Chicken stuffed with sage and black walnuts. All photography courtesy Hammons Black Walnuts. Find recipes at BlackWalnutRecipes.com.
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STEPHANIE ZONIS is a contributing editor.
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December 2012
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Hammons Black Walnuts
Buy Black Walnuts & Taste The Difference!
Check out all of the very special gourmet food gifts in this article.
For a lot of people, the holidays mean baking. While Americans are familiar with the so-called English walnut (it’s the type sold in the supermarket), most of us know little or nothing about black walnuts.
Hammons Black Walnuts is on a mission to change that.
At one time, they were a part of many indigenous American diets. These days, they are second-class walnut citizens, grown in just a few states. More expensive to produce, they’ve become a specialty item for those in the know.
Why use black walnuts when there are plenty of English walnuts available? For the flavor! Black walnuts have a heartier, earthier, more robust taste than English walnuts, and you’ll notice the difference as soon as you taste one.
Black walnuts evoke the expression, “a hard nut to crack.”
After harvest, Hammons uses large steel wheels to crack the nuts, which have extremely hard shells. Cracking black walnuts by hand can also result in stained hands—another reason they fell out of favor. You can, however, buy them in-shell if you like a challenge: Hammons even sells a special nutcracker to help you.
Personally, we buy them shelled.
There are a good number of recipe ideas on the website, should you need culinary inspiration.
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Harvested black walnuts, waiting to be shelled. |
Confections and baked goods made with these special walnuts are available, as is black walnut oil, great as a finishing oil for vegetables, salads and fish dishes. Either or both make a fine holiday gift for that foodie in your life who likes to try new and different item.
Walnuts: The Healthiest Nut
Like their English cousins, black walnuts are high in polyunsaturated and monounsatur-ated fats and contain no cholesterol, sugar or sodium.
While most nuts can be part of a heart-healthy diet, walnuts are perhaps the healthiest nuts. Here’s the scoop.
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Black walnuts: hard to find, but worth it. |
HAMMONS BLACK WALNUTS
Whole, Shelled & Much More
- 2 Eight-Ounce Bags, Shelled
$11.00
- In Shell
15 Pound Box
$15.00
- Many other products available,
including candies & spreads
Buy online at Black-Walnuts.com.
Prices are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional.
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You can make just about anything with black walnuts. Photo courtesy Hammons Black Walnuts.
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