Wild Living with Sunny: Episode 18 - California Black Walnuts

Sunny Savage is in Topanga, California harvesting California black walnuts. Learn how to identify the tree, remove the husk, crack the tough nut, and make them into living raw taco meat.

Youve heard of raw food right? The rule of raw is that foods are eaten uncooked, with no heating above 115°-120°, therefore their enzymes are still living and the vital energy of your food remains intact. It is certainly true that our ancestors ate many foods in their raw form, and eating a living foods diet has been coined a return to raw. Wild foods can provide the raw foodist with a diversity of choices found in their own backyard.

The wild California black walnuts (Juglans californica) are prolific in the Santa Monica Mountains. These delicious nuts are much stronger in flavor than the cultivated English walnuts that you find in the store. Walnuts in general have some major health-promoting qualities:

1. Walnuts contain a perfect 4 to 1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids, and the highest ALA content of any tree nut. This equates to major coronary health benefits, with reduction of cholesterol, no weight gain associated with increased fat consumption of eating walnuts, etc.

2. A comparison study of total antioxidant content of nuts, seeds and dried fruits, found walnuts second only to dog rose in antioxidant contentof all plants analyzed.

Raw nuts have become a staple part of the raw food diet. Consuming copious amounts of raw nuts can lead to intestinal discomfort and a general imbalance in the diet. So dont get too nutty! The video above highlights the identification and harvesting of California black walnut (Juglans californica). We are joined in the kitchen by Living Foods Chef Chris J Watts. Be sure to check out Chriss website to learn more about raw foods, as well as view some of his raw food videos.

Wild Walnut Raw Living Taco Meat

1 c raw walnuts
1/4 c raw wild black walnuts
1/8 c onion, diced
1/4 c red pepper, diced
1/4 c green pepper, diced
3/4 Tbsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
salt & pepper to taste

Soak walnuts 3-5 hours, or longer. Drain walnuts and process in food processor with spices until mixture is in small chunks. Put into mixing bowl and add diced onion and bell peppers. Serve on a red cabbage or collard green leaf as taco shell. Load up with taco meat, raw salsa, guacamole, and condiments such as fresh corn kernels and shredded red cabbage. I cut Chriss recipe in half to serve 4.

Sunny's wild food television series Hot on the Trail with Sunny Savage airs on Veria Network (DISH channel 218 and Verizon FIOS channel 162).
See http://veria.com/hot-on-the-trail.html for show times and more information.

Learn more about wild food plants:

Sunny's web blog at http://sunnysavage.com

Sunny's wild food site at http://wildfoodplants.com

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Sunny Savage
• wild food
• living wild
• bushcraft
• wild edibles
• in the wild
• foraging
• identify
• harvest
• cooking
• edible
• plants
• raw
• food
• living
• uncooking
• california
• black
• walnuts
• juglans

[Paul07901]

Boy, talk about role reversal in the heterosexual world? This is it! A free spirited California gal, and decked out in tool belt to boot. Directing all the boys where to go put it. How do know that your nutmeats have'nt absorbed any carcinogens or e-coli from the surrounding soils of the tree?

[sunnysavage]

hi paul...you made me laugh.

i guess you don't know about the carcinogens or e-coli, unless you have them analyzed. again, we are highly sensitive and equipped beings and although we have let our senses get lazy....use your sense of smell, touch, taste, sight, and intuition to help guide you in knowing if the food is safe or not. ask people living near where the tree is, or those who are familiar with the area.

cheers, ~sunny

[avaleila]

I've always wanted to know. WHen you soak something and throw out the water, are you also throwing away vital nutrients??

[sunnysavage]

it really depends on what your soaking, how long you soaked it, and what nutrients you are wondering went into the pot. I don't think there is one simple answer to your questions. When I cook things in a pot, I usually try to use a small amt of water and cook for the least amt of time possible...oftentimes saving my cooking water to use in stocks or when i need liquid in a recipe.

cheers, ~sunny

[clownfishyi1994]

hi sunny. i live on the east coasts long island. i have about ten black wallnut trees on my horse farm and i just went out to pick a bout 100 today and now i need to crack them. last year, i had a harvest of about 1,000,000 and my italian grandmother came up with a new way to crack open the wallnut. what she did was put it in a sock and beat them with a hammer. try this idea and tell us what you think. is it easer than the nut cracker

[sunnysavage]

love it!

*yey* for Italian grandma's.

cheers, ~sunny

[oveid]

Do you soak them before dehydrating or did you just dehydrate then soak right before eating? and What if you want to store them in the shell? do you dehydrate them in the shell then soak when you crack them? or can you soak them in the shell before dehydrating ? if you shell and dehydrate and soak, do you have to re-dehydrate before storing them? or does it always go shell, soak, then dehydrate?

[LottieSue]

Can I ask an unrealted question? I have California Pepper trees on my property the pods or whatever they are called are red and I believe reading for harvesting but I can't find any information. They are safe to eat right? Any info?

[webyourstuff1]

Chris- Sorry, I could not find your website.

Could you possibly post a link here?

Thanks

[jamesjames371]

I am always pushing Whole Foods to my friends and family to the point that they are think I work for you. That is why a friend just took great pleasure in sending me this article about Whole Foods and quality standards not being what they used to be Please respond so I can defend Whole Foods to my friend!

[krystalmarie36]

my husband is a veggie hater but actually ate this recipe...woohoo...and ask for more...thank you for opening our eyes to raw food

[busterpiggle]

Is there a huge rock in the kitchen?

[LittlePool2010]

Cook all your favorite restaurant meals right from home! - youtube.com/watch?v=6ktnVmKZXO­o

[LittlePool2010]

Cook all your favorite restaurant meals right from home! - youtube.com/watch?v=6ktnVmKZXO­o

[varvorines]

Thank you so much for posting this. I just picked some but for the green hull. The green hull is ani-bacterial, parasitic, viral and cancerous!

[paulineSherris]

Makes me wanna eat a nice meaty taco :) mmm muy delicioso