Field Guide · Harvest · 8 min read

How to Harvest Black Walnuts

Free food falls out of half the trees in Missouri every fall. The work is in removing the husks, and you will need gloves.

Written on the farm by Nathan Story · Story Thyme Farms, Missouri · Updated

Story Thyme Farms · Bench cardSept–Oct

How to harvest black walnuts

Juglans nigra. Gather, hull, float, cure

DifficultyMessy, worth it
Ripe testThumb dents the hull
Cure2–3 weeks minimum
FloatersToss them
Wear gloves. The stain does not wash off, it has to wear off.
1Collecting themPick up nuts with a husk you can dent
2Removing the husksGet the husks off within a few days
3Washing and sortingWash them well and float off the empty ones
4Drying themTwo to three weeks in dry shade
5Cracking themYou need a heavy cracker, a hammer, or a vise
Materials needed · Nitrile gloves · Heavy nut cracker · Nut picks · Mesh produce bags · 5-gallon bucket
Written on the farm · Missouristorythymefarms.com/guides/how-to-harvest-black-walnuts

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The long version

Watercolor plate of black walnuts in green hulls with one cracked kernel
Juglans nigra · field plate

Black walnuts harvest themselves, in the sense that they fall on their own. The work is what comes after: get the husks off before they rot into the shell, float off the empty nuts, and dry the rest until the kernels rattle. Wear gloves the whole time. The stain does not wash off, it wears off.

  1. Step 1 · Collecting them

    Pick up nuts with a husk you can dent

    Watercolour plate of fallen black walnuts in yellow-green husks the size of tennis balls lying in autumn grass, a thumb denting one husk

    In September and October, collect fallen nuts about the size of tennis balls. A ripe husk is yellow-green and dents when you press it with your thumb. Pick them up every few days, because on wet ground the husks blacken quickly and attract maggots.

  2. Step 2 · Removing the husks

    Get the husks off within a few days

    Watercolour plate of a black walnut being hulled underfoot on gravel, the green husk split away and the dark ridged shell emerging, stained hands nearby

    The simplest way is with your boot: set the nut on gravel, press down and roll it with your heel, then pull the nut out. Some people run small harvests through a corn sheller, or drive over a plywood trough of them. However you do it, wear gloves. Walnut stain marks skin for weeks and cloth permanently.

  3. Step 3 · Washing and sorting

    Wash them well and float off the empty ones

    Watercolour plate of hulled black walnuts being washed in a bucket of dark water, sound nuts sinking while a few hollow ones float

    Put the husked nuts in a bucket of water and stir hard, or spray them in a wire basket, until the water runs mostly clear. Anything that floats has no kernel inside, so throw out the floaters and anything spongy. The ones that sink are your crop.

  4. Step 4 · Drying them

    Two to three weeks in dry shade

    Watercolour plate of washed black walnuts spread one layer deep on a wooden drying screen in airy shade

    Spread the washed nuts one layer deep somewhere cool, dry and out of the sun, on screens or in shallow crates, for at least two to three weeks. They are ready when the kernel rattles loose inside a shaken shell. Dried nuts keep for months in mesh bags somewhere cool, and for years shelled in the freezer.

  5. Step 5 · Cracking them

    You need a heavy cracker, a hammer, or a vise

    Watercolour plate of a heavy lever nutcracker splitting a black walnut shell, kernel halves picked out beside a pick and a bowl

    Black walnut shells are far too hard for a nutcracker made for English walnuts. Use a heavy-duty lever cracker, a bench vise, or a hammer on concrete with the nut standing point up. Pick the kernels out with a nut pick, and expect it to take a while to fill a quarter cup. They are worth the effort.

Materials needed
Nitrile glovesHeavy nut crackerNut picksMesh produce bags5-gallon bucket

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Questions we actually get

Why do my black walnuts taste bitter or moldy?
Almost always late hulling. Nuts that sit in blackened rotting hulls soak that flavor through the shell. Hull within a week of falling and cure promptly, the difference is night and day.
Is the stained water and hull pile safe for the garden?
Keep both away from beds. Hulls and roots carry juglone, which stunts tomatoes, peppers, apples, and plenty more. We dump wash water and spent hulls on gravel paths, never near the garden.
How many pounds of kernels does a five-gallon bucket of nuts give?
Humbling math: a five-gallon bucket of hulled, in-shell nuts yields roughly one to two pounds of kernels. Now you know why the store charges what it charges.
From the plant library

Black Walnut — the full profile

Zones, cold-hardy cultivars, spacing, feeding, and where to buy one already rooted.

Open the black walnut guide →