Whilst wishing to avoid the inevitable and predictable prurience I have no option but to fling myself headlong into the mire of double entendre by mentioning that my first encounter with moist nuts was on our honeymoon some forty one Septembers ago. The happy event was spent in a beautiful old stone house deep in the French countryside, a different one to that in which we now live, but it was there that among the seeds that were sown, which grew and flourished, was the one that carried my dream of one day moving to France to live in a beautiful old stone house of our own. And there were walnuts: big ones, small ones, none as big as your head. Fresh walnuts, noix fraiches, are gathered from mid September to the middle of October. They feel rare and precious to me; soft and oily with a silky skin that must be peeled revealing the smoothest ivory flesh. Two individual, not identical, fruit are joined inseparably in a protective shell that fits them, and them alone. Only the fracture of that shell allows them to be separated. There never was such a honeymoon fruit.
Food, Photography & France 
My onions, your nuts….it is indeed a romantic week here on WordPress! I do love the way walnuts pair off in beautiful twinsies – they are the perfect example of the nutmeat.
What a great word…nutmeat! I shall have to use that…thanks for the visit, Mel:)
Tres evocatif, j’adore les photos!!! Et les noix fraiches! j’ai aussi pas mal de souvenirs attaches a elles. En Albanie on les a cuellit enfants et plus tard avec mon futur mari (anglais) aussi. J’adore peler la peau fine qui enleve un petit gout amer, a croquer!
un petit peu du recherche du temps perdu. hein?
The farmer at the farmers’ market has fresh walnuts …if the squirrels don’t get them. I will have to remind him about them on Sunday, though they mighy be a bit later here than in France.
I’ve found out that the best way to keep fresh walnuts is in the salad draw of the fridge, but it’s disastrous to do that with dry walnuts…so there you are, MD…some nut info:)
That’s a very good tip, because they do start to dry out within a week or so 🙂
I’m trying to think what to do with my bag of walnuts that is presently residing in the fridge…apart from just munching on them.
Dressings and stuffings are good, though they go terribly well with a drink, especially something fortified 😉
I can see that the fortified beverage would be a good accompaniment…nice thinking MD:)
…and of course Fergus makes a delicious pickled walnut relish to go with his ox heart 😉
what would we do without him:)
I don’t know – the world would be a very sad place.
Just read a review in the Hip Paris blog about Daniel Rose’s bistro, La Bourse ou La Vie..here’s a link http://hipparis.com/2015/09/29/the-return-of-the-classic-french-bistrot-springs-daniel-rose-opens-la-bourse-et-la-vie/ …I think you’ll like the sound of it and particularly le pot au feu de veau.
That looks marvelous and they have a real zinc!
Lovely nuts!
Many thanks, Francesca…I only bought a small amount of them so I’m still considering what to do with them…aside from eating them immediately:)
Poetry and prurience. Love it Roger!
It’s normally a good combination:)
Lovely!
Flora
Thanks for that, Flora…and thanks for the visit:)
Ah, how romantic! We were picking our little almond crop yesterday…there was no romance involved in that endeavour 😉
Funnily enough the taste of fresh walnut is described as “d’amande de noix”…..:)
Very romantic indeed! 😉 Enjoy the fall!
Many thanks…at the moment it looks like it may be quite a sunny autumn which I’m very much looking forward to:)
Brings me back to October marketing in the south of France. Walnuts, figs, goat’s cheese and forest honey, all on toast. Delicious.
Thank you, Conor….honey and walnuts …or figs, of which there are plenty…very nice thinking..thanks:)
My first reaction was “Never one to avoid a double entendre!” 🙂 Then I read your first paragraph.
This looks wonderful with an aperitif for still warm early fall evenings.
I was thinking that they would go well with a nice glass of Manzanilla….thanks for the visit, Ksenia:)
I’m so glad you did an article on walnuts. It is so good. Thomas Keller uses walnuts in salads. Walnut oil is great with raspberry vinegar!
I’ve just been given a very nice bottle of walnut oil so I shall put this to the test…many thanks:)
I was so delighted when I found we had two walnut trees in the garden back here in England. They weren’t showing signs of being heavy croppers, but still…… The day came when I thought it time to forage. Not one had been left intact. Pesky squirrels. Grrr.
It’s the same here with our daughter’s walnut trees: very few survivors and those that do are much to write home about. Our local Lidl get the most marvelous walnuts from Grenoble and in true Lidl fashion, for very little money:)
Right. I’ll check out Lidl Thirsk…..;)
I’d love to know if they have them….mainly because I think that Lidl stocks quite a lot of regional products…at least it seems to do so here.
Here too. Which is why I think they won’t be available locally 😦
I thought as much…shame:(
So interesting this is!Wonderful idea and story.
Thank you, Teresa…seeing them in the shop brought memories flooding back..
You don’t need another comment to answer, so don’t feel obliged. I love nuts, all of them, but rarest are the really fresh walnuts. When we were in the USA a couple of weeks ago, the black walnuts were starting to drop from the trees. You cannot eat them until they are dried out, however, your mouth will turn to blisters from the acidity. Once they are hulled they have to dry, and then again after they are shelled. Very laborious, but a taste that is unique. My dear Mum used to sit in the long winter evenings and pry them from their shells so that she could make cakes with them. Thanks for bring that memory back for me.
I’ve never heard of fresh black walnuts…nice story. The only black walnuts in England used to be the pickled ones in huge jars, next to pickled eggs and cucumbers, in old English pubs..I did my best to avoid all of those…serious vinegar acidity:)