Walnuts

A walnut (Latin: Juglans) is a nut of a deciduous tree of the Juglandaceae family. Walnut trees are large and have a wide-spreading canopy. The fruit of the walnut tree is a fleshy green drupe which holds the nut. The edible nut is protected by a woody hard wrinkled shell. A healthy and mature walnut tree can produce about 66 to 350 lbs of walnuts.Today, there are two major species of walnuts in the market, the English walnut, and the black walnut which is also known as the persian walnut.

Walnuts grow best in deep, well drained, and soil rich in organic matter. For maximum yield, it needs to be exposed to cold temperatures and moist conditions to start germinating. So as long as these conditions are met, walnut trees can be easily grown from seeds. Therefore, walnuts are developed for the most part in China, Iran, US, Turkey and Mexico.

The English walnut (J. regia) is native to Iran, and the black walnut (J. nigra) is native to eastern North America. The black walnut is of high flavor, but due to its hard shell and poor hulling characteristics it is not grown commercially for nut production. Throughout history, walnuts have not only been used for consumption, but they have been used for making various instruments and furniture and also have a history of therapeutic usages to treat a variety of illnesses.