Whereas we throw rice over a newly married couple to assure their fertility, it was once a custom in ancient Rome for the bride and groom to throw walnuts at children, not because the children were brawling and ruining the wedding party, but rather to represent the casting off of the newlyweds’ childish natures. It was the Romans, too, who introduced the walnut to northern Europe and England, thus inspiring the Old English name for the nut: wealhknutu, literally meaning foreign nut. The wealh part of the name, in the Germanic language from which English partly developed, originally meant Celtic, the Celts being foreign as far as the northern Europeans were concerned; soon, however, the word also began to refer to any foreigner or foreign item, including those from southern Europe like the Romans. The wealh that became part of walnut also developed into the names Wales and Welsh, the Welsh, like the Romans, being foreigners as far as the Anglo-Saxon settlers of England were concerned; this Old English wealh is evident not only in walnut but also in Cornwall, a city on the southeastern tip of England whose name means Welsh horn, or in other words foreign horn, a horn being a promontory of land. Given that Welsh means foreign, the Welsh do not use that name to refer to themselves; rather, they call themselves Cymry, a Welsh word literally meaning compatriots.
A nut with a hard, rounded or oval shell, commonly referred to as either the English or California walnut, or the black walnut, which has a distinct and strong flavor. When a recipe calls for walnuts, it usually refers to the English or California variety, unless specified otherwise.
The walnut, the fruit borne by the walnut tree, thrives in diverse varieties across the globe. Its slender-shelled nuts are cherished as a delectable dessert ingredient, while the hardier types find purpose in being crushed to extract their oil, a suitable substitute for olive oil in various culinary applications. In regions where the climate poses challenges to the walnut’s optimal ripening, a practice is often employed: the green harvesting of walnuts toward the latter part of July, prior to the complete formation of their shells. These premature walnuts are then preserved using the method described in the Pickle entry, allowing their unique qualities to be enjoyed even in less favorable climates.