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The Bounty of Black Walnuts

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Historically two wild nuts have held pride of place in mountain folkways—the American chestnut and black walnuts. Sadly, the former belongs to a world we have lost as the result of ravages of a virulent blight accidentally imported from Asia early in the 20th century. Black walnuts, on the other hand, remain abundant in the High Country and beckon those with a sense of linkage to the past or a love for scrumptious food in the present with a purt nigh irresistible call.

As far as the past goes, there was a time when black walnuts did far more than merely provide “meats,” forming a key ingredient in some mighty toothsome desserts. The wood was prized for gun stocks, furniture, and other uses where lumber from a dense, slow-growing tree fit the bill. For that matter, walnut timber remains quite valuable. That’s thanks in part to the tree’s leisurely pace. My paternal grandfather was fond of saying, as we walked by a row of black walnuts he had planted, that it was “a three-generation tree.” He would then explain, saying “I planted these when I was already well along in years, but they won’t be ready to cut until you are an old man. Meanwhile though, year after year we get to enjoy nuts in some of your grandmother’s fine fixin’s.”

He might well have added that black walnuts were treasured for other reasons. They were a favorite tree around mountain homesteads not only because of their nuts but thanks to the fact that they kept weeds and insects at bay. Walnut trees have a bit of toxicity that discourages growth of both vegetation as well as six-legged pests wherever they are present. Since our forebears preferred yards that were swept and kept clean, black walnuts were ideal. They are also a tell-tale sign for anyone searching for old home places in national parks or forests.

The virtues of the black walnut also extended in yet a couple more directions, and these were food connected. As anyone who has spent much time hunting squirrels is well aware, they are drawn to mature walnuts like an acclaimed trencherman to an expansive buffet at a family reunion. That can readily translates to the pleasures of squirrel and dumplings with all the fixin’s. Utilization of the tree to provide food once extended in another direction. Early settlers learn from Cherokees and other Native Americans that crushing the green hulls of walnuts and dumping the result into a likely spot in a creek or river stunned fish and brought them to the surface where they could readily be procured and used as food.

For present purposes though, it is the delicious kernels, chock full of a distinctive taste that arguably surpasses that of any other nut that merits our attention. It takes gumption to gather nuts when they fall, dry them until the outer husks can be removed without staining everything they contact, allow them to cure, crack each nut, and pick out the meats. Those multiple steps, along with the fact that no one has yet managed to invent a device that cracks black walnuts in a fashion that produces halves or large pieces with regularity, explains why purchased nut meats, if you can find them at all, cost an arm and half the accumulated funds one intends to leave his heirs. Yet rest assured the end result of a lot of labor is worth the work. Try one or more of these recipes and you’ll be convinced.

Black Walnut Bars

These bars, blending the special sweetness of dates with the slightly oily, rich taste of walnuts, were something my mother always prepared for Christmas. She knew that if someone dropped in unexpectedly, and that often happened, this treat and a steaming cup of Russian tea would leave them feeling they had been treated like royalty.

CRUST

FILLING

Cream butter and brown sugar.  Slowly add flour and mix until crumbly.  Pat into a greased 7- x 11-inch baking dish.  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees until nicely browned.

For the filling, combine brown sugar, eggs, salt, and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, add flour and baking powder to dates and walnuts.  Blend into egg mixture and pour over baked crust.  Return to oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until done.  Cut into bars and place on wire racks to cool.

Black Walnut Pound Cake

This recipe came from the late Beulah Sudderth, a wonderful woman who was as good a soul and fine a cook as ever called Swain County home. She was also a treasured family friend.  In my father’s  later years, as he approached centenarian status and then moved beyond it, Daddy simply had to have one of Beulah’s cakes to carry to family reunions or potluck gatherings as his distinctive contribution to the scrumptious spread. The dessert always brought heartfelt comments about how delicious it was, and Beulah took considerable delight in knowing folks relished her baking.

