How and for how long you can store shelled walnuts at home

Since ancient times, the nut has been called the “tree of life”, because its fruits can satisfy hunger, restore strength and even cure a person. By eating a handful of nuts a day, you can saturate your body with vitamins, organic acids, minerals, fiber, essential oils and unsaturated fats. But it is important not only to know how to collect the fruits, but also how to store shelled or shelled walnuts at home.

Which walnuts are suitable for storage?

When choosing nuts suitable for storage, you should first of all take into account the timing of fruit harvest:

1. Early dropping of nuts indicates that the tree does not have enough nutrients for ripening, or the presence of pests.
2. Fruits that have fallen as a result of strong winds are only suitable for consumption in the coming days.
3. Young nuts, during subsequent storage, will lose the moisture with which the kernels are saturated and turn into fruits with a dry, tasteless core.
4. You need to select for storage only those nuts that themselves fell off during the period of severe “baldness” of the tree.

Nut fruits are collected from the third ten days of August to the end of September.

How to choose a nut

Selecting suitable specimens for the workpiece is very simple, if you consider:

1. Suitable for winter storage are nuts of the same size, without dirt and dark skin, indicating last year's harvest.
2. The shell should not have chips or cracks. Otherwise, the nuts will quickly spoil or become moldy.
3. Before purchasing, it is advisable to open several nuts and check the kernels for freshness. Bitter, dark kernels with a specific rancid odor are not suitable for subsequent harvesting. The taste of the grains should be sweet and pleasant.
4. Shake a few nuts in your hands first. Fresh nuts do not produce the rolling sound of the kernels, which indicates that the kernels are already overdried or the fruits were stored at elevated temperatures.
5. At the same time, fruits suitable for storage should not be very light. Such nuts are often empty inside.

Walnuts without shells are also suitable for long-term storage.In addition, you can significantly reduce the time for peeling raw materials, and inspect all kernels for the presence of rotten, spoiled or limp specimens.

When purchasing such grains, you should consider:

1. All nucleoli should be the same color. After all, only in this case can you be sure: all the fruits are from the same year and not mixed with the previous harvest.
2. Do not choose ground kernels, as this is how sellers hide spoiled raw materials.
3. Do not purchase raw materials on the streets, near transport forks, because the kernels absorb dust, dirt, and debris from the roads.
4. Be sure to taste the product. The characteristic bitterness and unpleasant aroma immediately indicate a low-quality product.

How to prepare nuts for harvesting

If nuts were collected in wet weather, they must be dried in well-ventilated areas. Then remove the shells from the fruits and place them in the oven for 60 minutes to bake. In this way it is easy to protect the crop from moths and other pests.

The best option for storing at home

When choosing options for storing fruits at home, you should start from the factor of whether the nuts will be stored whole or in separate kernels. There are two ways to preserve a healthy product for a long time.

Features of storing walnuts in shell

Fruits can be stored in shells for a long time if nuts of proper quality are prepared or purchased. To preserve the product for a long time, you need to consider a few simple storage features:

1. Before storing for the winter, the raw materials need to be sorted and dried naturally or in the oven at a minimum temperature.

Dry the nuts, scattering them on cloth or paper, on the floor. Thus, the fruits will dry out in 5-6 days. In this case, the nuts need to be stirred periodically.You can speed up drying by placing the fruits in the oven at a temperature of 40-50 degrees and leaving them in this position for 1 hour.

2. Place the prepared nuts in glass or metal dishes and tightly close the containers with lids. In this way it is easy to preserve the harvest for up to six months.
3. If the nuts will be used in the near future (2-6 months), it is enough to pack the dried fruits in fabric bags.
4. You should not store the workpieces on the balcony due to the high humidity in the room.
5. The product is also contraindicated for storage at high temperatures, otherwise the kernels will dry out completely.

If you stock up on nuts for future use in the fall, you can forget about the problems of the cardiovascular, skeletal systems, and gastrointestinal tract for the whole year and reduce the risk of tumors.

Purified nucleoli

You can also store nut kernels, observing a number of conditions:

1. Chop the prepared nuts.
2. Sort the kernels and dry them in the oven, placing them on a baking sheet covered with parchment.

