Salted Walnuts

The whole method here sits in another entry — this page only tells you how to get the meats out whole. What follows fills in the salted-almond procedure it points to, and the few details that matter for walnuts specifically.

• The cross-referenceSalted almonds of this period are generally blanched, tossed in a little melted butter or olive oil, and browned, in the oven or in a pan, then salted while hot. Walnuts need no blanching, so the recipe presumably begins at the butter or oil.
• Oven and timeThe recipe gives no temperature or timing; by modern practice, a moderate oven of about 350F for 8 to 12 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice. Walnut meats carry a good deal of oil of their own and go from toasted to acrid faster than almonds do; pull them when they smell nutty and look one shade darker.
• Which walnut"Walnuts" in a 1906 American book means English (Persian) walnuts, sold in shell in autumn. Black walnuts are stronger and far harder to extract in halves; they will taste quite different here.
• Cracking for whole halvesStand the nut on end and strike the seam, or use a nutcracker across the pointed axis rather than the width. Twenty-four nuts in shell yield roughly 1 to 1 1/4 cups of meats — a small serving bowl.
• SaltUse a fine salt so it clings, and salt the nuts hot from the oven while the fat is still liquid. Coarse flake salt slides off once they cool.
• The papery skinThe meats can be scalded with boiling water and the skins rubbed off to reduce bitterness. It is optional and it costs you some whole halves; the toasting mellows the skin considerably on its own.
• KeepingCool completely on paper, then store airtight. Toasted walnuts hold a week or so at room temperature and rather longer in the freezer; their oil turns rancid sooner than almond oil does.