WALNUT FLOUR
Nutritional data per 100g:
65g fat, 15g protein, 14g carbohydrates The high fat content is primarily linoleic acid (omega-6), and omega-3 fatty acids. Research shows they're linked to lower cholesterol, and have antiinflammatory properties
PROCESSING
Usually, walnuts are dried before eating. Drying time varies depending on your climate's moisture levels. Leave nuts in a warm, dry spot out of the sun until the nut texture is more crunchy than rubbery. Once dried, you should be able to store them for at least a year in their shells in a cool, dry place – make sure it's rodent-proof.
We hand-cracked 500g of walnuts which yielded 113g of flesh. However, they weren't the best quality nuts or very plump. Higher quality walnuts would have given us a much better yield.
Once dried, they ground well in our manual grinder.
RESULT
The result was a fine walnut flour. Walnuts have a distinctive flavour that comes through in the final baked product. It's great in carrot cakes and as a walnut biscuit or bread. However, it can add a slight bitterness depending on the nuts used.
Rebecca’s notes
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There’s
a vast difference in the size and quality of nuts from various trees. Larger nuts are easier to process, but we found that sometimes the smaller nuts are much tastier.
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It’s important
to find walnuts with a taste you like – some are sweet, and others can be quite bitter. Interestingly, I have read that the longer the outer husk stays on the shell, the more bitter the nut will be, but we haven't tested this theory.