Alright.  Some of you experts will know this.  I buy these walnuts and pecans from my local grocery store.  It's "Eileen's" brand.  They don't add anything, but they're not organic.  Which isn't what my question is about.

I've been struggling with germaphobia lately to a degree.  Well, I'm basically just questioning a lot of things I've taken for granted.  Which on some hand is good and some hand it's bad.  But regardless here's the questions:'

On the bottom of pecan halves, there is a dark spot, whereas the rest is a medium brown.  But there is a very dark spot on many of them.  It looks like where the nut meat meats the hull or outer shell and that the hull has left an almost black mark or spot.  But I'm like "Is that mould???".  Because some have it and some don't.  

And the same is kind of true of walnut halves.  Many of them have that sort of skin that is around the meat of the nut, on the top crinkly part, and sometimes it's black and sometimes it's not.  And I'm like "Is that MOULD!!!????".  

What say you all?

Were the nuts roasted or dried in anyway? (as far as you can tell from the package)

They're just "Pecans".  

I've always thought of it as kind of an umbilical cord where the meat connects to the shell. Sometime it all comes off and sometimes it don't.  I don't believe it's mold.

Yeah, that's probably what it is.  But sometimes it's dark and sometimes it's not.  For some reason that's whigging me out.  

I think what you are seeing is just the normal skin on the nut meat, which varies from nut to nut - as food products do...  Variation is perfectly normal in agricultural products - as in almost every other aspect of nature.

Another thing to consider is that most mold has a fuzzy appearance or will wipe away or be disturbed if touched.  Is this the case with the dark spots on the nutmeats?

I don't think that is the case.  I'll check next time I get some out.

On the other hand, stale nuts can become rancid, so buy the freshest nuts you can find.

Yeah, I think they're pretty fresh.  I don't know for sure though, I'll see if there is a date and such.

JJ I grew up in a neighborhood that had a lot of producing pecan trees. And I am a Manager for a local Famers Market here. When I was a kid all I had to do was watch for whitish crumbly stuff on the inside of the nut; that meant it was rotten and that a hole was in the shell that let germs and moisture in. If you see a dark spot on the meat of the nut , break it off.if one part of the nut is  shrunken and withered, just chuck the offending half and eat the healthy half. It's just a genetic blooper. And if you are cracking the pecans on your own.....pick out the little channels of bittersweet tannins in the nuts.

Alright, so, I've eaten walnuts for a long time.  And I know they're good for you.  I would always soak them and dehydrate them.  Well, I've been questioning lately if it's really necessary to soak them.  If it helps.  Or any of the nuts for that matter.  If it really makes a difference in the phytates or antinutrients.  Do I really want to set something out on the counter all day in room temperature.  Is that a breeding ground for bacteria.  Etc etc.  So, I've been eating nuts lately that aren't soaked.  Pecans and almonds taste just fine without soaking and dehydrating.  Although I admit that pecans taste really really good after soaking and low roasting.  

So anyways, it leads me to my question, I ate some walnuts yesterday just raw and I have to say, they taste pretty awful.  They're so bitter and to be honest, I really don't think my stomach liked them.  Although it might have been the combination I ate them with.  Pineapple.  But that's another matter.   I'm trying not to mentally claim a food making me feel bad, but I do think there was something that didn't sit right about them this way.  

So...  Who hear will eat walnuts raw, like them, etc.  Or, do you have any other methods that help get rid of that awful bittery taste.  I have heard you can just roast them without soaking.  I wonder if that would do anything to it.  Or toasting them in a frying pan.  I've seen this done too.  

What do you all think?  Raw, toasted, roasted, soaked and roasted?  What do you like, what works for you????

Thank you in advance for any opinions and input.

This website here says walnuts that are bitter are rancid.  Hmmmmm....  This was a fresh pack I bought.


http://www.dietobio.com/aliments/en/walnuts.html

And a few others are saying the same thing.  I guess mine are bad.  I just bought them.  I don't know if I've ever tasted a raw walnut that wasn't bitter though.  Hmmmmm...

You may have just bought them recently, but they are probably last years crop--which if they were not kept frozen are likely to be rancid.  

If you buy the nuts from a place that specializes in nuts, some nuts this time of year will be labeled "new crop".

Walnuts are more bitter than some not even if they are not rancid.

