It's SPOTTED walnut season
A little walnut education for us all:
What is this we are seeing in our new batch of walnuts? Well, first off, it's NOT MOULD. Phew, now why haven't we seen it before? We have occasionally had the little speckly walnuts hidden among our usual lovely golden walnuts, but this year there are a few more. This is because we asked our farmer to get us the first batch that he could. Usually they sort these walnuts out because folks expect to see pretty golden walnuts, and ALSO because we mistakenly think that the spotting is mould, when in fact it is just a variation in colour that is present in some of the walnuts and they taste EXACTLY THE SAME. We actually did a blind taste test of them and found this to be true. A mouldy nut will be a bit fuzzy, and with walnuts will be green, or blue in colour. While bagging them up we are removing the more speckly of them in case some folks don't read the little disclaimer on our walnut page and think "What's happened to our nuts AND why are the lovely NUTHUT folks sending me mouldy nuts when we always get such delicious nuts from them!?!
So here's what I think, we need more education about the food we eat, and our expectations of it. We have been so conditioned to see the prettiest of foods on the shelves and in the coolers of our grocery stores, but we often aren't aware that they are coated in substances to keep them shiny AND equally as important, that so much of the food that we see has been sorted through to remove the less than perfect ones, like the carrots that have two legs, the tomatoes that boast extra bumps, the apples that aren't the perfect shape. We don't realize that that many oranges aren't actually orange on the outside but get treated to make them orange to meet our expectation of what an orange should look like. So all the above to say, the walnuts are delicious, some have speckles, all taste delicious, and because we love you, they are also CHEAPER than before. Which with the rising cost of food that is coming down the pipes, is a very good thing. You can find them here.
What is this we are seeing in our new batch of walnuts? Well, first off, it's NOT MOULD. Phew, now why haven't we seen it before? We have occasionally had the little speckly walnuts hidden among our usual lovely golden walnuts, but this year there are a few more. This is because we asked our farmer to get us the first batch that he could. Usually they sort these walnuts out because folks expect to see pretty golden walnuts, and ALSO because we mistakenly think that the spotting is mould, when in fact it is just a variation in colour that is present in some of the walnuts and they taste EXACTLY THE SAME. We actually did a blind taste test of them and found this to be true. A mouldy nut will be a bit fuzzy, and with walnuts will be green, or blue in colour. While bagging them up we are removing the more speckly of them in case some folks don't read the little disclaimer on our walnut page and think "What's happened to our nuts AND why are the lovely NUTHUT folks sending me mouldy nuts when we always get such delicious nuts from them!?!
So here's what I think, we need more education about the food we eat, and our expectations of it. We have been so conditioned to see the prettiest of foods on the shelves and in the coolers of our grocery stores, but we often aren't aware that they are coated in substances to keep them shiny AND equally as important, that so much of the food that we see has been sorted through to remove the less than perfect ones, like the carrots that have two legs, the tomatoes that boast extra bumps, the apples that aren't the perfect shape. We don't realize that that many oranges aren't actually orange on the outside but get treated to make them orange to meet our expectation of what an orange should look like. So all the above to say, the walnuts are delicious, some have speckles, all taste delicious, and because we love you, they are also CHEAPER than before. Which with the rising cost of food that is coming down the pipes, is a very good thing. You can find them here.