Shelling nuts.

21 years ago

As I understand it, an essential essence of permaculture is permanent plantings such as nut trees. When living off your own land, it's hard to beat nuts, particularly if one is inclined to be a vegetarian, as I am. Nuts, with around 50% fat are great for calories. I think I once calculated that one would have to eat a lug box of veggies, about 40 pounds, every day to get enough calories!

Now, along with my flowers [I'm a market gardener and usually post on that forum] I've got 3 great almond trees, good producers in spite of thier age. But shelling by hand yields about a pound per hour and I've decided it's better to spend my time growing flowers and buying the nuts from another vendor at the market. [Madera, CA is just about the almond capitol of the USA.] But this would all change if a good, low cost machine were available for shelling the nuts.

Anyone know of one or perhaps a way to significantly speed up hand shelling?

Thanks . . . John

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Comments (10)

Fireraven9
21 years ago
There are expensive commercial machines for shelling nuts, but for home use It would be best to do it by hand or with an old fashioned nut cracker that allows control over how much pressure is put on the nut. Some will be broken anyway but you can just chop those for use in food that requires the nuts chopped. Store them whole for longer shelf life though.

Lee AKA Fireraven9
Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso. (Ideas should be clear and chocolate thick.)
--Spanish proverb
Belgianpup
21 years ago
I've never actually seen their catalog, but you might look for Lehman's catalog, costing $4-5. These are the folks that serve the Amish community. Most of their stuff is hand-powered.

Couldn't find them in a quick search, but they may not be on-line.
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Fireraven9
21 years ago
I have them bookmarked and I never thought of looking there. They have one that looks good ... do a search on their site with the keyword "nutcracker."

Lee AKA Fireraven9
In the comforting shock of this monotone drum,
Someone hastily nails a coffin somewhere.
For whom?ÂYesterday was summer; here is autumn!
This mysterious noise seems the sound of departure.
- Charles Baudelaire, Song of Autumn

Here is a link that might be useful: Lehman's
jessiecarole
21 years ago
what is nicer than cracking nuts on a winters evening?

small joys of living are part of the permaculture philosophy
kathcart
20 years ago
Got Hickory Nuts? Here's Kenuche, a Cherokee Hickory Soup Recipe that solves the hand-picking problem.
With a clean towel in a basket or big pot, use a smaller rock to crush nuts on a larger rock. The basket or pot catches the flying pieces. After you have a bunch, pick out the obvious big shell pieces. Pulverise the rest of the shells and meats until this is a crumbly and fine texture. You might want to sift this in a flour sifter, but I just squeeze it all together to form a baseball or tennis sized ball, which can be freezed in aluminum foil. When you are ready to serve it, pour about 3 cups of boiling water over the kenuche ball. Dissovle the hickory nut butter completely, and then add more water to thin it to your preference, warming it on low. As you stir and let it settle, the shell pieces will go to the bottom. (Strain that by pouring your soup into a different pot, thru a course sieve, or just don't serve the last bottom dregs.) Hickory nut soup is called Kenuche and it can be seasonsed with salt and served thick or thin. I like it thin with rice in it. It is very protien and fat rich. Some folks like to add a bit of sugar and serve it as a drink, alternatively. Testimony... Your squirrels will not be happy if you try this, because it is one of the best indigenous foods of the woods, and you'll want more!
lucky_p
20 years ago
Pecans and English/Persian/Carpathian walnuts don't really pose much of a problem so far as cracking is concerned. Black walnuts and most hickories, however, need a good hard-shell nut cracker. You can find a number of different ones with links at the NNGA Marketplace page on the NNGA website, linked below.
Most shagbark nuts, I can crack with a little Reed's Rocket piston-type pecan cracker - if I soak them in hot/warm water for at least an hour before a session of cracking.

Soaking thick, hard-shelled nuts prior to cracking allows the shell to bend, buckle, and split, rather than 'exploding' into multiple pieces when you reach 'critical pressure'- translating into a much higher % of intact kernels, halves & quarters.
lucky_p
20 years ago
Oops. Forgot to link that site

Here is a link that might be useful: NNGA
Belgianpup
20 years ago
I don't remember what kind of nut she was cracking, but one woman said she swept her concrete garage floor, spread out her nuts, covered them with a sheet of sturdy plywood, then drove the car over them several times.

Never tried it, myself.

Sue
Richard_inNM
20 years ago
I remember meeting Bill Mollison for the first time when he visited Tagari Farm and I was quite impressed with his ability to crack walnuts with the palms of his hands, but then there were several guys all sitting around the table on the verandah being a bit macho: I bet usually he would just use a nutcracker.
locust
19 years ago
Chestnuts are easy to crack and make splendid canopy trees. They are my favorite tasting nut as well.