NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: https://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1542285
36 Nebraskaland • December 2025 through the shell and alter the nut's flavor. She removes the husks as soon as the nuts fall, while still green. Her method is simple: Put on old rubber-soled shoes, roll each walnut underfoot on a flat rock or concrete and then remove the husks by hand. Wear gloves, as the husks' juices will stain your hands a lasting, ghoulish green-black. After husking, she allows the nuts to dry and cure for about a month before cracking. For those who want to skip the work, shelled black walnuts are available online at a reasonable price. The taste of black walnuts is not for everyone, as they have a stronger flavor than the mild, store-bought English walnuts. Young finds they pair well with baked squash and yams, fresh or cooked fruit and yogurt-based salad dressings. Her book includes recipes for black walnut caramels, fudge, toffee, bread pudding and cookies, all fitting autumn and holiday treats. The Beauty of Walnut Wood As early as 1610, colonists were shipping walnut logs from Virginia to England to be made into solid-wood furniture, which was often painted. Like the English, early Americans had little appreciation for walnut's fine wood. They felled trees for more practical uses: fence posts, railroad ties and firewood. By the mid-1800s, when furniture styles improved and walnut was finally valued for its fine grain and rich color, lumber-grade trees had already become uncommon in settled regions of the country. During World Wars I and II, demand for walnut wood surged because the wood is strong, shock- and warp-resistant and easy to work with. Walnut was used to produce millions of rifle stocks, propeller hubs and other precision parts for the war efforts. Government workers went door to door in rural areas of the Midwest, including Nebraska, to locate and harvest trees. They struggled to find enough, and during World War II buyers roamed as far west as the Little Blue River and Sandy Creek valleys in south-central Nebraska, far beyond walnut's prime range in the state. By the end of that war, harvestable walnut had become even scarcer, prompting foresters to encourage landowners to plant walnut groves for future harvest and as an investment for their grandchildren. Steve Karloff, a Nebraska Forest Service district forester based in Omaha, said Nebraska's oldest planted walnut groves now have trees with trunks 16 to 18 inches wide and are not yet ready for harvest. Unfortunately, many groves were planted in poor locations, such as dry uplands or worn- out farm fields, resulting in exceptionally slow growth. He explained that Nebraska's finest black walnuts for harvest grow in native forests on stream terraces along the eastern edge of the state, where rainfall is highest and soils are moist but well-drained. Competing fiercely with other A cut trunk displays the walnut's rich, dark heartwood, highly valued by woodworkers, along with the whitish sapwood and rough outer bark.