Mrs P's pickled walnuts

Pick a walnut tree. Here's mine on the edge of one of our favourite spring walks

A very quaint and apparently quintessential  English tradition  is to pickle walnuts. As the trees here are abundant and in some case abandoned it seemed rude not to give it a try. Last year i missed it as there is a very precise couple of weeks, even days when you can take the nuts. The reason being is that you are pickling the whole nut, the would be shell as well. You need to take them off the tree before the shell inside the green layer has started to form the outer layer is what splits eventually to leave the hard brown shell on the inside. 

Traditionally i am told that the day of summer Solstice is the right day for picking, but i am sure that will vary depending on where you are...we were a couple of days off the Solstice but perfect timing. You can cut one in half to tell, if there is and kind of shell that has just decided to form below the green hull...you are sadly too late.

Use gloves whilst preparing otherwise you will have stained hands for a week. I think i might like to try a tie dye with these nuts next Spring? pretty earthy browns.

This is a recipe, along with a few other wild from the field recipes, an excellent website for hunters gatherers.
http://www.thefield.co.uk/food/recipes/how-to-pickle-walnuts-22906

freshly picked fruit, three days after solstice, 23rd I think...the longest day of the summer

How to pickle walnuts

Ingredients for 2kg pickled walnuts

• 225g salt
• 1 litre malt vinegar (I have not been able to find malt vinegar in France but cider vinegar is just as good, i am reliably told on the web, so that is what i used)
• 500g brown sugar
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cloves
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1. Prick the walnuts with a fork and cover with water and the salt.
2. Leave for a week, then drain and renew with a fresh brine solution for another week.
3. Drain the walnuts and lay out on trays in a dry, airy place. After a few days they will have turned black.
4. Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan. Bring them to the boil, add the walnuts and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool and spoon the nuts into large jars and cover with the liquid. They should last for years.

Note: Harvest the matured nuts when the protective green hull containing the brown nut splits end of September to the end of October/November.

Brine them in salt for two weeks, the split walnut shows that the shell has not yet formed

There is very little shrinkage, so according to the recipe and the amount...make sure you have
 the requisite sterilised jars

please note that there was a lot of cheese harmed during making this blog entry.

a beautiful goats cheese from our saturday market