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Andean Walnut

Product description

This fast growing evergreen walnut species is from the relative calm and frost free sub tropical Andes. The advantage of the Andean walnut is that it is a walnut that may fruit in parts or all of the subtropics where no other walnut will fruit; it fruits well; it is self fertile; it comes into bearing from seed within about five or six years; and it has large nuts that are moderately well filled. The biggest disadvantage is that the nut does not fall free of the husk and 'clings' to the nut. This means the almost tennis ball sized 'fruit' (fleshy husk plus the 'nut' in the middle) have to be collected and piled up for the husk to rot off. The olivey green to brown fruits turn dark brown as the husk breaks down, and the fleshy part becomes black and soft and spongy. Once cleaned, the round golf-ball sized nuts can be dried. Their shell is very thick heavy, and they are not easy to open. Once open, the kernel is also difficult to remove from the shell. The kernel itself is blandly pleasant.Andean Walnut is also highly prized as a cabinet timber, because of its remarkably consistent and bold cocoa color. The wood is related to the American black walnut that you might be used to seeing, but this variety grows in South America. The wood is slightly softer, much more straight grained, and much more consistent in color.