Cream butter and shortening thoroughly.  Gradually add sugar; cream until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  In a separate bowl sift flour and baking powder and add chopped black walnuts. In measuring cup, add vanilla to half-and-half. Add flour and walnut mixture alternately with half-and-half to creamed mixture, and if you opt to use sour cream, alternate it as well. Blend and mix well (beating well is the secret to a fine pound cake). Pour into a prepared 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes or until done. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. 

You can, if desired, prepare a cream frosting (recipe below) for this cake or have a bowl of custard to spoon atop slices. It tends to be a bit dry.

BLACK WALNUT FROSTING

Blend melted butter and powdered sugar. Add enough half-and-half to reach desired consistency. Fold in walnuts and frost cooled cake (do not put atop cake until it is fully cooled).

Oatmeal/Chocolate Chip/Walnut Cookies

This cookie recipe is really just a variation on traditional approaches involving oatmeal, chocolate chips and raisins, but taste-wise the end result is distinctly different. Incidentally, you can also add raisins if you want what will amount to almost a cookie equivalent of fruit cake.

Beat butter at medium speed with a mixer until creamy and gradually add sugars, beating well. Add egg and vanilla, beating until combined. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt and then gradually add to the butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in oats and remaining ingredients. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool cookies on baking sheets for a minute and then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Applesauce Cake

This is a traditional Christmas dessert in the mountain regions of the South. Momma regularly baked several cakes over the Thanksgiving weekend for use at Yuletide. The ensuing weeks would see cakes stored in a cool area and periodically anointed with a few tablespoons of apple cider or dappled with wine to keep them moist. This combination of aging and moisturizing produced a cake that was, by the time Christmas rolled around and it was sliced, soaked through and through with toothsome goodness. It literally glistened with moisture and every bit of nut nestled in a slice promised a taste of paradise.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add applesauce and remaining ingredients a small amount at a time, stirring by hand as you do so.  Bake for 50 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees in a deep cake pan.  Check with toothpick to see if cake is done.

Nut Spread

Cream butter and cheese together.  Add finely chopped nuts, honey, and salt.  Serve as a spread for bagels, biscuits, banana bread, or crackers.

Black Walnut Ice Cream

It didn’t happen often, but two or three times each summer Grandpa Joe would get out his hand-cranked ice cream freezer, use a pick to chip plenty of ice from one of the big blocks sold by a local plant for use in the then-common ice boxes, and lay in a good supply of coarse salt. At that point everything but the custard was in readiness for a big batch of homemade ice cream, and Grandma Minnie took care of that. Normally we had peach, but on truly special occasions, eager hands took their turn at the crank knowing full well the richest of rewards was in the offing in the form of a container and dashers laden with this freezing delight featuring the wonderful taste of walnuts.

Place milk in double boiler and heat. Mix sugar, flour and salt. Add enough hot milk to sugar mixture to make a paste. Stir the paste into hot milk. Cook until the mixture thickens slightly, and then gradually add eggs to the hot milk mixture.  Cook about two minutes longer. Cool in refrigerator (it is best to cool the custard mixture overnight). After cooling, whip cream slightly and add it to the custard along with walnuts. Pour into ice cream churn and run the freezer by manufacturer’s instructions or crank away with a will until the mixture is quite firm. Electricity does the hard work in today’s world, but in the days of hand cranking I just have to believe the taste was a bit better for all the elbow grease that went into the production process.

Black Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing

Black walnuts are usually thought of in the context of desserts, but they also lend themselves to a pleasant, piquant taste in this salad dressing.

Toast nuts and cool. Briefly chop nuts in blender with salt. Do not chop nuts too finely; chunks should remain. Add oil, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and pepper; pulse to blend. Taste to adjust flavors. Wonderful over a mixed greens salad, sliced tomatoes, or an avocado half. 

TIP: If you are especially partial to the rich, nutty flavor of black walnuts, double up on them and leave the English walnuts out.

About the author: Jim Casada’s latest works on the culinary front include Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food: Recipes and Memories from Mountain Kitchens, co-authored with Tipper Pressley, and Venison Cookbook: From Field to Table—400 Field- and Kitchen-test Recipes. Both are available at jimcasadaoutdoors.com and standard Internet sources.

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