An excellent way to dry nuts is on a wire screen. A shed orgarage is usually a good place to dry walnuts. The black walnut has one of the toughest and thickest shellsto crack. While nuts can be cracked with a variety of tools, thehammer and nutcracker are most commonly used. The hammer methodinvolves placing the nut, pointed end up, on a hard surface andstriking the point with the hammer until it weakens and splits intosections along its axis.
Several nut cracking tools are alsoavailable.
When cracking nuts, shattering of the kernels is oftena problem. Shattering can be reduced by soaking the nuts in waterfor 1 or 2 hours before cracking. The soaking process allows thekernels to absorb enough moisture to become somewhat flexible,resulting in larger kernel pieces. The kernels are extracted fromthe nutshell with a pick and a pair of pliers. The oils in walnut kernels will turn rancid if nuts are storedimproperly.