What is the best way to harvest and store hazelnuts and walnuts?
Hazelnuts are usually harvested around the time that the plant's leaves start to fall. Ideally you wait until the nuts are on the ground before gathering them, but the squirrels and jays can make this difficult. Many gardeners find they need to cover their hazelnut bushes with netting if they want a reasonable harvest.
Don't be tempted to pick hazelnuts early in an effort to beat the birds and squirrels to the punch. Both creatures are happy to eat the nuts while they’re still green and hazelnuts harvested while immature will rot. Instead, gather the nuts after the husks have turned yellow. As a general rule, if you can turn the nut inside its husk without using force, then it’s ripe enough to pick.
Once you've gathered your hazelnuts, dry them in the sun for several weeks then store them in their shells in cool, humid conditions for up to a month. Since hazelnuts tend to rot quickly, long-term storage in their shells isn’t recommended. Instead you should shell the nuts and store them in a tightly sealed container in the freezer.
Walnuts are usually harvested earlier in the season than hazelnuts. They are ready to collect as soon as their hulls crack, but most gardeners wait until the walnuts fall to the ground before gathering them. It’s acceptable to use a broom or a rake to lightly shake any loose nuts free from the tree and any nuts that don't fall aren't ripe. As with hazelnuts, walnuts harvested before maturity will rot.
Walnut hulls are easily removed from Persian (English) walnuts, but if you happen to have a Black walnut you’ll likely have to resort to hand tools to get the hulls off and you'll need to where a pair of rubber gloves while doing it to avoid staining your hands.
Regardless of the type of walnut you own, you need to dry the nuts in the sun for several weeks before storing them in cool, slightly humid conditions with good air flow. They will keep for a couple of months. If you want to keep them longer, you need to shell them and place them in an airtight container in the freezer.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
Originally published in the Creston Valley Advance on October 14, 2010.
