Walnuts to market

Craig Love is emptying the nut cart onto an elevator that loads the walnuts into a large trailer. The nuts are then taken to the huller and dryer.

Most of the walnuts are picked up and out of the field but we have people asking what happens to them after that. Here is the rest of the story.

The trucks loaded with walnuts are taken to a huller to be cleaned and dried. The huller is a large assemblage of machinery. The walnuts are unloaded from the bottom of the truck into a pit set in the ground.

From there a conveyer belt moves them up out of the pit and through a water bath. Next they go through a series of rotating cages and brushes where any remaining pieces of hull are removed from the nuts. Leaves and other debris are also removed.

Then they are passed through a device called an air leg. The air leg uses suction to remove empty and shriveled nuts putting them in the throw-away bin. The suction of the air leg must be adjusted for each batch of nuts processed. Different varieties and even similar nuts harvested under different conditions vary in weight.

After the air leg, the nuts are usually run through an electronic color sorter. This device can detect changes in color of the nuts and can kick off stained or blemished ones.

The next step is the sorting table. This is made up of a conveyer belt moving at about counter height. Workers stand on both sides picking out any bad nuts that may still be present. After the sorting table, many hullers use another air leg to further refine the batch of nuts.

Next they are put in bins with warm air blowing through them to dry the nuts. Most hullers have electronic sensing moisture meters that allow them to get the desired amount of dryness. In the past, nuts were usually over-dried, which is fine for the nuts but causes the grower to loose tonnage.

After they are dry, the nuts are again loaded into a truck for shipment to the packer. On the way the nuts are usually run through one to two additional air legs to remove light and small nuts. These are placed in a separate bin. They have found this helps the growers get a slightly better grading of their nuts at the packer. The bins of removed nuts are sent in to the packer separately.

When the truck arrives at the packer, it is first weighed and a sample of the walnuts is taken. The sample is examined for quality, with each nut being checked for size and appearance. Each nut is then cracked and the kernel is then checked for color and quality.

The results of the grading, plus the total weight of that delivery, are recorded onto a grade sheet. Months later, after the market price for walnuts is determined, the grower is paid according to the information on the grade sheet.

The packer then processes and packages the nuts for shipment all over the world. And that is the rest of the story.