Black Walnut is one of the “unsung heroes” of the tree world. Largely abhorred for turning folks’ hands black when you hold them, they pack a powerful punch when it comes to health!
Black walnut tincture is super easy to make! All you need to do is forage some black walnuts… our property has four mature black walnut trees (that aren’t buried in the woods; I’m sure we have more back there but I happily leave those for the woodland animals that call our place their home), so I simply collect from our land. We always forage sustainably, which means we only take 25-30% from any given plant, leaving the rest to nature to replenish itself, and for animals to survive here as they always have.
You want to collect the walnuts that fall from the trees; don’t pick them right off the branches. They won’t be ready! You want to forage the black walnuts that are on the ground; they will actually be GREEN (not black) on the outside, and you want to try to find them when they are firm/hard without holes/ breakage points etc.
Depending on the size of your jar(s), only collect the walnuts that you need. For this widemouth pint jar that I used, we only needed 5-7 walnuts. A little goes a long way!
Exodus Road’s Homegrown Black Walnut Tincture
Ingredients:
- organic black walnuts, foraged from the ground after falling off the tree
- 80-proof vodka (cheap is fine)
- glass jar with lid
- sharp knife (you are responsible for your own safety)
- gloves (I use nitrile or rubber housecleaning gloves; you can use any but keep in mind that they WILL get stained)
Instructions:
- Select a walnut and slice the green husk in quarters (all the way around the walnut, twice, so you have four pieces; your two diameter slices will cross in two places). DO NOT try to slice the walnut all the way through! It will NOT work and you are VERY likely to injure yourself. You are only trying to slice through the green husk, so firmly press down to slice, and back off the pressure when you feel the knife stopping on the inner hard endocarp layer.
- Peel off the green outer husk, making sure there aren’t maggots in your sectioned piece of husk (it’s normal to have maggots; just slice that part off and toss it in your compost pile or back outside for the animals).
- Add that piece of green husk to your jar; you want nice, thick pieces of husk.
- Peel off the other three husk pieces from that walnut, and add them to your jar. If there are portions that are black or maggoty, just toss them outside and move on to the next walnut.
- Repeat until your jar is packed full, leaving about a 1/2 inch of headspace at the top of your jar.
- Pour your vodka (or menstruum of choice) into the jar over the husks, covering the husks completely.
- Put on the lid and store in a cool, dark place for 6-8 weeks. Shake it weekly or more often if you like. After the 6-8 weeks, test your tincture. Strain out the marc (the husks, in this case), and pour your tincture back into the (clean) jar. You’re done!