Yeah, they could be bad.  Because they just didn't sit right.  Maybe I'll have to find a better source.

I you want to take every bit of dark skin off them to try and remove bitterness you can blanch them breifly in hot water, as people do to almonds that are skinned. There must be instructions on the internet as to how many minutes to do that.

You will probably wind up breaking them into small pieces easing the skins off if you do that. Some people advise blanch, then soak in cold water afterwards until skin starts loosening.

(sorry for the disconnected thoughts - I'm about to go to bed!)  Walnuts can be made into kind of a "pesto" that is very pleasing when you are able to grind them and pound them with white wine as a moistener. In this way you won't have to remove the skins at all. Also there are 2 kinds of walnuts and the walnuts you are eating are the Black kind. There is a recipie from Georgia (Russia) that pairs steamed spinach with this "Walnut sauce" and it was dee-lish.........wow

I once bought ground walnut... and it wasn't good at all!

If you take the skin off in hot water, what do you think the sensitive fatty acids like about that? I think walnut is nearly as sensitive to heating and grounding as flaxseeds. More sensitive than any nuts I've heard.

So what I recommend is soaking and rinsing. Maybe also blending, and you can also take the fibers off if you like fresh walnut milk

my understanding is that soaking walnuts takes the enzyme inhibitors out. In the raw food world this is what i have learned in regard to why there is a bitter taste also. So - in soaking and dehydrating it stays a "live" food and you have removed inhibitors that lie in the skin. I can say though that the walnut is super sweet when you do this process! I'm not sure I would agree that the walnut is rancid if you taste bitter - I taste no hint of rancidity once they are soaked and dehydrated and i always get my walnuts from a high volume bulk bin so I know they aren't sitting there for great lengths of time.

bitter tasing walnuts are stale or old..

Hmmmmmm.....  Yeah, now I'm more confused.  It does seem to me that I've never eaten a walnut that isn't bitter.

Quoted from Goldie

bitter tasing walnuts are stale or old..

I have heard that unripe are bitter also.

Quoted from Joyce

I have heard that unripe are bitter also.

Some ways that walnuts are processed can make them more or less bitter.

Bitterness affected by:

How long you let them sit outdoors, how quickly you remove the outer hulls,
How quickly you shell them, how you treat the nuts after shelling, ..

I love walnuts but not with pineapple. The combination leaves a horrid taste in my mouth and an upset stomach. Truthfully, when I first started eating walnuts I found them rather bitter which I no longer notice.

I do notice there is like walnut powder all over these.  From packaging and handling.  I wonder if I don't rinse them real quick and give them a quick toast in the oven if it wouldn't help.  

And yeah, maybe the combo wasn't any good.

Quoted from JJR

This website here says walnuts that are bitter are rancid.  Hmmmmm....  This was a fresh pack I bought.


http://www.dietobio.com/aliments/en/walnuts.html

And a few others are saying the same thing.  I guess mine are bad.  I just bought them.  I don't know if I've ever tasted a raw walnut that wasn't bitter though.  Hmmmmm...

I've read that the best method is to crack open fresh ones. It's a pain though and takes longer but it will definitely help against rancidity. Regarding leaving the walnuts out to be soaked and bacteria, I use lemon juice with the water. Even if you get some bacteria, I think the body might benefit from it?

I never buy them out of the shell...it's an affront to all walnuts

Well sooks, I usually use salt in mine when I soak it.  Which kills bacteria.  But I've just been leery of it lately.  It's a mental thing.  I may resort to soaking in the refrigerator.  I do know that soaked and roasted walnuts are AWESOME!!!  But this bitterness thing has me kind of concerned if it's a sign of them being rancid.

I would soak, rinse and dehydrate them.  Walnuts are especially prone to mold and bacteria, according to my daughter (3rd year Chinese Medicine student).  Or crack your own shells for fresh nuts.

That might be the only two good ways to eat them.  Because I've never had them taste bad after a soaking and slow roasting.  But I just don't want to let them sit on the countertop to soak.  Maybe I'll do it in the Fridge.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  Or I wonder if I could just give them a quick rinse??????

Quoted from JJR

That might be the only two good ways to eat them.  Because I've never had them taste bad after a soaking and slow roasting.  But I just don't want to let them sit on the countertop to soak.  Maybe I'll do it in the Fridge.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  Or I wonder if I could just give them a quick rinse??????

