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Pickled Walnuts
Scald the walnuts, which must be used for pickling before they have a hard shell. This scalding will enable you easily to rub off the skin. Put them into a brine of salt and water strong enough to float an egg. Let them stand three days, then shift them into fresh brine, and let them soak three days longer. Now shift them once more into fresh brine, and let them soak four days. They are then fit for the jar. Have ready prepared equal parts of black pepper, Jamaica pepper, allspice, and ginger; a quarter of a pint of cloves, the same quantity of mace, and a pint and a half of white mustard-seed. Beat these ingredients together in a mortar, but do not pound them fine. Put the walnuts into the jar by layers, and over each layer strew some of the mixed seasoning. Then have ready some vinegar boiled with sliced horseradish and ginger, and cover the walnuts with it. When quite cold, cork and bladder the jar. This pickle is much improved by the addition of a little garlic and tarragon boiled with the vinegar.
A classic English green-walnut pickle, scaled for a household that put up gallons at a time. The whole thing hinges on catching the nuts at the right moment and on committing to the ten days of brine.
- Green walnuts, and only greenThe walnuts must be picked while the shell inside is still soft enough for a pin or skewer to pass right through, usually late June to mid-July in the northern hemisphere. Once the shell has set, no amount of brining or vinegar will make them edible.
- They will stain everythingGreen walnut hulls are loaded with juglone, which turns skin, cloth and worktops a deep brown that does not wash out. Wear gloves for the scalding, rubbing and packing.
- Brine strong enough to float an eggThat is a strongly salted brine, on the order of 10 oz of salt per gallon of water. Use non-iodised salt; the successive brines over the ten days are what draw out the bitter tannin, and skipping one leaves the nuts harsh.
- Between brine and jarMany old receipts drain the nuts and leave them spread on trays in the air for a day or two until they blacken before packing. The recipe omits this step, though the nuts will darken in any case.
- Jamaica pepper is allspiceThe list names both, which is the same spice twice over. Use black peppercorns, allspice berries and dried ginger in equal measure and ignore the duplication.
- The spice quantities are for a crockA quarter of a pint each of cloves and mace is about half a cup by volume, and a pint and a half of mustard seed is three cups. That suits several gallons of walnuts; for a few jars, scale the whole seasoning mixture down proportionally. Cracking the spices coarsely in a mortar, as directed, keeps the vinegar clear.
- Vinegar strengthUse a vinegar labelled 5 percent acidity, malt or cider for preference, and bring it to a boil with the horseradish, ginger and the optional garlic and tarragon before pouring it over. The nuts must stay fully submerged.
- "Cork and bladder the jar"Bladder means sealing the mouth with a wetted animal bladder or, later, oiled parchment tied down. Use glass jars with plastic or coated lids instead, since bare metal corrodes in vinegar, and keep them in the refrigerator or a cold larder rather than treating this as a shelf-stable canned product.
- WaitPickled walnuts are not ready when the vinegar cools. Give them at least two months, and they are better at six, by which time the nuts are soft to the knife and dark all through.