gear for processing nuts?

At this site there'll be lots of english walnuts and chestnuts. In the neighborhood I'll also be able to source hazelnuts. In prep for the coming harvest, what should I know? Any equipment to get?

What's the best tool for shucking shells off of walnuts? For soaking off tannins?

I'm really open to any techniques as have never done this Efficiently before...!

I've got a goodie for you!

I've attached a publication from the University of California on Harvesting and Storing your backyard nut crops. I think this pub is awesome!

Daver

Rad!

And it looks like I'm right on target for the walnuts. I found tons today brown, split squishy hulls, all over the ground, but it looks like I have to wait for that anyway.

(And here I was berating the squirrels for getting to it before me. In the big picture they're not stealing all that much anyhow. They're actually kind of useful to remind me what I should be doing. )

Alas, the publication doesn't say much about hazelnuts. Then again, for how many hazelnuts grow here I've seen very little nuts anyway... but that's for a different topic....

Deeper into the walnut harvest: is something wrong? I'm at the point where I harvest nuts everyday from the ground because if they sit for more than a day they're apt to get black/squishier hulls, harder to clean, harder to keep from rotting. Aren't english walnuts supposed to be easier?

It's taking So Long to process them!

Tomorrow I'll try really knocking Hard on the branches to get the rest off. I'll be processing for hours, but maybe the processing will be easier because the hulls won't be so corroded.

I just ran this by a friend that harvests lots of nuts, and he his no issue with walnuts being on the ground, viable all through the winter. Is something wrong with my setup?

(Even where there's a nut hanging over black landscaping fabric, the nuts that fall there will still rot. So it's not a matter of groundcover....Maybe weather? We have heavy fog for hours in most mornings.)

My pecans last a long time on the ground 

Mystery solved: we have a problem with a walnut fly. (This conclusion after talking with neighbors, needling of master gardeners, and voila, a thorough look at pics on the internet). None of which I lifted a finger to do.

So anyway, if you're out there trying to process nuts and they're rotting sooner than you can shake a stick at them, see the new topic I've posted 'bennies to help with walnut fly'.

Hazelnuts:

The trick is to get to them before the birds do!

If you're picking them yourself, remove the husks.  Then dump big double handfuls of the nuts into a bucket of water and stir them around with your hand.  Discard all that float, as there are no meats in them.

Collect and dry the nuts that sank.  Shell and freeze in airtight containers.   

When you want to use them, they are best roasted (they're actually rather icky when raw) before eating or using in recipes.

Roast hazelnuts:  Let nuts come to room temperature.  Preheat your oven to 275F.  Put a single layer of hazelnuts on a cookie sheet or other flat pan, and put them in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the skins crack and the meats are a light gold.  Pour them onto a bowl lined with a clean kitchen towel and let them sit for 5 minutes or so, covered.  Then lift the towel containing the nuts like a bag, and rub the nuts vigorously until most of the skins come off. Don't worry about any skins that stick.

Sue

Kelda unlike Susan I am crazy for green raw hazelnuts (just before brown and ripe, not smaller than fully developed).  I wasn't even pregnant (though it made me wonder) when I discovered this preference. Try a few that way to make sure it isn't something you like, and consider selling me some fresh raw ones this fall- I was very disappointed to ask for same from a larger hazelnut plantation in the WA area and probably received year old stuff from the taste and smell. (and have moved from England and a housing area where there were bushels of them for my collecting to AL where it's too warm for them so far to nut,)

well nuts..

this year i planted so far..hazelnuts, black walnuts, carpathian walnuts, butternuts, sweet chestnuts, hardy almond Halls..hardy pecan, hickory ..all in my gardens/yard.

they will be awhile before they grow but i've been reading up a lot on them to prepare for planting them..

my trees looked really healthy when they came and we are getting a good rain..so they hopefully will grow well

oh yea..snowing today

Found a homemade walnut huller in Farm Show (vol 35, no 3, 2011). An electric motor belt drives a wooden drum inside a metal cover. Nuts are hulled in the space between the cover and the drum. I'm sorry I don't have an image to show and can't find the article online. But this is just in case you have access to a hard copy!

that PDF that dave posted will be very helpful, thanks!

my neighbor has 2 large pecans and a black walnut he'd like to know how to save the nuts as he's tried a bunch of ways.
also had trouble ripening a few pear trees. he'll be real appy to check this out

Brenda Groth wrote:well nuts..

this year i planted so far..hazelnuts, black walnuts, carpathian walnuts, butternuts, sweet chestnuts, hardy almond Halls..hardy pecan, hickory ..all in my gardens/yard.

they will be awhile before they grow but i've been reading up a lot on them to prepare for planting them..

my trees looked really healthy when they came and we are getting a good rain..so they hopefully will grow well

oh yea..snowing today

where did you get the hardy almonds? I've been looking for them forever!