Quick Scoop

Black walnuts are best used once you’ve cracked, cleaned, and cured them, then they can be eaten, baked into desserts, or turned into savory toppings like pesto and gremolata. They also have non-food uses, including natural dye, stain, and some traditional home remedies, but food uses are the safest and most practical starting point.

What to do with them

  • Eat the nutmeat. Black walnuts have a bold, earthy flavor and can replace English walnuts in most recipes.
  • Toast them lightly. Toasting brings out more aroma and flavor before adding them to recipes.
  • Bake with them. Try them in banana bread, cookies, pie, muffins, or cake.
  • Use them in savory dishes. They work well in pesto, gremolata, salad toppings, and grain dishes.
  • Freeze extra shelled nuts. That helps keep them fresh longer after processing.

If you harvested them yourself

Black walnuts have a very hard shell, so cracking them can take effort; some people use specialty nutcrackers or wire cutters. After shelling, drying and curing the nuts improves storage and makes them easier to use later.

Other uses

The green hulls can be used for natural dye, ink, or wood stain, and the hull extract is also used in some traditional topical remedies. Some guides also mention crafts and decorative projects using shells or hulls.

Easy starter idea

If you want the simplest first use, chop and toast the kernels, then sprinkle them over yogurt, oatmeal, salad, or banana bread.

If you want, I can also give you:

  1. a simple black walnut cracking and curing guide , or
  2. 5 beginner recipes that use black walnuts.