Walnuts are actually a drupe, meaning that it's a seed encased in a fleshy cover. What we usually eat is the inside of the seed after the drupe has completely matured. Almonds, coconuts, peaches and nectarines are also drupes. Blackberries and raspberries are made up of collections of druplets that form the berry.
I don't know if the raw drupes are edible, but, like olives, they are delicious when pickled. I forget where I first heard of pickled walnuts, but it's been a thing in Europe for a very long time. And it's become a staple condiment in my home.
Pickled walnuts are salty with a rich flavor and I like to use them, either mashed or puréed with their own pickle juice and spices, as a condiment. This purée can be used like a steak sauce and is excellent with all meat and poultry, on baked potatoes, etc. The pickling juice can be used as you would soy sauce and is just as salty as soy sauce. The pickled spices, when dried, can be ground and used as a seasoning. Pickling the drupes is a pretty straight forward process, similar to pickling olives. It takes a couple of weeks, but I think it's well worth the effort.
Immature walnut drupes are a seasonal crop, and they don't store very well, so they need to be processed when they're picked. However, once they've been pickled, they'll keep for a long time either frozen or stored in the pickling solution. They're also shelf stable, so they don't require canning.
Bucket o' Drupes.
The time to pick the drupes is mid June, when they have gotten as large as possible, but before the hard shell has begun to form. I like to pick them during the second and third week of June. I always check some drupes prior to picking to make sure the shell hasn't started to form. To do this I insert a needle or toothpick into the stem and blossom ends of a few of the largest drupes. I can feel the shell if it's started to form and I know, if I find a shell, not to pick any drupes that size. Usually though, I don't find a shell and I can pick all the drupes, both large and small.
Drupe and floral disk. I just roll the drupe over the disk with enough pressure to prick the surface. You can buy floral disks at most craft shops.
After the drupes are picked, they're washed to remove any dust or debris and run through a mild sanitizing solution. Then the ends are cut off and the skins pricked to allow the brine to penetrate the drupe. I like to use a floral disk. It punctures the surface of the drupes evenly and it's a lot faster than using a fork or a pin, especially since I will process up to 6 gallons of drupes at a time.
A pan of drupes ready to go into their first brine.
Once the drupes have been pricked they're ready to soak in their first brine. They'll soak in this for 5 days, then be rinsed and put in a second brine for 7 more days. I use plain (un iodized) salt. You can use pickling salt, but I find that the plain granulated salt is less expensive than the pickling salt and does just as well.
Drupes that have been going through their first brine. You can see that some of them have turned black on the surface that was exposed to air. This isn't a problem as they'll turn coal black in the next step.
Once the drupes have gone through the second brine, it's time to dry. I drain the drupes and rinse them, then place them on racks to air dry for 3 days.
Drupes drying in nursery trays.
I like to use these nursery trays to dry the drupes. They're large, hold a lot of drupes and have spaces in the grid that are big enough for most of the drupes to rest in with minimal contact. I turn the drupes once a day. At the end of the drying process the drupes will be coal black and wrinkled. As the drupes dry, a fine, tawny colored powder will form on parts of them. This is the salt drying on the surface and it's normal.
Dried drupes ready for the spiced pickling solution.
Once they've dried, they're ready to go into jars with spices, garlic cloves, and a hot pickling solution of salt, water, and vinegar. I like to wait a month or two before starting to use them to allow the spices and garlic to flavor both the drupes and the juice. As I mentioned, they're shelf stable at this point, needing no refrigeration and they don't need to be canned. However, because they're not canned, I do recommend keeping the rings on the jars (I use one pint wide mouth canning jars), as the seal after the jars have cooled won't be as strong as on jars that have gone through a pressure or water bath canner. Because there is so much salt, I recommend using plastic canning lids instead of the metal lid and ring system.
If you'd like to try some pickled walnuts without having to make them, you can find them at Amazon and directly from other purveyors on the web.
Pickled Walnuts
For the brine -
1/2 cup plain (un iodized) salt to 5 cups water. Bring to a boil and stir until salt is dissolved.
For the pickling solution -
3 C water
3 C apple cider vinegar
6.5 T plain (un iodized) salt
Dry Spice Mix -
4 T whole coriander seed
4 T whole yellow mustard seed
4 T whole black peppercorns
4 whole peeled garlic cloves
Method -
- Pick and rinse the walnut drupes in clean water, then run through a mild sanitizing solution of 1 T bleach per gallon of tap water, and rinse thoroughly.
- Trim off the end of each drupe and prick the surface evenly.
- Place drupes in a non reactive container (I use a food safe plastic bucket) and cover with brine. Place a plate and clean weight over them to keep them submerged. Leave in this first brine for 5 days.
- Drain, rinse, and place in fresh brine, covering with plate and weight, and leave for another 7 days.
- Remove from brine, rinse, and lay out on racks making sure that the drupes don't touch each other. Allow to air dry for 2-3 days, until black and wrinkled and the surface is dry.
- Clean enough canning jars to hold the drupes, then pack in the jars along with 4 whole peeled garlic cloves per pint.
- Combine the water, salt and vinegar for the pickling solution in a pan and bring to a boil.
- Add 2 T of the dry spice mix per pint to the jars, then pour the boiling pickling solution over the drupes, leaving a little head space.
- Wipe the rim of each jar and lid.
- Allow to sit on a towel to cool completely before storing in the pantry.
- Allow to age for at least one month before using.
Walnut Sauce I
Ingredients -
2-4 pickled walnuts
1 t spices from the jar
1 of the garlic cloves from the jar
2 T of the juice from the jar to start
Method -
- Chop the walnuts and garlic, then add, along with the spices and pickle juice, to a wide mouth one pint canning jar.
- Purée with a stick blender, adding more pickle juice from the jar to bring the sauce to the consistency you want. I like to make my sauce about the same consistency as steak sauce or ketchup.
- Store in an air tight container or squeeze bottle.
Variations on the theme -
- Add some sugar to sweeten the sauce and temper the saltiness.
- Add a little bit of raisin paste to the sauce to temper the saltiness and add another layer of flavor.
- Add a little bit of Hoisin sauce to the walnut sauce to add another layer of flavor and temper the saltiness.
- Add a little sesame oil when puréeing to give it an Asian flavor.
All content including pictures © Joanne Rigutto unless otherwise noted.
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