Making Pickled Walnuts - Part 1 - Picking, Pricking, Brining

I'm nearly out of pickled walnuts - time to start a new batch.
This video details part 1 of the process - picking and preparing the green walnuts.
A week from now, we'll look at part 2 (changing the brine) and a week after that, we will pack them in jars and pickle them.
If you can't wait to see the process, here's a link to the article I wrote 8 years ago when I made the last batch:
atomicshrimp.com/post/2010/07/...

[@louiealbrecht1088]

We used to use the juice for tie-dyeing - it was very colorfast!

[@starshot5172]

It stained my hands for 2 weeks

[@drpepper1132]

It's 11:30pm and im deathly allergic to walnuts, yet here i am! That's how you know you make good content.

[@veryGoodTV3]

I’ve never wanted a pickled walnut so bad in my life.

[@kristenranda3882]

me to

[@janethuxley4220]

Me three 🤪

[@VDR2612]

Me 4

[@Thegermansarecoming]

@psychah c'mon it's infused with THC bro.........

[@HoopleBogart]

Wobbledog Five.

[@MrsCheshiregal]

After seeing this video a while back I decided I had to try them. I ordered through a British Imports store and they really are delicious. Thank you for introducing them to us. I love all your videos as they are so entertaining.

[@terranceparsons5185]

Seriously, you pickle the whole walnut - including the shell! Never knew that, I assumed it was just the nut inside. Edit. Aha, you pickle them before they grow the shell. Now I understand. I thought the shells were softened by the pickling

[@snipper1ie]

My son's wife's people, in the South of France, make a liqueur from walnuts when they're at this stage. Never worry about the stain. A man after your own heart will say, "At the walnuts"? and you'll say, "Aye!, what are you making with yours"?. And a new friendship will be born. Much like seeing someone with purple stained mouth and fingers. "Ye were at the bilberries"! "AYE!" accompanied by the biggest bilberry stained smile.

[@AtomicShrimp]

I love that

[@chalkandrubble5702]

You know, I can't really explain how much I love this channel. It's so soothing and calming and interesting.

[@elizabethprior4968]

One of my favourite pickles - My favourite sandwich is corned beef and pickled walnut- best ever combination.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Elizabeth Prior I imagine that would be very good. I'm going to try it

[@mickymouse677]

@@AtomicShrimp well did you?

[@Gerald69420]

@@mickymouse677 I assume he was being sarcastic and so obviously didn''t try that you muppet!

[@Jojozilla426]

@@Gerald69420 I dont think it was sarcastic

[@Gerald69420]

@@Jojozilla426 Are you Autistic? It is clearly ironic.

[@UffUffsen]

the gentlemans olive

[@luisStarBreaker]

such a satisfying video to watch, every question i had about what you were doing or about the walnuts themselfs you answered immediately!

[@eccomi21]

tbh the looks alone remind me of a thousand year egg. but i wont judge a book by its cover. but if i read it and it still makes me gag... and im glad i read the description because i misunderstood 80 instead of 8

[@jeil5676]

Never heard of pickled walnuts but what I have seen and never tried is pickled milkweed pods. They pick em while still green and small. Also, spruce tips are a thing too. Just the green new branches of spruce pickled. It all sounds so interesting.

[@tomasbarrosgoncalves]

Your videos are so incredibly entertaining -- even making pickled walnuts seems interesting, love the variety! :)

[@shirleys5290]

All I know about pickled walnuts I learned from Graham Oakley's children's book "The Church Mice at Christmas". When the church mice received a hamper of Christmas goodies, they gorged on the good stuff, and all they gave the vicar was a tin of asparagus and a jar of pickled walnuts. We wondered, what the heck are pickled walnuts?? Thanks for answering that question. (My children are all grown now, but I have saved those books for my grandchildren, who love them as much as their parents did.)

[@MsBB37]

Wow did I just hear 8 years? This is amazing!

[@QwinnieLu56]

I picked some green walnuts today to give this a try - I've never eaten a pickled walnut before but was intrigued after seeing you eat them in one of your other videos. I did a solo bilberry challenge today and was quite chuffed when i got home to find the weight was roughly the same as yours and Jenny's combined haul. I didn't have any cornflour so substituted with custard powder and it seems to be okay... I'll taste it tomorrow. Thanks for the inspiration 🙏😊

[@miekekuppen9275]

As a kid I was a walnut-lover and a thumb-sucker. Which is why I know that even if you stain your hands intensely with sap from the green nuts because you can´t wait for them to be ripe soaking the skin long enough will clean it perfectly - at least if you soak it in spit...

