{"id":220649,"date":"2025-10-23T13:29:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T17:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/?p=220649"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:25:24","slug":"for-the-love-of-black-walnuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts","title":{"rendered":"For the Love of Black\u00a0Walnuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I was standing on the banks of the Ohio River near Louisville during a reporting trip when I heard a <em>thwop<\/em>\u2014something hard had fallen from above and hit the packed dirt of the bluff. I looked down as a plump peridot orb rolled toward my tennis shoes, and out of something like habit, I picked it up. When I was a child, we called these billiard ball\u2013sized black walnuts \u201cgreen gold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<!-- Promo shortcode start --><div id=\"nlf-1c\" class=\"gg-promo topic-distilled\"><div class=\"grid\"><div class=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/promos\/bourbon-tall.jpg\" class=\"tall\" alt=\"glass of bourbon with ice\"><\/div><div class=\"right\"><form id=\"nlf-1\" method=\"post\" class=\"form\" action=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/newsletters\/\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"gg_form_submit\" value=\"nlf-1\"><div class=\"hed\">Get Our Bourbon Newsletter!<\/div><div class=\"dek\">Distilled is our newsletter about the South\u2019s favorite spirit.<\/div><div class=\"action two-items\"><div class=\"input-left\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"you@example.com\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"group_id\" value=\"151240180\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"shortcode_form\" value=\"nlf-1\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"subscription_99416\" value=\"on\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"prev_page_id\" value=\"220649\"><\/div><div class=\"gform_footer\"><div style=\"display:none;\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-st\" id=\"nl-nov-st1\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-b\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-r\" id=\"nl-nov-r1\" value=\"2025-11-14\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-et\" id=\"nl-nov-et1\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/div><button data-sitekey=\"6Lc-hRkaAAAAAI84hbB81Jl48pGievR_C_UgHdnY\" data-callback=\"on_submit_nlf_1\" data-action=\"submit\" class=\"g-recaptcha button button-primary after-email\">Sign Up<\/button><\/div><\/div><div class=\"captcha-terms\"><p>This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google <a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/privacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/terms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p><\/div><\/form><script>document.getElementById('nl-nov-st1').value=Date.now();document.getElementById('nl-nov-r1').value='';function on_submit_nlf_1(token) {document.getElementById('nl-nov-et1').value = Date.now();document.getElementById('nlf-1').submit();}<\/script><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- Promo shortcode end -->\n\n\n\n<p>Eastern <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/feature\/black-walnut-fever\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">black walnut<\/a> trees grow around most of the South, and when I wander, I often spot them on sunny hillsides or along water. People in the region have long valued the native tree, first as foodstuff and later for its lumber. Even now, woodworkers prize walnut for its strength and beauty, turning it into gunstocks, turkey calls, and furniture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Folklore says that nothing will grow around a black walnut, and to some degree that\u2019s true. Scientists use the term<em> allelopathic<\/em>: The tree excretes a chemical called juglone into the soil that can harm any nearby competition for resources. I didn\u2019t have the language for such phenomena as a nine-year-old, but I learned little facts like that while foraging with Dad and Grandma Mary in the forests of South Carolina\u2019s Spartanburg and Newberry Counties. Back then I couldn\u2019t tell the difference between wild carrots (a.k.a. Queen Anne\u2019s lace) and a potentially deadly look-alike, poison hemlock. But black walnuts were easy for me to spot, and in foraging, as in other great romances, you never forget your first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My family also couldn\u2019t get enough of them. We were nuts for foraged nuts, period\u2014pecans, hickories, chestnuts. And while we didn\u2019t have any black walnuts on our property, in a good year, a bountiful tree can produce up to fifteen thousand nuts. Folks we knew would literally give the things away, if we came and harvested them ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not the types to turn down free food, my family could often be found on a late-summer or autumn afternoon rattling up someone\u2019s dirt road with a clutch of five-gallon buckets in the truck bed. Any child within shouting distance was told to join the crew. Sometimes the adults offered to pay us (usually a dollar or so per bucket) or promised a homemade baked treat, like banana bread. Other times we were simply told what we were going to do, and I spent many an afternoon bent over in thickets or shin-high grass searching for black walnuts.<\/p><div id=\"div-gpt-ad-9217132\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad mobile inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-7514974\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad tablet inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-9537645\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad desktop inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>When we ran Graham\u2019s Produce, our family\u2019s farm stand, we always had shelled walnuts on hand. We took all of the work out of the enterprise, and people were willing to pay to avoid that labor. And it was labor\u2014one with an art to it. I had to hit the tough hull hard enough to crack it but not so hard as to shatter the delicate meat inside, a precise action made even more difficult by the leather gloves I wore to prevent the juglone from staining my hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I shelled alone, I hated the task. The pungent smell of the nut oil combined with that of leather, hot from the friction, assaulted my nose. But it was<em> the best<\/em> when we did it as a family. Whether it was at home around the kitchen table or at the produce stand in metal folding chairs, we told stories while tapping walnuts to pass the time. At the latter, as the kerosene heater hissed and ticked to heat the small concrete block building, I learned more about my dad\u2019s childhood adventures, like the times he and my uncle Charles pretended to be cowboys roaming my grandfather\u2019s fields instead of tending to the mules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some evenings I ate far more than I bagged to sell, one of the rare instances when nobody fussed at me for snacking on the wares. The nuts didn\u2019t cost much money, just time. And that\u2019s one of the big drawbacks of black walnuts. Before shelling, they need weeks to dry out, or \u201ccure,\u201d so the nutmeat can separate from its shell. It could take a month or longer before any of us could get cracking. Due to the effort required, we wasted nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even the hulls had their uses. Grandma Mary always saved the discarded shells, and when she accumulated enough, she would place them in a pot of water, where they would release their stain. When white clothing no longer looked pristine, we soaked the pieces in the walnut dye, turning the fabrics a tint that could range from old brass to raw sienna to russet to chocolate brown. I didn\u2019t care what color it came out\u2014I was just glad to be doing something with Grandma. But the edible results of our toiling were my favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The black walnut\u2026well, there\u2019s character to it. Some people have an aversion to its aroma, likening it to sweaty feet. I instead find the musk earthy and intense, with hints of the deep green scent associated with moss. What never fails to stun me, though, is the taste. The first bite of nut-meat is always a little bracing\u2014the flavor both sweet and astringent with tannins. If cured right, the nut will release just a hint of satisfying bitterness on the back end. Its boldness means it works well in heartier cakes and sweets.<\/p><div id=\"div-gpt-ad-6186579\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad mobile inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2323926\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad tablet inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-6476205\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad desktop inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s been decades since I had a piece of Grandma\u2019s black walnut fudge, the smooth, creamy treat that would taste too sweet for me now. These days I\u2019d rather have black walnut ice cream. Or a piece of <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/recipe\/black-walnut-apple-spice-cake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grandma Mary\u2019s apple spice cake<\/a>. Black walnuts shone in the cake because the fat in them rounded out or enhanced the recipe\u2019s robust spices and other ingredients, such as the subtle heat they elicited from the ginger or the sweet but tart smack of the apples they amplified. The cake may not have looked pretty\u2014more like a big block of brown, which Grandma occasionally covered in cream cheese icing\u2014but damn, it was delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, while in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, for a writer\u2019s residency, the Kentucky author and poet <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/a-love-song-to-sunday-suppers-and-easter-feasts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Crystal Wilkinson<\/a> and I made our way at least once a week to Frozen Gold Ice Cream for a late-night cone, all the while chatting about our upbringings. Every time we went, I considered other flavors but, in the end, came back to the one that can be hard to find: black walnut. She did too. Raised rural and a generation older than me, she was one of the few folks around who understood my family\u2019s penchant for country cure-alls like castor oil, turpentine, and Epsom salts. Black walnuts bonded us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then I had an epiphany: Just as black walnuts are tough nuts to crack, my family members and I are too. Our harder-than-average exteriors mean it takes time to get to know us. But I like to think we are also worth the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On that hot afternoon along the river near Louisville, I resisted the urge to pry open the fruit that had fallen to my feet. I picked up a couple more and rolled them around in my hand before pocketing them. Nostalgic for the taste, I searched everywhere on that road trip for cured ones. No stores, no produce stands, no specialty shops carried them. When I reached Missouri, where the Eastern black walnut is the state tree nut, I walked up and down the aisles of local grocery stores, looking. I finally located some across the state line, in Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My adoration for my favorite childhood nut has since been rekindled. I add some into my weekly granola. I swap out the English walnuts in my regular beet salad for the more regional staple. I am dreaming up a black walnut pesto. And when the winds get a little cooler and more black walnuts begin to drop, I know I\u2019ll make Grandma\u2019s cake.<\/p><div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3112125\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad mobile inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2831044\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad tablet inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2272163\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad desktop inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Southern foraging staple cracks open a lifetime of memories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":220650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-23T17:29:25Z","apple_news_api_id":"7666656a-760b-4ade-8126-2af8e2da1103","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-30T17:24:39Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AdmZlanYLSt6BJir44toRAw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406,1783],"tags":[351,29802,183,29608,17626],"authors":[18343],"issue":[30797],"recipe-type":[],"class_list":["post-220649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-land-conservation","category-sporting","tag-kentucky","tag-land","tag-louisville","tag-this-land","tag-walnuts","authors-latria-graham","issue-october-november-2025"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v26.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>For the Love of Black\u00a0Walnuts &#8211; Garden &amp; Gun<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Southern foraging staple cracks open a lifetime of memories\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For the Love of Black\u00a0Walnuts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Southern foraging staple cracks open a lifetime of memories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Garden &amp; Gun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gardenandgun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T17:29:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-30T17:25:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GG0525_ThisLand_01-1600x1065.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1065\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gabriela Gomez-Misserian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gardenandgun\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gardenandgun\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gabriela Gomez-Misserian\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e6cca540eec31439cf98cf9427370a13\"},\"headline\":\"For the Love of Black\u00a0Walnuts\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-23T17:29:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-30T17:25:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts\/\"},\"wordCount\":1350,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/for-the-love-of-black-walnuts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GG0525_ThisLand_01.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kentucky\",\"Land\",\"Louisville\",\"This Land\",\"walnuts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Land &amp; 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