[Carrotcake]

Does anyone know how long walnuts will store for in their shells and the ideal conditions to store them in?

I dried some in the autumn and they have been stored in a cool, dry, light place but some of the nuts are rotten when I break the shell and I can't tell whether it is just too long since harvesting and they're past their best or they were rotten when picked.

Any advice from you experienced nutters, gratefully received.

[tode]

Hi, Carrotcake:   after collecting my walnuts, I always spread them out on the floor of the garage, and allow them to dry for 2 or 3 days.  If you store them directly from picking/collecting they do tend to go mouldy, which of course does somewhat
spoil the taste !

If you pick them off the tree, you may need to dry a little longer, as they will be greener.

Or biggest problem with storing is keeping the mice out 

[Carrotcake]

Thanks Tode

How long will they store for?

I'm tempted to crack and use them now in case they go off, but won't if they should be OK for a while yet.

[tode]

Not too sure, really . . .

Last year's walnuts are still OK,  but we try to make sure that they're all finished
before the new harvest.

They do tend to get a bit dry with prolonged storage, but maybe we keep em too dry.

[chrissie B]

over here some shops put the bags in the fridge .
chrissie b

[tode]

We tried freezing some (shelled) fresh walnuts last year, and they're not bad, although there is a bit of difference in taste.   Good for desserts etc, though.

We've still got quite a few walnuts left over, so we feed some to the squirrels (much to the amusement of our local neighbours     )