Walnuts are hard nuts to crack and once cracked difficult to store as walnuts. Walnuts are high in polyunsaturated fats and once exposed to humidity, heat and light they perish faster. I am jotting down a couple of tips for the storage of walnuts.
Walnuts stay in their shells for six months and one year if stored in a cool, dry and dark place. The longer the unshelled walnuts are kept in a refrigerator the longer will be their shelf life. The walnuts should be shelled by placing the walnuts in a nutcracker at right angles to the shell’s seam and then cracked.
The shelled walnuts should be kept in an airtight container and should be placed in a dark, cool and dry place. The shelled walnuts can stay for six months if kept in a refrigerator and for a year if kept in a freezer.
To chop walnuts into large pieces crush the nutmeats with hand and for small pieces use a good-sized chef’s knife on a large cutting board, it can also be chopped using curved chopper in a wooden bowl or a mechanical nut chopper. If walnuts are chopped in a food processor, they should be kept at room temperature or the natural oils will turn them into butter.
To blanch walnuts you need to add shelled nuts into boiling water, the pot should be taken off the heat and should be allowed to stand for two minutes. Walnuts are also blanched for reducing the flavor of walnuts and they are blanched to peel the skin of the walnuts.
The walnuts are roasted by placing the nuts on a cookie tray and baking them at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 7 to 10 minutes, they can be roasted in the microwave for 90 seconds at 100 percent power and then they are stirred and cooked for another 90 seconds. The roasted walnuts can be easily peeled by rubbing the nuts on a coarse cloth or brown paper.
Walnuts if stored and used properly can be used as a topping or as a main ingredient in a variety of meals. They can be pulverized in a food processor to make butter, topped on salads, desserts, soups or pastas, cakes or made into chutney.