[@efkay93]

I place the green walnuts into a 3 litre Ziploc plastic bag as I prick each one, which in turn is stood inside an old ice cream tub or similar for support. I add the brine then zip close the plastic bag. I also prick the walnuts over a ceramic plate. No plastic bowls or chopping board to chuck away due to indelible staining. A cut green walnut is ideal to cover scratches or water stains on dark coloured furniture.

[@rtorresfernandez]

I have tried pickled walnuts and they are quite amazing. Thanks for this recipe.

[@yamanmustafa7574]

Was in the middle of watching your latest video and though hey, I need to find a pickled walnut recipe. Low and behold, more Atomic Shrimp!

[@Noam-Bahar]

In Greece they make whole walnut fruit preserve. One of my most favorite things ever

[@DB-ouyebut]

I made some last year. They're delicious! Very lovely flavours. I made them with sherry vinegar, because I could not get malt vinegar in stores in Germany, so they turned out a little bit on the tart side, but never the less amazing. I will surely make some this year, too. I had ordered som malt vinegar on the internet already.

[@thesecretthirdthing]

you are an absolute well of information, thank you so much for sharing it with us

[@tauIrrydah]

I'm about to try making this for the first time! Last year we waited too long and the walnuts went hard so I made Nocino instead which is nice, but this year, the trees are prolific and I'm determined to lay in a batch.

[@missmaryhdream6560]

I do love pickled walnuts especially at Christmas with Turkey. Meats and cheese board.

[@compostjohn]

Walnut juice is an unusual dye in as much as it doesn't need a mordant, or something to 'fix' it, as you've found with your skin. Every autumn my little grafted walnut tree gives me over 1000 nuts, and my right thumb turns a dark brown. The nail is dyed as well, and the last stripe of colour on that is growing out at the end of January. I give my husks away using a local Natural Dyes And Weavers group on fb. This year my lovely neighbour cut off some overhanging branches and threw them back for me; with about 100 nuts on. So I have made pickles, and want to watch your Part 2 to see if I did it right. I made them once before and didn't like them, despite regularly making picked Nasturtiums and others. BUT that time I didn't follow a recipe, whereas this time, I think I did, to some extent.

[@srahhh]

I wonder if it's ever used as a hair dye, like henna!

[@nicolanewington1798]

I have two large walnut trees in my Canadian backyard and have never heard of pickled walnuts before. They sound tasty!

[@nicolanewington1798]

At this time of the year, the squirrels may have removed them all.

[@Tiger804]

Wish I could get them here,I really love pickled walnuts.

[@psychedelikchameleon]

I'm making some right now, thanks for the inspiration!

[@sarahbodelljones]

ive never heard of pickled walnuts! very intrigued, i have three black walnut trees on my property her in Missouri. might this in spring!

[@AtomicShrimp]

Some people have reported black walnuts don't take well to this preparation - I haven't tried, so can't say, but might be worth researching before you invest time and materials

[@djeurosham]

I know this video is old, but I seriously had to comment that I've learned so much from watching your videos. Seriously thank you! I live in Ohio, US, so there are walnut trees in every patch of forrest you can find. Though, I do think they're black walnuts, but I would love to try this with those.

[@KeruuKat]

Black walnuts arent good for pickling, heard they are gritty

[@brianartillery]

Prehistoric dyes were fixed with a 'mordant' - in most cases, human urine. I remember an episode of 'Time Team' where this was done.

[@moragmillar5164]

Ive never tried pickled walnuts but you make me hungry lol xx

[@Dunkelwald_]

It would never come across my mind to pickle a walnut. A WHOLE walnut. But I will watch how you do it :)

[@Befuggled]

Thanks very much for this helpful series of videos. I started to brine my first ever batch of green walnuts yesterday. I hope it is all right to tweet a link to your video on my Twitter page. Another video online created by someone else shows that the walnuts are pricked all over many more times than you do. Does this make any difference to the end product?

[@AtomicShrimp]

Hugh Sheridan I'd be completely delighted for you to share this video anywhere. Not sure about piercing more. Mine get 4 pokes from a 4 time fork, so 16 holes per nut. Seems to be enough. More holes might speed up the brining a bit I guess.

[@Befuggled]

Thanks for that. I have just reached the end of first week of brining and have changed the brine yesterday. Put a photo on Twitter after day 1 and also a link to your KZbin video. Although I have over 860 followers there were no likes so I guess this is a niche but much under-rated pursuit!

[@thesehandsart]

Me thinking ooooohhhhh that stains... wonder if it could be used as a natural dye? Five minutes later atomicshrimp is thinking the same!

