Pickled walnuts

I think anyone who tried them must give us their opinion eat,compost, give to a PITA foodie .

 

There are 8 or so walnut trees nearby us that have definately been planted by squirrels over the last 10 years, probably 300 meters from the original tree. bizzare! they go so far with such big nuts then forget about them

 

We have acorns and conkers germinating in our garden. I think I might have seen an oak tree a hundred yards or so away but haven't seen a chestnut tree - and they're hard to miss!

 

I've noticed at least 2 walnut saplings this year, others planted by our furry friends are mostly Hazel.

 

There's an old walnut I pass daily in the fields where I walk with my pooch.
At the moment it is laden with green walnuts, but I know one day soon when I pass it they will all have disappeared overnight - it must be a very busy night for the squirrels!

 

What is the recipe @On the Levels.

 

@pete As this is the first time of pickling walnuts we thought it was better to follow a recipe (I usually make recipes up depending on what I have in the larder!).
So we are following
How to make pickled walnuts - Discover Wildlife
but we are using cider vinegar which we bought from a local cider producer, it is still "good" vinegar.

 

Interesting, but sounds a bit complicated.

 

But @pete we are all ready to try something different in the gardening world. We may not succeed but we are giving it ago and yes it is complicated.

 

5 days in brine and then taken out and fresh brine for next 5 days.

 

So how strong is the Brine?
I'm still contemplating.
Slightly off topic but picked all the bitter orange today as I decided they were sapping all the strength from the plant it has had little flower this year with this lot hanging on.
Just need someone who likes to make marmalade.

 

@pete 500g in 2.25litres of water for the brine.
Off topic as well, we have a Japanese bitter orange shrub/tree. The flowers in the Spring are brilliant with a great fragrance. The fruit though is very small so have never done anything with them.

 

Thats a lot of salt, do you have to boil the water to get it to dissolve.

I had a Poncirus trifoliata some years ago and I cant imagine the fruit has any real use, mine are basically Seville orange I think.

 

@pete yes we did boil the water otherwise the solution would be saturated if just cold and not all the salt would dissolve. Then we allowed it to cool down before we put the walnuts in.

 

I picked some walnuts on my walk this morning, didn't have a bag so ended up filling my pockets, might get a few more tomorrow.
Bought a bag of salt this morning.