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Home » pickles » Pickled Walnuts

Pickled Walnuts

By Hank Shaw on June 30, 2014, Updated October 29, 2020 - 208 Comments

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4.88 from 16 votes
pickled walnuts recipe
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finished pickled walnuts recipe
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

There may be a few foods that are more English than pickled walnuts, but with the possible exception of fish and chips, I can’t think of one. Chances are, however, you’ve never heard of them. I hadn’t, until several years ago when I ordered the meat-and-cheese plate at a local Irish place called deVere’s.

On this place was a black disk. I asked the waitress what on earth it was, and she smiled; she’d had this question before: “It’s a pickled walnut. It’s good with the cheddar.”

I followed her advice and stabbed the disk with my fork, adding a bit of cheddar cheese and a bit of cold roast beef to round things out. Wow. It was a bit like eating solid steak sauce, with a little floral aroma and a zephyr of bitterness that just barely let you notice it.

I ate another disk all by itself: Fairly soft, puckery and strangely floral. And yes, there was definitely a Worcestershire-Heinz 57-A1-thing going on here. How had I never had these before?

Turns out that very, very few people outside of Britain eat them. This should change, which is why I am presenting you with this recipe. And the reason I am posting this now is because you need to get out and get your walnuts now. That’s right, you need green, unripe walnuts to make pickles. And yes, you use the whole thing, hull and all.

unripe, green walnuts in a bowl
Photo by Hank Shaw

I got mine a few weeks ago, after an unsuccessful fishing trip with my friend Joe. We were in the Delta and as we were driving out, I noticed a NorCal black walnut (Juglans hindsii) absolutely laden down with nuts. “Pull over!” Joe, used to this by now, did. I gathered about 150 nuts in less than 15 minutes. It was a bonanza.

I knew I was in business right when I got to the tree, but just to be sure I pulled out my pocketknife and sliced an unripe nut in half. You need to do this, either with a knife or a stout needle or a long nail, because you have to catch the unripe walnuts before the shell forms. Once that shell forms inside the walnut’s hull, you’re too late; the traditional harvest date in England is late June.

The process for pickled walnuts is not hard at all, but it takes more than a week. You need to brine the green walnuts for a good long time before they will be ready to pickle properly. The brine time helps with preservation and removes some of the bitterness in the unripe walnuts. Once brine pickled, they are pretty durable.

Do you need to sun-blacken the walnuts? No, but doing so gives you a nice, uniform look to them. Otherwise they will be olive green in some places, blotchy black in others.

closeup of finished pickled walnuts
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Once you have your pickled walnuts, what do you do with them? Look to the English. Traditionally they are part of a ploughman’s lunch, with other pickles, cheese and cold meats. But I see them a lot tossed into beef or lamb stews (pot pies and pasties, too!) in wintertime, and in summertime I’ve seen them served in cool salads alongside tomatoes, and accompanying shellfish such as scallops or shrimp.

pickled walnuts recipe
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4.88 from 16 votes

Pickled Walnuts

Any walnuts will work with this recipe, from tiny native Arizona walnuts to big, fat English walnuts, which are the kind you buy in stores. But you do need them hull and all, so this only works if you have a tree nearby. The pickling liquid in my recipe is very traditional; you'll see variations on it throughout England. I've also made a Chinese-inspired version with Sichuan peppercorns and star anise replacing the allspice. This recipe makes about 3 quarts.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time0 mins
Total Time30 mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: British
Servings: 25
Calories: 49kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

  • About 50 to 60 green, unripe walnuts
  • 1/2 cup kosher salt
  • 1/2 gallon water
  • 2 quarts cider or malt vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon cracked allspice berries
  • 1 ounce ginger, about 1 1/2-inch pieces, smashed
  • 1 cup brown sugar

Instructions

  • Dissolve the salt in the water to make a brine. Put on some rubber gloves if you have them, because walnut juice will stain your hands for weeks -- and it won't come off. Trust me on this one. Properly gloved, stab each walnut with a fork in several places; this helps the brine penetrate. Submerge the walnuts in the brine and let them ferment for 8 days at room temperature.
  • Remove the walnuts and put them on a baking sheet and leave them outside in the sun for a day, until they turn uniformly black. You can do this step without gloves if you want.
  • Pack the walnuts into quart jars. Bring the remaining ingredients to a boil and pour over the walnuts. Leave very little headspace in the jars. Seal and keep in a cool place, either the fridge or a basement -- you just want them to rest below 70°F -- for at least a month before you eat them. Kept this way they will last a year.

Notes

Note that prep time does not include fermenting time. 

Nutrition

Calories: 49kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 2272mg | Potassium: 24mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg
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Filed Under: Appetizers and Snacks, Featured, Foraging, Northern European, pickles, Recipe

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatar for Colin HillsColin Hills says

    December 15, 2021 at 8:08 am

    Thanks so much for your recipe, at long last I will do it the right way! Well, you’ll have a good laugh, we live on the Mosel in Germany and when our family in England visit I ask them to to bring pickled walnuts. This year with Covid we had no visitors so I decide to make my own. We are surrounded with walnut trees and people come from miles around, even people from Holland.
    I used some walnuts in their shells (first mistake!) and bottled them in vinegar together the vinegar from the jar we had just finished.
    I put the jar in a dark cupboard and today, 4 months later, opened the jar! They looked just as fresh as when I bottled them!!! Now, thanks to your information, I will collect them next season complete outer husk and follow your lead!