[@monishacoelho7252]

Hi there, fab fab video. Thank you. I left mine in the brine for longer than a week second time around. Maybe 3-4 weeks as they still looked half green. Once removed and dried they looked the same as yours so I pickled as in video 3. Will it be ok? Thx

[@kristenranda3882]

i wonder if one can dye fabric with that juice

[@kerim.peardon5551]

I don't have any walnut trees around me (that I've found, anyway), but I have a metric ton of hickory trees. I would think that this would be possible with them as well (albeit they will be much smaller).

[@sgoredraw1455]

I’ve just pricked my walnuts ready to follow your recipe and it occurred to me that a lot of fruits seem to be extremely early this year so I should at least cut one walnut in half . I believe mine are slightly further along than what you have , and mine have a slightly yellowy shell forming . I can cut thru it , but it’s definitely tougher than the rest of the inner . Am I too late already to continue ??

[@cossythepoacher]

My dad loved these on a full English..

[@wheelzheelz1511]

Does anyone know if pecans can be substituted?

[@AtomicShrimp]

I would say almost certainly yes. If the unripe green nuts are fleshy and can be cut in half easily, they should pickle the same as walnuts

[@tricky2917]

Could you use the juice as dye?

[@gregjacobs8544]

Nice white chopping board you had there ;)

[@sallygregory5204]

I am currently trying this with my walnuts but have noticed mould starting to grow on the top surface during the pickling process. Do I need the throw the whole lot? Is it the temperature causing it?

[@AtomicShrimp]

It sound like maybe your vinegar wasn't strong enough. I would not eat them if mould is in the jar

[@KeruuKat]

it was most likely old vinegar that wasn't pasteurized enough. The acetobacter bacteria produce the acid in the vinegar but if the acid % gets too high they start to eat the acid and turn it into water. Eating the acetobacter shouldn't hurt (its good probiotics!) but the mold probably would not be good to eat. I know i'm a year late, but i hope this helps anyone else browsing the comments!

[@blorac9869]

Enjoyed! TYVM!

[@steveprint616]

Great video. Can I ask what month you picked the walnuts as I’ve just picked some but the shells have started to form so no good for pickling this year. I’m in Leicestershire

[@AtomicShrimp]

It was early June when I picked these, but that's in Southern England

[@BellaRainDrops]

Can you pickle other nuts Mike ? I'm very allergic to Walnuts and Pecans (its the papery husk) so would love to pickle a different nut !

[@m.b-ee8815]

I know this is an old video but could you tell me how the shop bought ones compare to these home produced ones. Just bought some Opie brand ones and i really like them. Am i right in thinking that now is the time to pick walnuts if i want to try it myself? Cheers.

[@AtomicShrimp]

If th e walnuts on the trees can still be cut in half easily and have no hard/sharp shell inside, they should be OK. Apparently not black walnuts though

[@cossythepoacher]

First two weeks of July..

[@peterallen8536]

Lovely series large batch on the go but ours are not fully black after second brining despite being left in the brine for 10 days. Advice?

[@AtomicShrimp]

They typically only turn fully black during the airing phase

[@Filbie]

I got so excited to make these with Eastern black walnut, but after a quick Google, apparently they're no good. 😞. Have to use either English or California walnuts.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, I thought they would work, but a lot of people are saying black walnuts make a gritty, unpleasant pickle. Shame

[@L1ttlef0ot]

I remember seeing a young walnut tree when I was a kid, and thinking the sap smelled like tea-tree oil. Is that a fair comparison?

[@AtomicShrimp]

It's very aromatic. I would say maybe more like patchouli

[@TakeWalker]

Saw you talking about this in your most recent video and had to wonder just what the heck it was. Now I know! Wonder if you can do this with black walnuts, we have tons of those in my yard.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Apparently black walnuts don't pickle very well, at least according to some

[@TakeWalker]

@@AtomicShrimp They're not that hot raw either, I'll tell ya.

[@yokeloeulci8001]

Walnut sap. The poor man's henna. How many times I've thought, nah, I don't need gloves...

[@ARTSIEBECCA]

The only walnuts I've ever seen in the wild are black walnuts because I live in north America. They are huge and have green shell that is bumpy.

[@HoaxManTheOne]

wtf i didnt know this was a thing. ty for the information

[@shazzzabanazz4789]

I luv pickle walnuts

[@Tzar-TZ]

i never know that pickled walnuts was a british food. i was first introduced to it in bulgaria so i assumed they were eastern European

[@frozenwolf6962]

Pickled walnut!! I ate one of these a while ago and got the biggest migraine ever :( weird reaction but I got other people to eat them and they got the headache as well. Weird that yours were so old and still good? Any idea why mine were bad? They were shop bought

[@AtomicShrimp]

Sounds like a food sensitivity or mild allergy maybe - not sure if the shop bought kind maybe contain additional preservatives such as sulphur dioxide or something. These things keep forever (and just get better the longer they are matured).

