How to Dry Hickory Nuts & Walnuts
Both hickory nuts and walnuts ripen in late summer to early fall. Once ripe, they will fall from the trees, at which point you need to gather them up quickly, before the squirrels beat you to them. Hickory nuts and walnuts have both an outer husk and a shell. Within the inner shell lies the kernel, or the edible nut itself. The drying process is the same for both hickory nuts and walnuts; they are dried in the shell after removing the outer husk. Often the husk of the hickory nut will fall off by itself as it hits the ground. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Hull your nuts to remove the outer husk. Wear gloves to hull walnuts; the husks contain black juice that can stain your skin and clothes. Tap your hickory nuts and walnuts with a hammer to loosen the husks, and use your fingers to pry off the husks.
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Soak your walnuts in a tub of water before drying them. Discard any that float. Edible walnuts should sink. You do not need to soak your hickory nuts.
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Inspect the shells of your nuts before beginning the drying process. Discard any that have small holes bored into them, because they may be infested with bugs.
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Arrange your nuts on a wire screen in a layer no deeper than three nuts stacked on top of each other.
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Place the screen in a dry area that is cool and has good air flow.
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Allow the walnuts and hickory nuts to dry for two to three weeks. Completely dried nuts will have a brittle kernel. The kernel is the "meat" of the nut, or the nut without a shell or husk.
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Store your nuts in air-tight containers in your refrigerator once they are properly dried.
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