I agree about soaking them in the fridge, if the room is warm.  I have a cabinet on my front deck that I often use to cool food before putting the the refrigerator.  I'd feel safe leaving walnuts to soak in a cool place like that, even if it wasn't refrigerated.

I'm sold on soaking.  I've found a local source of soaked, germinated, dehydrated almonds and flaxseeds.  They digest so much easier and I feel a lot better in general from eating them.  Maybe it's a Nomad thing, but I find that I need to eat some nuts or seeds daily to complete my sense of well-being from food.

I buy organic walnut halves, very expensive . i eat the raw only. and they have never tasted bitter.

i haven't soaked them ever yet. just nice the way they are.

I just buy the raw walnuts, shelled, from Costco.  I put the bag in the freezer as soon as I get it home.  I usually just eat a handful directly from the freezer.  I have to say that, on the whole, I have never found them to be bitter.  I do the same with the whole, raw, shelled Costco almonds.  I actually think that both nuts taste better when eaten directly from the freezer AND they help me with the "chips" cravings more when eaten frozen.

I don't know if this helps at all....

If the flesh of the nut is kinda brownish rather than creamy white the nut is rancid- it tastes awful- you wouldn't want to swallow it!

Any shopbought walnuts (shelled and unshelled) that I ever tasted were not fresh and did taste more bitter than hazelnuts or almonds.
The only way for me to get fresh and hence sweet walnuts is to collect them myself- my dad has a tree- lucky me! Unfortunately they are all eaten by christmas- yummm  

Because then I have to buy the 'bitter' ones I tend to eat them after something savoury and I agree with one of the above comments- you will get used to it!

Never tried soaking & dehydrating myself- sounds like a lot of work  

You can make great cookies with ground walnuts- search for 'hazelnut macaroons' (Haselnuss Makronen) and substitute all or part of the hazelnuts with walnuts.

PS: Are you a super taster by any chance??? If you are I am not surprised you'd find walnuts very bitter

Quoted from JJR

  
And the same is kind of true of walnut halves.  Many of them have that sort of skin that is around the meat of the nut, on the top crinkly part, and sometimes it's black and sometimes it's not.  And I'm like "Is that MOULD!!!????".  

No- those ones are good unless the nut is shrivelled like mentioned above. The shrivveled bit doesn't taste good, so just break it off and eat the rest-it's perfect.
When walnuts have mould it is of a grey/ white fluffy kind- sometimes it has tiny black dots at the end of the fluff. It is very easy to see.
Any crumbly stuff inside the nut shell means there was a little worm in there having dinner- again super easy to spot.

If you did put a piece of mouldy nut in your mouth by accident you will know by the taste straight away- so spit and rinse  

Hope that helped put your mind at rest a little bit  

Quoted from policychecker

I buy organic walnut halves, very expensive . i eat the raw only. and they have never tasted bitter.

i haven't soaked them ever yet. just nice the way they are.

Can I ask where you get them?  Are you a prop taster?  I'm thinking mine are probably just not as fresh as I'd want them to be.  I don't know.  When I buy pecans from that company they taste just fine.  Although one time I think some brazil nuts I bought from them were old too.  Maybe I just need a better source.

The make is "crazy jack organic" I get them in Salisbury's, possibly even tesco actually. they do a whole range including dried blueberries. - organically grown and produced. they have a six month sell buy date on a 100g packet but i buy a packet every other week or so , so always fresh.

Quoted from JJR

Can I ask where you get them?  Are you a prop taster?  I'm thinking mine are probably just not as fresh as I'd want them to be.  I don't know.  When I buy pecans from that company they taste just fine.  Although one time I think some brazil nuts I bought from them were old too.  Maybe I just need a better source.

So are you a prop taster?

JJR, do you have access to one of the larger natural food stores?  Turnover on organic nuts is usually fast and you can get fresher nuts than in a big chain grocery store where foods can sit in a warehouse for a long time.

I am just taster, Amber who is super taster is much more fussy she hates walnuts, flax oil normally and absolutely hates it if its cold for example.

no doubt we are all different on that one.

think

Thank you!

Huh.  I like flax seed oil.  I'm just a taster too and not a super taster I think.