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If you’re hiking in the woods, and you come upon what looks, at first, like a tennis ball, look more closely, because you may have found one of my favorite wild edibles: black walnuts!

Black Walnuts are a delicious relative of the English Walnut, which is the kind we buy in the store. The Black Walnut has a distinctive taste, however, that sets it apart.

Collect them when they are on the ground, still green, and hull them immediately. We take the green hull off by stepping on it, and pressing our foot down. The hull is easy to remove, but it’s best to be wearing gloves because the yellow stain you see will turn black and will stain your fingers!

Then let the nut dry - I just lay them out, but inside the house so the squirrels don’t get them! They will turn black because of the dye, but once it dries it won’t stain your fingers anymore.

The green hulls can be collected, too. They are used as a remedy against parasites. You can tincture them by covering them in a jar with alcohol such as 100 proof vodka for 6 weeks. The liquid will turn black. It is usually taken with wormwood tincture and cloves tincture to destroy parasites. (Wormwood can be dangerous taken internally, so be careful and follow the suggested dosages on the bottle.) Please talk to a health care practitioner or visit a local health food store for more info!

Below is a picture taken looking up at a Black Walnut Tree. You can still see some walnuts growing in the branches, and can get a good look at the leaves.

In this recent post, you can watch a video I made last year about how to crack open the walnuts once they are dry. We use a hammer or a rock, with the nut on concrete. They are not easy to get into!

Enjoy!

~ Melissa Sokulski, L.Ac.

Food Under Foot
(and Birch Center for Health)

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If you are in the Pittsburgh area and interested in raw foods as well as wild edible plants, please join us in Schenely park this Sunday, October 4 at noon (the Steeler game is not until 8:20 pm this Sunday, so you won’t miss a thing!)

This event is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Raw Food Meetup Group, so if you’d like to attend (it’s a free event), please join the meetup group (there is no charge to join) and RSVP on the meetup invitation page. This way you will be contacted if there are any last minute changes (weather!), and given the full information about the whereabouts and who to contact with questions. We hope to see you there!!!

If you are new to raw foods: this is a potluck, so please bring a dish containing only raw (uncooked) fruits and veggies…a simple fruit salad is always welcome (no canned fruit, though, only fresh.) If you are feeling adventurous, check out some of the many raw recipes on sites like www.goneraw.com or the wonderful recipe page of the All Raw Directory. If you are really inspired, you may want to check out some of the raw “cook” books we recommend in the raw food section of our bookstore.

Here is a simple recipe I am preparing tonight:

Garden Fresh Tomato Salad

5 Garden Tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed (or finely chopped)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or you can use fresh thyme or oregano)

Mix all ingredients together well and serve…delicious!

Hope to see you soon!

~ Melissa

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Autumn is here! And with it come two of my favorite wild edibles: Black Walnuts and Paw Paws! We were lucky enough to find both yesterday (and me without my camera!), but I’ll get some pictures and post them as soon as possible. (Below are some pictures of the paw paws we found last year.)

For now, please enjoy the video below from last year, which shows Ella and me cracking (and eating) black walnuts. The walnuts in the video have already been hulled (they have green hulls, when you find them on the ground, they really look like tennis balls at first glance) and dried.

To hull them, step on the walnut with your foot (wear shoes!) and then take the walnut out. You’ll want to wear gloves! The yellow stain will turn black and will stain your hands and anything else you get it on. (We’ll post pics of how to do this.)

Sometimes you’ll find worms under the hull, I usually discard these walnuts! Also, get the hulls off when they are still green - they’ll turn black eventually and give the walnuts a bitter taste.

Then, just set them out to dry, but don’t leave them outside or the squirrels will make off with your stash!

When they’re ready, you’ll have to crack into them and eat them, and that is what you’ll see below.

Enjoy!