[@frozenwolf6962]

@@AtomicShrimp ooo okay thanks ill try them again some time soon and see if i am allergic to them pickled, i used to eat them roasted so i dont think im allergic to them normally but maybe it was, like you said, something additional to preserve them. thanks for the reply!

[@SilverShieldcollector]

What happens if you just put them straight into vinegar?

[@AtomicShrimp]

They would probably go bad

[@eriksharpe6929]

Does this apply to black walnuts or only to English walnuts?

[@AtomicShrimp]

I think some people have tried it with black walnuts and didn't like the result

[@MrsMelrom]

do remember to have a cloth ready for when the walnut juice squirts up to your face!

[@anidnmeno]

so, i've got a black walnut tree right behind me, would those be suitable? i really want to try this

[@AtomicShrimp]

A lot of people have told me black walnuts don't work for this

[@anidnmeno]

@@AtomicShrimp aww nuts: compatibility issues.. story of my life

[@MrIgorkap]

Do they smell anything like green black walnuts because that smell makes me gag.

[@Thegermansarecoming]

You actually got pickles older than my kids lol

[@michaelgreen1515]

Let me just talk about Pickled Walnuts for a moment... ours never last anything like that long. I Walnut tree only a year with a massive crop. And yes words cannot describe them bliss.

[@cakmacakma4213]

In Turkey some people make whole wallnut jam its a weird ingredient for me

[@WilburJaywright]

Now hang on, me and my brother made up pickled pecans as a joke. Are you saying people actually pickle nuts??? Wow!

[@carpetfire7862]

Does this work with black walnuts?

[@AtomicShrimp]

Not sure - I hear mixed reports - some people say it works, others say the result is gritty or unpleasant

[@carpetfire7862]

@@AtomicShrimp well I have a giant black walnut tree in my yard that kills all my grass and makes my backyard like walking on golf balls so I'd love to find a use for them.... Keep up the good work I love your channel and you open those cans any gd way you feel my man!

[@get6149]

Im going to have to make these but im going to have to find some one with a walnut tree

[@kevinmartin7760]

I take it these are "English" walnuts. Can you do the same with black walnuts? I don't see any reason why not...

[@AtomicShrimp]

People have reported that black walnuts don't work well with this pickling method

[@kevinmartin7760]

@@AtomicShrimp Yes, I later found a comment to that effect regarding poor texture. I wonder if harvesting earlier in the season might help. Black walnut has to start early on making that bomb-proof shell.

[@AtomicShrimp]

@@kevinmartin7760 Could be - I think people found that the thick pericarp just went sort of mealy and gritty. If there was a black walnut tree near me, I would probably try it - cutting one of the unripe nuts in half is a good way to judge the development of the shell - it should never be more than a sort of crisp, juicy layer inside

[@damiontorrez438]

What do they taste like apart from textural descriptions. Like an olive? Like a grapefruit? They smell like poison and look like rotten death.

[@AtomicShrimp]

They taste like Worcestershire sauce

[@shitmultiverse1404]

"We'll just look at one... of deez nuts"

[@saidchammas]

Watched the vegan blood saudage Mk II where you used these in the recipe. Then got recommended this

[@Bigreek100]

14 or 18 yrs? Wha!??

[@mallardkrampus]

It's like a vegan balut.

[@joshyboy82]

Wait, wait, wait: You're telling me the one thing I absolutely hate (the smell of the walnut oil juice) is the primary flavor of the pickle? I'm out. I was watching this the whole time thinking, "Better be worth it if he's ignoring the smells and stains." Turns out, you're doing neither, rather actually embracing it. I have no relationship to any of this at all, I am not the target demographic. They smell absolutely horrible and stain for weeks.

[@grbadalamenti]

One man's poison....

[@chalkandrubble5702]

I'm hungry

[@SkiesWRLD]

most brittish thing ive seen

[@dionlindsay2]

For Atomic's food eating videos I turn on subtitles and keep the sound off. I hate the sound of anyone, not just AS, chomping away too close to the mic, and talking as they do. The video's are still brilliant, and I can get his mellifluous tones on his non-eating vids :-)

[@jesterof84]

Looks like okra in its young state

[@stevegrasser5814]

American Black Walnuts, when they are ripe dye your skin black

[@vcat417]

wow. i threw so many of them as useless. NO MORE!