What exactly does that mean? I’ve heard this term for years and have never really understood except for it implied a higher quality. Thanks in advance.

The nut bearing variety of walnut, Juglans regia, also known as English walnut, circassian, Turkish, French etc.

English walnuts have a thin, easy to crack, shell, American black, Much tougher nut to crack. Literally.

So then, which variety of walnut does not bear nuts?

Note to those with reading comprehension issues, I did not say the only variety of walnut that produces nuts. Juglans regia was planted for it's nuts wherever European settlers spread and the climate would support the tree. It also makes the best gunstocks.

Note to those with thin skins, buckle-strap girls shoes, and sensitivity issues...

Black walnuts are also grown for their nuts, as well as their wood. Black walnuts are very tasty and desirable for eating and baking. But they are generally more expensive to buy because of the greater amount of labor required to remove the nut from the shell. And believe it or not, millions of guns have been stocked with black walnut. Many of those gun stocks have spectacular grain and figure. However, it is generally acknowledged that English walnut is somewhat better to work with when it comes to carving and checkering.

Even a Hickory has a nut. Bring a sledge hammer or rent a squirrel...Geo

Billie kEITH, I am surprised to see you here this afternoon, I figured you would be out rioting and looting. I took this pic just for you. I switched to the buchsenmacher Air model for summer, it has three buckles. The more buckles the better I say.

Welding slippers.

Best,
Ted

Since the question was “what does thin shell mean?”,

It’s the thickness of the shell on an English walnut compared to an American black walnut, which are much thicker, with far less meat, and which are a pain to crack.

I’ve only known a few gourmands who went through the tedious headache of the shelling process that American black walnuts require to get enough to eat.

Whereas, my old girlfriend, an accomplished dancer, could take an English walnut, clamp it between the cheeks of her buttocks, and crack them with ease. Hence the phrase “walnut cracking thighs”.


Returning to American black walnuts,
We did process them Growing up.

We removed the husks wearing an old pair of work gloves that were soon to be disposed of, (so we didn’t get stained all the way up to our elbows)and then we dried them in baskets in the rafters until winter time, where upon we were forced out into the garage and cracked them in a vice, and my mom picked the meat out of them (what a little bit there was), and she then stored the pieces in jars.
The flavor is very strong, making delicious pastries.

But again the amount of work compared to just buying a package of commercially produced English thin shelled walnuts, is night and day.

We'd like to hear more 'bout the old girlfriend...Geo

While I think the girlfriend's skills were overstated, as to the black walnuts.
Throw them out in the lane and drive over them until the husks are off, then gather and crack them, a sturdy pliers will do. Don't expect much.. Lots of work, little reward! A job best done in the depth of winter, involving alcohol, boredom and resolve.
Generally we turned the sows out in the grove in the fall, pigs can shell them nicely.
And indeed, black walnut will make some great stocks!

Chief

This has to be the best discussion I've ever heard about the difference between the walnuts. I agree with Geo.

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Perhaps your girlfriend’s technique could involve a vice of some sort, but the cracking in the garage probably involved a vise. If I am wrong, please post pics.

Cut to the chase, what's more to discuss, how about pictures for the fellows?

in the deep south there was also another use for walnuts...whether black or english (i think...).

the husks were placed into burlap bags and securely tied up, then beaten (or driven over by vehicles/tractors). when weighted down and thrown into a pond or slue (non moving water...) the chemicals in the husks form a seal on the top of the water, which stops the transfer of oxygen into the water. it will force every fish, turtle, snake, etc. to the surface so they can be harvested, killed, or simply cleaned out prior to restocking with game fish.

the substance is rotenone, and can be purchased in commercial form at many farm supply stores. it is derived from the husks. i have heard my dad tell of rotenoning after walnut harvest time in louisiana in the 1920s.

but in truth, that's not as interesting as the story about the girlfriends walnut cracking skills....

Lacking another option on the farm we would throw them out into the road and let the cars and trucks get the husk off the shells. Then put gem into a burlap bag and dry the in the attic. Shelling them was labor intensive to say the least but the nut meat was good in baked goods.

The easiest way to clean black walnuts is to grab them with big pair of pliers and run them through your bandsaw. They make this too:

https://www.walnutsaw.com/how_it_works.html

Some of my fondest memories are my grandmothers cooking, black walnuts were her favorite nut. She used them in cookies and cakes. Her house burned in the 70s and the fire killed the one walnut tree, leaving all the pecan trees. I built my house there and would have been glad to trade a pecan tree for the walnut. That walnutsaw is neat,
Mike

Another use for the tree is that green leaves from it, sprinkled all in a dog pen, will run fleas far away.

I once sterilized a small lake with rotenone, before restocking it. It's an amazing substance. There is a common misconception that it is some type of poison. It is not. What happens is that, when dispersed through the water, which happens extremely quickly, it coats the gills of fish and other creatures with gills, and they quickly suffocate because they can no longer remove oxygen from the water. Best way there is to rid a lake, or pond, of shiners before restocking.

SRH

Stan, a wax myrtle will do the same thing to run off the fleas. Growing up, a house animal was strictly forbidden. After all of us left home though my parents got a chiwawa(sp?) and it would have a flea episode from time to time. I visited the homeplace once and found the floor in every room covered with branches from myrtle bushes she'd gotten someone to cut in the woods...SelbyLowndes

No fleas though.

Walnuts are fine, but they can be hell on horses. I am eliminating many of the from parts of my property.

there's an old english proverb something along the lines of....
a man has begun to understand the nature of life when he plants trees, with the full knowledge that he will never sit under their shade.

I remember the dark purple stain on my hands from shelling black walnuts.

At one time Savannah was a major port for banana imports in the SE. Locals would place discarded stalks of overripe bananas under wooden houses commonly built on pilasters. The belief was it eliminated fleas from the houses. To tie into the thread, I suppose walnuts and bananas would make great banana nut bread, but a banana stalk would make a poor gun stock. Gil

One of the great things about growing up on the Canadian plains is we never had to worry about how to crack open walnuts.

Kute feet girl friend....

I did not take that photo for sick gratification Frank.

I did send Dave a donation to cover your cheap azz though.

Take care sunshine.
Steve

It actually has some pretty straight grain. I think the bad rep is from folks not patient enough to let it dry thoroughly before inetting and it's tough to get crisp checkering on it. Some get around that by using a single layer of saran wrap between the metal and wood, also helps with finishing if you leave maybe an inch sticking out all around.

Banana wood gunstocks indeed. And this used to be a serious doublegun resource. Everyone knows the best figure is in the banana root, which is never shipped to Savannah with the banana...Geo

Could find no sources that show rotenone is found in any walnuts. But juglone is especially concentrated in black walnuts and also found in other walnuts and some hickories. Juglone is also toxic to fish and horses.

Quick tip Geo. If you have a bunch of over ripe bananas under the house, the best thing to get rid of the gnats is flea spray. Thanks for info on the banana root.

rotenone is not in the walnuts, its in the husk around the nut.

It is not rotenone. Hal was correct.