Butternut (white walnut)

Juglans cinerea · Nut

40 pairings

The butternut, or white walnut (Juglans cinerea), is the sweet, oily kernel of a North American walnut tree — milder and gentler than the black walnut, with a soft, buttery richness that gave the nut its name. Long gathered from wild and farmstead trees, it is eaten raw, candied, or folded into maple-sweetened breads and confections.

Picking a good onedrag

Freshly cured, heavyLight, dark, rancid

Sound in the shellThe all-rounder: raw, toasted, ground into maple breads. Leave them in the shell until you want them, and freeze what you crack.Everyday best

The shellSound and dry, husk flecks in the grooves

Heft and rattleSolid, the faintest shift inside

Seam and tipSeam tight, a scuff or two on the ridges

Crack one openKernel still pale, the smell fainter

What to look for, from freshly cured, heavy to light, dark, rancid.

What one gives you

27%

Usable yield

3 g kernel · in shell, 73% of it shell

11 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Preparing