From the stocks of Revolutionary muskets to the rich veneer of the finest Victorian furniture, the American black walnut, Juglans nigra, has been the most venerated of American hardwoods. The wood was exported to England by at least 1610, with live fruits introduced by 1656. The native black walnut is one the more important economic trees in the eastern deciduous forest. In fact, it’s the most important tree to the Ozark economy.
Each year, the beginning of October marks the start of the buying season for wild black walnuts in the Midwest where more than 200 buying and hulling stations spread across 11 states purchase upwards of 30 million pounds of whole walnuts. The vast majority are purchased by the Hammon Products Company in Stockton, Mo., the world’s largest processor and supplier of American black walnuts. The 2017 buying season began Oct. 2 with an opening price of $15 per 100 lbs. after shelling.
Hullers remove the green outer hull of the fruit. If picking up whole walnut fruits, one should be aware that those green husks can cause contact dermatitis, and that the husks will stain clothing and skin orange-brown to black.
The hard inner shell encasing is not discarded, but rather is of high commercial value used as an industrial abrasive. It is sold in a variety of grades and six standard particle sizes, as a soft, reusable abrasive for blast cleaning and polishing of soft metals, fiberglass, plastics, wood and stone. For water filtration, black walnut hull particles are used in the separation of suspended solids.
Within the green outer layers lie the inner pericarp, or the hard shell surrounding what you and squirrels eventually hope to reach – the walnut. Native groups throughout the tree’s range prized the kernels as food, eaten plain, sweetened with honey, and cooked in soups. Nutrient dense black walnuts are high in lipids, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids including oleic acid, omega-6 linoleic acid, omega-3 alpha-linolenic, among others.
In summarizing the value of the walnut, George B. Emerson wrote in his 1846 book, A Report of the Trees and Shrubs Growing Naturally in Massachusetts: “It thus unites almost all the qualities desirable in a tree – beauty, gracefulness, and richness of foliage, in every period of its growth; bark and husks which may be employed in an important art; fruit valuable as food; wood unsurpassed in durability for use, or in elegance of ornament.”