Operation Orofino Walnuts - Proof of Concept

My parents up in Orofino have a mature Black Walnut tree.  On our last visit I decided to see if I could harvest them!  It was an adventure!

I drilled a bunch of holes in a 5 gallon bucket.

Since it is really too early for them, we could only find a handful to bring home and test. Dad says he will begin to collect them for our next visit.

I present the Black Walnut huller!

I started with the largest nozzle thinking I might damage the nuts.  Only the NEEDLE nozzle would even begin to strip the hulls!  This is the same nozzle that would blow a hole in my driveway!

It was not an easy job.  It took about 6 minutes of constant blasting to get them clean.  As an added bonus these things will stain ANYTHING they touch.  My hands will take awhile to return to their normal color.

2 weeks on a drying rack before we can crack them and see how they taste!