Mold on black walnuts

This is my second time harvesting black walnuts. First time was a complete success! So I did the same thing again this year. However, after drying on cookie sheets (all I had to store them on) in single layer for 5 to 7 days and they felt dry I put them in mesh bags. I was careful to turn the bags and give them a good mixing up every other day or so. They have been sitting that way for 2 weeks now and today when I went to turn them a few fell out of the bag and I noticed mold on them. I dumped them all out on the floor and went through them all and pulled out about a dozen with mold. Do you think the whole batch is bad or just those ones? Do I need to toss the whole batch? Is it possible I washed them too long? I did a 4 or 5 water change and used a wire wheel on a drill in the bucket to stir them and clean them.

I really hope the whole batch isnt bad now, I have quite a few.  They rest are now all laid out single layer all over my dining room floor as I have no where else to put them.  which is why they were in the mesh bags so I could hang them up out of the way.

Thanks so much.

washing them too long wasn’t the problem, it probably just took a little too long to dry (swapping cookie sheets out for something without a solid bottom would help). the non-moldy ones should be fine, just keep them drying. traditionally passive curing would be 6 weeks or so in a single or maybe double layer, out of sun and with good airflow. maybe spreading them out for a while longer will reduce any further molding.

Thanks.  I plan on making some trays with screens but havent had a chance to.  The cookie sheets worked well last years, but I had less and probably moved them around more.  So now they are all spread out and I have a fan blowing on them.  Its such a large and beautiful crop I hope I dont loose them all.  Its about 5 cookie sheets.  So far had to toss about a dozen

Hi Jill,

It sounds like you shelled them green?  
I have not tried that.  

I have only let them rot and weather outside.   I pull them in before the snow or hard freeze and let them dry easy in a cool place indoors.  

Some do mold or get dry and funky this way but most are delicious.  It makes my mouth water just thinking about it!  

Maybe I will try the green method too this year to compere!

thanks!

in my area, squirrels are a dominant enough life form that i doubt i’d get many if i left them to weather outside!

for home processing i much prefer dehulling when the hulls are still green. partly it’s aesthetic- the shells are prettier and the kernels tend to be more uniformly paler-skinned; but also because the flavor is brighter and sweeter than if they sit in their hulls for a long time. i hope you try it and report back, samantha! i’d love to hear the impression from someone familiar with the other way.

Yes I pulled the husks off before washing and drying.  If I leave them outside my entire crop would be gone. The twelve or fifteen I put outside today due to the mold were gone in an hour. I also try to pick up ones that are less than 50% black as I read that the longer the husk stays on and the blacker it is, then the nuts get bitter.  I am a novice so dont know if that is true or not.

So it seems I successfully saved the rest of my harvest.  I put on my walnuts all over the floor and put a fan on them and so far no more mold!  Hurray!  I also made a rack for drying them on.  My son had a 3 tier shelf and I added more shelves with these wire shelf cut offs I had laying around from another project.  They all fit together very nicely.  To keep smaller walnuts from falling through I used a plastic hardware cloth on the regular shelves.  With a fan blowing on them 24/7 I should not have any mor4e mold issues.

One other thing: about washing them.  I have seen a few videos where people used pressure washer and claim it doesnt work.  I dont get that.  My Hubby bought me a hose nozzle that does a hard stream and just on a regular garden hose I can get my walnuts amazing clean.  Before that nozzle I would have to do 5 or so water changes in the bucket with a drill and wire wheel before they were clean.  Now with that nozzle it takes only 3 times and they are almost sparkling!

Happy walnutting!