GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

21-09-2005, 07:15 AM

wrote:
i'm not sure if it's a walnut tree or not, but in the forest preserves
there are these fruits that fall off trees that look and kinda smell
like lime.

if you crack it open, it's all dark and musty inside. if you wash away
the dark stuff, there's a seed or nut. if you crack it open, it looks
kinda like walnut flesh.

is this a walnut or related to walnuts? can it be eaten?

if it is edible, must it be cooked?

Sounds like walnut or maybe butternut. They're ripe when you press on
the hull and your finger leaves an impression. They have to be hulled
and then cured for 2 or 3 weeks.
Messy job hulling walnuts and the juice will leave a dark stain on
your hands that lasts for days. After you get the hull off hose down
the shelled nuts to get them clean. Test them in a bucket of water, if
the sink keep them. If they float get rid of them.
Stack them 2 deep on some kind of tray in the sun for 2 or 3 weeks
to cure them.