[Meaghan]

Hello frugal friends,
I am looking for things I can do with black walnuts. I am not in the business of eating them and/or making dye.

I recently came across a good supply of black walnuts and wanted to explore more creative or lesser-known uses for them.

Beyond the common uses of eating them or making dye, I’m curious if there are other practical, unique, or even artistic applications for black walnuts.

Whether it’s something to do with their shells, hulls, or nuts themselves, I’d love to hear suggestions from people who have worked with them in different ways.

Perhaps there’s a way to incorporate them into crafts, home remedies, gardening, or even natural cleaning solutions.

I’m open to all ideas and would love to know how others are making the most of black walnuts!

[Patricia]

Sell on marketplace. They are expensive in the store and not near as fresh.

[Beckey]

You husk the shell by driving over 4-6 times

[Jacqueline]

Put a few out every day for the squirrels during the winter.

[Roxane]

My dad used to husk them, dry them out the crack and sell the black walnuts.

[Adria]

You can make a tincture out of them for parasite cleansing

[Christina]

Definitely sell. They’re expensive and the green hulls are used for medicinal purposes.

[Wendy]

Check with your states “Department of Forestry”, they may want to collect them for reforestation projects.

[Carissa]

Good luck. We tried last year. Had tons of black walnuts. But we did something wrong and they all tasted like paint thinner.

I think we didn’t get them clean enough? We moved so we aren’t trying this year but…. eesh.

It was a lot of work.

[Jamie]

They go great in choco chip cookies and on cake

[Susan]

I’m from Northern Indiana. The old property we owned (no longer own it) had 15 walnut trees on it plus the next door property was just land and was planted by the previous owner and was never joined with our property, he called in inheritance row..

there was 150 black walnut trees. It the next ten years they will be over 70 years old and ready to be cut if his grandchildren decide to do so.

It’s all in a trust sort of things passed down until one day they will be cut and sold for a pretty penny.

We use to clean up our walnuts and sell them. After we got older we let a boy scout troop come rake them up for funds for the troop.

We have something here through Purdue University that has an extention office and they had a list of people buying black walnuts, we always made a couple hundred dollars harvesting them.

Maybe call you DNR (Dept of Natural Resources) office and see if they know anyone.

[Cheryl]

What a treasure! Worth the time to dry, crack & sell the meats. $10-12 lb ziplock bag. Don’t know about shell value, but worth investigating if they are free to you.

[Anne]

About 50 years ago I watched my cousin make wooden frames then take the walnut casings and rub them into wood. She gave the frames as a gift to her parents.

They were beautiful and I still remember since I was about 10 years old.

[Victoria]

Suggestions on getting them out of their shells, without the black oil staining everything it touches. Hands. I have a huge tree, but avoid it’s fruit.

I know of it’s medicinal properties, etc…

[Zoe]

I vaguely remember that you can scrape the skin and rub it on your teeth to whiten them

[Carolyn]

You can make a tincture with the hulls. Very powerful medicine. Check out She is of the Woods on YouTube.

I would pay for some of the hulls.

I live in FL and don’t think I can find any locally.

[Laura]

Well, you can totally barter stuff you do use for them… suggestion: peel them and lay them out to dry… worth a bunch!

[Janet]

Google for instructions on natural remedies using plants/herbs.
The nuts are wonderful for use in baking but are not easy to pick out and they need to be aged a bit.

Friends used to give them to my mother in law but the buckets full of shed spread them on their gravel for vehicles to slowly rub off the outer hull which turns a dark brown black as they dry out.

After those hills was off and it had rained on them and washed them good she’d put in a shallow box to dry/age a few weeks then crack with a vice grip tool.

She used metal picks to get the not from the hard hull.

Very tedious task but her black walnut cakes with cream cheese frosting were wonderful holiday treats!!

My dad likes to chop them real fine and put in the divinity he’d make on a bright sunny day and that was best divinity ever!!!

[Bridget]

The tar stuff from the shell can be put on warts to remove them. Lots of medicinal benefits from tinctures.

[Author]

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