    Reply
  2. Avatar for marg Bushmarg Bush says

    October 4, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    I am an expat Brit living in Canada and I just love pickled walnuts. I think it is too late now but I have a large bin full of walnuts from our walnut tree. When would I start this wonderful recipe next year.? We live in Southern Ontario.Canada.
    Thank you
    Marg Bush

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 4, 2021 at 12:46 pm

      Marg: Probably late May to June. You do it with green, unripe walnuts.

      Reply
  3. Avatar for Johnson MikeJohnson Mike says

    July 25, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    I picked the black walnut in mid-may. I put cut the end off a pricked each nut. I put them in a salt brine for one week , drained the brine and repeat for another week. I put them on a sheet pan to dry . Once dried I put them in jars and poured the pickling brine in. I put them in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. I tried one today, they were not soft and a little hard. What went wrong???

    Reply
    • Avatar for Tracey SharpTracey Sharp says

      August 29, 2021 at 9:53 am

      3 weeks is optimistic. We pickle in July so they are ready to eat at Christmas. Give them more time.

      Reply
  4. Avatar for Sheila BSheila B says

    July 21, 2021 at 1:27 pm

    Thanks for this recipe. I’m done soaking them in the brine and they are drying in the sun. Nice and black, but pretty hard. Will they soften up once I put them in jars with the pickling spice? They were at the right stage when I picked them I think (shell not formed).

    Reply
  5. Avatar for JeanieJeanie says

    July 21, 2021 at 9:31 am

    I live in Germany and am on a caravan holiday in Bavaria. I’ve been allowed to pick 16 young walnuts from trees at the campsite.
    So I’ll be trying out your recipe.
    Pickled walnuts are also a speciality of the Rhineland Palatinates – so not an exclusive British tasty morsel.

    As I can’t get malt vinegar in Germany I will either use Italian balsamic or maybe a local southern German cider vinegar.
    Hope it works. I’ll let you know.

    Reply
    • Avatar for SonjaSonja says

      July 24, 2021 at 11:02 pm

      You can get malt vinegar from amazon

      Reply
    • Avatar for andrew richardsandrew richards says

      August 2, 2021 at 10:58 am

      balsamic vinegar would overpower them ,i would use cider vinager

      Reply
  6. Avatar for TaylorTaylor says

    July 17, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    Hey! Should I refresh the pickling liquid? Thank you!

    Reply
  7. Avatar for Deb SteadyDeb Steady says

    July 17, 2021 at 2:56 pm

    I arrived home after a heavy rain to branches in the road and on the lawn
    as well as lemon sized black walnuts dotting my lawn in Virginia.
    Are they too overgrown for this recipe? I’m fascinated they can be pickled
    but wondered a couple of things.
    The nutrition says: 9 Carbs and 2272 Sodium. (gasp!)
    Is that for one walnut only? ….. (without consuming the pickling juices).

    They await in a bowl.

    Thank you for creating this culinary dimension,
    Deb

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      July 20, 2021 at 10:58 am

      Deb: That’s for the whole batch. The online nutrition calculators are wonky. As for ripeness, they are OK if you can easily slice them in half. If they are crunchy in the center, i.e., the shell is forming, it’s too late.

      Reply
  8. Avatar for Hanna GallantHanna Gallant says

    July 8, 2021 at 7:13 am

    I’ve had the the black walnuts which were picked the 3rd week in June. They’ve been in a brine for 2 weeks, changed the brine twice. I’m ready to pickle them but I thought they might be softer and blacker after 2 weeks. Are they ready to pickle?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      July 8, 2021 at 8:01 am

      Hanna: They turn black with exposure to air.

      Reply
  9. Avatar for FrankFrank says

    June 21, 2021 at 10:53 am

    The time is now!!!

    I will try both juglans nigra and juglans regia versions, but was wondering if anyone had any experience woth the former?

    Also, pick more and make nocino!

    Reply
    • Avatar for JaneJane says

      July 24, 2021 at 10:03 pm

      Frank, I picked walnuts today for Nocino, found this recipe for pickled & will be going back tmrw for more walnuts! ?
      Am in the NW & they seem to be ready later than, say, California & other warmer climates.
      Hank, thanks for posting recipe!

      Reply
    • Avatar for Frank BeckaeredFrank Beckaered says

      September 5, 2021 at 10:25 am

      So, September 5th. Trying the first of the pickled walnuts (juglans regia) on a sandwich with cheese. Tastes pickled with very little to go on in terms of walnut taste or some ‘umami’ taste which I would’ve expected with the article describing it as “like eating solid steaks sauce”. First off, I don’t put any vinegar in steak sauce!
      The nut fell completely apart, impossible to get it out of the jar in one piece using a fork. It was almost possible to spread it out, like olive ‘tapenade’.

      Overall not bad, but it has very little to offer taste-wise. The acidity and the spices are overpowering any specific walnut related smell/taste.

      Reply
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Hank Shaw holding a rod and reel in the American River

Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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