When calcining the kernels, do not allow the release of oil, otherwise the product will be bitter. In the same way, you can protect raw materials from subsequent rotting.

3. Cool the grains. Pack the harvest in glass or tin containers and close tightly with lids.
4. Store the preparations at room temperature for no more than 14 days.

Conditions for long-term preservation

You can extend the shelf life of peeled nut treats by observing the following long-term storage conditions:

1. In the apartment, store the grains in a dark, cool and dry place, packaged in clean glass jars.
2. Place the prepared and dried kernels in a glass container, close the lids and put them in the refrigerator compartment on the bottom shelf.
3. Pack the harvest in plastic bags, seal tightly and place in the freezer.

To keep nuts in the shell for a long period, you need:

1. Calcinate the raw materials and place them in glass jars, wooden boxes, and fabric bags.
2. Place the preparations at home, in rooms with low humidity and low temperature. Excess moisture will cause the fruit to rot. And temperatures above 21 degrees will lead to rancidity of the product.
3. Store fruits indoors without sudden temperature changes. Do not place fruits near “fragrant” vegetables and fruits, otherwise they will absorb foreign odors.

To preserve the nuts for a long time, the room is fumigated with sulfur. This way you can also protect the product from mold and give the shell a light shade.

By observing the above conditions, you can preserve the beneficial fruits for 6-12 months.

Containers for drying

When looking for a container in which to store nuts, you need to consider the following:

• the container must be dry, clean, without damage or foreign odors;
• It is better to package the preparations in glass or clay jars. Cover the container loosely with the lid;
• Unshelled nuts are stored well in simple cardboard boxes or wooden boxes;
• Avoid storing raw materials in plastic bags, as the material does not allow air to pass through and contributes to the development of pathogenic microflora and mold;
• containers with shelled nuts must be tightly closed with lids;
• Plastic containers or ziplock bags are suitable for freezing the product.

By choosing the right storage container, you can significantly increase the shelf life of the product.

Temperature and humidity

It is important to maintain favorable conditions when storing raw materials. The average temperature for storing a product can vary from -5 to +10 degrees. Humidity should be no more than 60%.It is also necessary to protect the product from direct sunlight.

Expiration dates

How many months or years to store nuts depends on a number of factors, for example, compliance with harvesting conditions, choice of storage room, container, temperature and humidity in the room.
Stabbed

Split blanks are stored:

• The kernel can be preserved for up to 21 days, provided that the blanks are packaged in sealed containers made of glass or tin in a dark, dry room;
• up to 6 months - in the refrigerator compartment, on the side or bottom shelf;
• 1 year - in the freezer compartment, scattering the grains into ziplock bags, plastic containers with lids.

Unrefined

The shelf life of the unrefined product is 12 months.

Ways to increase shelf life

It is not easy to store large quantities of nuts for a long time. The harvest will quickly become unusable if conditions favorable for preservation are not created.

However, even if the temperature regime is observed and the condition of the raw materials is constantly monitored, it is very difficult to preserve the fruits throughout the year. In this case, it is better to use alternative methods of storing healthy treats given below.

Is it possible to fry

By frying the kernels in a frying pan, you can easily increase the shelf life of the product. In this case, the preparations can be fried both in the microwave and in the oven. After frying, the raw materials must be cooled and placed in sealed jars or fabric bags. Store the product in a dry and cool room. Once a month, check the kernels for mold and dry them again.

To preserve the product for a long time, you can make a simple preparation from the kernels with the addition of honey. To do this, combine honey and nuts in a 1:2 ratio.Leave the resulting mass for several days in a dark place and store it in the refrigerator. This product can be stored for a year.

Roasting nuts in a frying pan improves their taste and shelf life of raw materials. But at the same time vitamin B is lost.

Freeze

You can store nut grains in the refrigerator for no more than 2-3 weeks. But in order to preserve the valuable delicacy for a long time, it is better to freeze the kernels by packaging them in plastic bags or plastic containers. This way you can have a storehouse of vitamins and minerals on hand for a whole year.

Defrosting nut treats is very easy. It is enough to leave the nuts at room temperature for 15 minutes or place them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.