Hard black walnut

October 2, 2007  
Topics: Ecuador, Health

Have you ever tried black walnut? It looks a bit like an ordinary walnut, but this one is really black and super hard. First time we heard about it one year ago in Guatemala, when Katja got diarrhea after brushing teethes with contaminated water. We found out that this walnut destroys the parasites in the intestine, and it really did after Katja treated her problem with pills made out of black walnut powder.

When we arrived to Ecuador, we finally saw this walnut in the market. Of course, we were eager to try it. Bought small bag and we were informed that these nuts should be opened with either hammer or stone.

First we tried old Lithuanian method for opening ordinary walnuts – placing the nut between the door and casing of the door, and slowly closing the door to make walnut to crack. Unfortunately black walnut is not so weak. It has a really thick husk, and this method would rather brake the door than open a nut.

We decided to invest into a lobster cracker. Our first try. We force the nut to crack. It CRACKED! Well, not the walnut, but the cracker itself. We had to bring this 30 seconds used tool back to supermarket and complain that it does not do its job. The shop reimbursed our money, and we invested them into a stronger cracker. We tried the scenario again. This time Katja felt that the tool might have the same destiny and we had the only choice – open these nuts on the street with the brick. It was easier than we thought. The only thing which disappointed us was that there is just a piece of nothing in the meat section of this black walnut. The whole space is almost taken by the super thick husk.

Here is the picture of black walnut:

IMG_6400

To summarize, we do not advice to buy black walnut, unless you are suffering from diarrhea.

To end a story we also attach a random picture from the kitchen:

soup spoon

Comments

  1. Rocio says:

    My favourite nut,worth it!! 🙂

  2. ls says:

    i went thru exact same thing!! god! i tried everything in the house (except the hammer, thing is i didn`t had one). i thought it has to be a secret to it,you know? like the coconut. i was so mad i couldn`t open that little thing!! finally when i had enough of trying to figure it out on my own, i went to a local guy. he helped crack them up, with a stone! so much work for such little nuts…next time i`ll just get them at supermaxi already cracked 🙂

  3. Susan says:

    yes the Black Walnut.. it’s definitely where the term “hard nut to crack” came from, lol. i have heard of people using their cars to crack them open! they bag them up and simply roll the tires over them, ha! i live in wisconsin where the tree is native.. most people here hate the trees, especially when mowing the lawn.
    although there is much difficulty in the processing of the Juglans nigra, please don’t discard it completely. all good medicine takes hard work. luckily in this case the good part is mostly on the outside. the powerful medicine is found within the fresh green hull that encases it and can be made into extracts/tinctures with or without an alcohol base. not everyone has the time or space for making this so i do suggest buying it from an organic retailer. it has a very sweet, buttery, and pleasant taste if alcohol free of course.
    this is a very powerful medicine and honestly the only one in my medicine cabinet. i was first introduced to it over 20 yrs ago and i am a witness to its sacred healing power.
    it is a natural iodine, ingestible, which can kill not only parasites, but bacteria and even viruses!
    in my line of work i am exposed to many people (students, travelers, etc.) and usually almost always someone is sick while others are contracting and spreading some new strain of flu.
    i honestly can’t remember the last time i was sick.. and not just me, but my friends who also recognize the powerful work of the tough little black walnut.

    walk in harmony…