How to Hull and Shell a Shagbark Hickory Nut
To hull a Shagbark Hickory Nut is all in the wrist – grab a hammer, any size you like and a flat hard surface. Oh, get the Shagbark Hickory nut too. Hit the center of the hull – the nut should come out easily. That’s it guys, that’s it. This article is over.
Hulling a Hickory Nut is easy - shelling is not
Just kidding – hulling the nut is easy but shelling it is a whole ‘nother story. We’ve tried several ways to crack open our hickory nuts. Our goal is to keep as much nut meat intact as possible. We’ve tried hammering it 1/3 below the old stem – it did okay. Lot’s of intact nut meat, but it mostly exploded the shells with fragments of nut meat inside, leaving lot’s left to manually pick out. Plus, safety glasses are needed.
We’ve tried the vice grip – works great, but again, lot’s of nut meat fragments left. On a small, family scale, having to spend time to pick the meat out is reasonable. On a scale for profit, it’s not reasonable. Also, those eyes, going to need some safety glasses.
One tactic we’ve tried, if you don’t mind picking the meat out, is covering the nut with a towel, and hitting it with a hammer. Of course, lot’s of nut meat is fragmented but it’s all in one spot, making a family friendly pastime a little easier (and maybe safer for the eyes).
Other methods of shelling a Hickory Nut
What’s left for us to try?
Soak and crush
Custom hickory nut crusher made out of stone
The options are slim but to sell hickory nuts profitable, an efficient way must be developed!
Until then, I will pick the delicious nut meat out of the shell fragments. I don’t mind; it’s as worthwhile as picking crab meat out of the smallest part of the crab leg.