Walnut harvesting

[Renate]

Can anyone let me know when(and how best) to harvest our walnuts? I understand from another thread that pickled walnuts need to be picked now and someone suggested soaking them is eau de vie. Do we take the green skin off first? In October, do we wait for the walnuts to drop off or should we pick them first? Thank's for you help in advance.

[Alexis]

They will drop out of their green coats back end. You will just have to pick them up.

With the winds of last week blowing hundreds of walnuts down, I am trying pickled walnuts for the first time. They have been in brine for nearly a week now so, finger crossed!

Is it an exceptional year for walnuts everywhere?

[LesLauriers]

WEAR RUBBER GLOVES IF YOU'RE TAKING THEM OUT OF THE GREEN CASINGS.

Sorry to shout but I made the mistake of de-shelling them the first year with bare hands. My hands, fingers, nails went black, very black, with the oily secretions from the casings and it took weeks to go. Nothing would shift it, and I tried everything.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

In my part of 24 the shells have formed so it's too late for pickling, they are pickled whole including the green case but you should be able to stick a needle or similar all the way through without difficulty.
As the others say, in autumn they should be harvested when they have fallen off the tree.