughs
Make tea from the shells by boiling them in water until the liquid acquires a light color. Strain and sweeten the warm liquid with honey and add lemon. The tea soothes an inflamed throat and is even an excellent prevention for laryngeal cancer. It also relieves the pain of an inflamed throat — you will feel it especially when swallowing. The tea favorably helps to lower blood pressure and improves blood circulation.
Beneficial for ulcers
In the case of ulcers a strong decoction of walnut shells was used. It was kept in a dark glass container and a teaspoon of this strong decoction was always taken on an empty stomach.
Source of calcium — it provides the body with it quickly and effectively
If you suffer from a lack of calcium, one of the best ways to replenish it is to drink the aforementioned tea made from walnut shells — boil until the liquid lightens and you can drink 500 ml to 1 liter of such liquid per day.
For external use
Minor skin injuries, abrasions, mosquito bites or skin eczema have long been treated using various parts of the walnut — the nuts themselves, walnut oil, green leaves, the green husk and hard shells — extracts from them are commonly bought even in pharmacies, but we often have no idea that in their purest and strongest form we have them right under our noses.
