Walnut Harvest, Hull, & Crack
Walnuts have got to be my favorite thing to harvest. Large old walnut orchards are just fun to be in, it's at a cooler time of year so working outside is far more enjoyable, and it takes the most interesting equipment to get the walnuts out of the trees and off to where they need to be.

To get the walnuts out of the trees we use a machine called the Shaker. The Shaker grabs the tree and literally shakes the walnuts out of the trees. After all the trees have been shook, a Sweeper drives up and down the rows of walnut trees and makes narrow rows of walnuts. The Harvester then drives right over the rows of walnuts puts them into a large cart. After the cart is full, another tractor and cart come to take the walnuts to a truck. The walnuts are then trucked down the road to what is called the Huller.

Although the meat of a walnut is covered in a shell, the shell of a walnut is covered in a green hull that needs to be removed. The Huller also removes any trash that the harvester put into the cart with the walnuts such as sticks, rocks, and leaves. The bad walnuts are sorted out at the Huller and the walnuts are then dried in large dehydrators.

After the walnuts are dried, they are cracked and shelled. The shells are separated from the walnut meats in a two step process. Right after the walnuts are ran though a cracking mechanism the shells and meets are first separated by a machine similar to a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum sucks the lighter particles of walnut shell from the walnut meats. The second machine is a very high tech computer that rivals the x-ray security at JFK. As the walnut meats and remaining shells pass through this computer in less than a second the computer uses lasers to determine what particles on the belt are product or trash. The computer knows exactly where each piece of product or trash is located and as it falls off the belt the computer will blow the trash away from the product with a concentrated jet of air.

To learn more about this and see how it works, take a look at the little video we prepared for you of this years walnut harvest. I hope you enjoy it!
Michael Colombo
Bella Viva Orchards
Michael@BellaViva.com
Play Walnut Harvest Video