How to crack a Manchurian nut. DIY jewelry from nature New Year's crafts from nuts

Manchurian nuts resemble walnuts in appearance. But the similarity is purely external. Unlike walnuts, they do not have partitions dividing the core into two halves - it is located inside intricately curved channels. Interior When cut, these nuts present an incomparable symmetrical (as a rule) pattern in relief, reminiscent of lace or the finest wood carving.

You can make many interesting things from Manchurian walnut: decorative jugs and vases, plates, candy bowls, frames, edgings, bracelets, rings, beads, brooches, key chains, buttons, boxes and even candlesticks.

Processing nuts does not require complex equipment. It is quite possible to get by with a basic set of tools, which, obviously, any amateur will have: a small vice, a hacksaw, files different shapes, needle files, hand or electric drill, a set of drills, - and for finishing - furniture nitro varnish type NTs-222 or NTs-228.

The work begins with the nut being clamped in a vice and sawed lengthwise or crosswise with a hacksaw into several flat slices of equal thickness, which will serve as blanks for most products. One nut, of course, will not be enough - you will need to cut it and prepare a sufficient number of slices of equal thickness. You should try to saw as evenly as possible, so that later you don’t need to additionally sand the surface using sandpaper. Then you need to clean out the core from the canals using a needle or awl. After this operation, which, by the way, must be carried out carefully, the slices can be used for the intended work.

Obviously, you should start with the simplest products, for example, beads. To make them, holes are drilled in the slices - two in each. They can be drilled in different ways - perpendicular to the plane of the lobule or parallel to it. It all depends on the way the links are connected. In any case, these holes should be located in the thickest parts of the walls. Through the holes perpendicular planes surfaces, two small rings are passed through, which are connected to each other by segments of a chain. Wire loops are inserted into holes drilled parallel to the plane and, as in the first case, connected to each other by chains.

How this is done can be seen from the figure. You can varnish the slices before or after joining them together.

Making beads.
Two ways to fasten the slices: using a ring with a piece of chain; using a wire loop inserted into the hole and filled with a drop of glue.

The nuts make original buttons. They are made from transverse slices, in which one or both planes - back and front - are filed with a file (or on a sharpener) in the form of convex surfaces. In the middle part of the nut, as a rule, there are two thin round or oval channels through which it is convenient to sew buttons to clothes.

It is better to make key rings not from transverse, but from longitudinally sawn walnut slices, which are obtained by cutting along the dividing seam. A hole is drilled in the top of the keychain and a ring is passed through it.

For a bracelet, you can use both longitudinal and transverse slices. They should be slightly thicker than for beads - 6-8 millimeters. The back side of these slices should be slightly concave so that the bracelet fits your hand.

However, beads, bracelets, rings are far from the most interesting crafts made of Manchurian walnut, and we settled on them more as educational work. The most attractive items seem to be for practical purposes - plates, candy bowls, vases, jugs. Glued together from individual walnut slices, they are elegant and beautiful. Their patterns resemble the finest wood carvings, the intricacy of which can perhaps be compared with lace - they are just as airy and unique. Of course, making a plate or candy bowl is more difficult than, say, beads, but it is also quite possible at home. The most important thing, as in every business, is consistency and patience.

Let's first tell you how plates are made. They can be quite varied in their design. One of the options is a plate in which a metal disk of small diameter (10-12 cm) is used as the bottom. The nut slices of the first row are placed on this disk, for which slots of the appropriate size must be made in them on the side (see figure). All subsequent slices will be glued together at their ends, forming concentric circles in their rows. Since the edges of the plate should be slightly raised, it is convenient to glue the slices together inside a bowl - in this case, the plate will almost exactly repeat its shape. You can glue it with glue, but the better the same as furniture varnish, only slightly thickened. When working, you need to make sure that the plate does not stick to the mold.

Dish with a metal bottom.
The first row is assembled from walnut slices with a slot. Subsequent rows are glued to the end.

You can make a plate without a metal disk. In this case, the whole thing, starting from the middle, is glued together from just nut slices. There is no need to worry about the fragility of such a structure. Of course, the same requirements cannot be placed on it as on monolithic objects. However, furniture varnish, applied in several layers, firmly holds the slices together, providing sufficient strength to the product. A plate made in this way is quite suitable for putting bread, crackers or sweets into it. The fact is that furniture nitro varnish, hardening in a fairly thick layer (about 1 mm), reaches such hardness that it can be processed with a file, and it can withstand considerable loads.

The candy bowl is glued together in the same way: the end parts of the slices are connected to each other with glue or thick varnish. But in this case, a glass jar is taken as a form - liter, two-liter, three-liter. At a distance of 8-10 cm from the bottom plane, put a rubber ring on the jar. Then the jar is turned upside down. The first row of nut slices is placed on the ring, then the next one is glued to it - and so on until the entire bottom is covered. You can use a small bowl as a mold - in this case the candy bowl will turn out with the edges bent outward - this is also very beautiful.

Molding a candy bowl on glass jar. The outermost row of nut slices rests on a rubber ring.

Using the same technology, you can make a flower vase or jug ​​by enclosing a suitable transparent glass vessel (flask, lamp cylinder, etc.) inside. If a vase with a long neck is planned, then another one is added on top component, made on a cylinder or cone of the appropriate diameter. You can finish the top with horizontally glued walnut slices or a bell glued onto a funnel.

Connection of vase parts molded on three different bases.

The pitcher will probably need a handle. It's also easy to make. To do this, two arcs are glued together on a plasticine mold - one is slightly larger than the other. Then the smaller one is placed inside the larger one, and the space between them is filled with halves or smaller parts of the lobules. When everything has hardened, you can file the rough edges and then glue the handle to the jug.

Molding the top of the jug onto the neck of the bottle. The middle section is molded onto the top of a three-liter jar.

After assembly, finished products should be coated several times with varnish, but not thickened, but liquid. This will first of all provide additional rigidity, which is so necessary when smoothing out unevenness. The fact is that nut slices, sawn with a hacksaw, are flat. It is difficult to adjust their edges to each other when gluing, and there is no particular need for this. The main task is to achieve a sufficiently tight fit of their ends. And then they are polished on the finished product.

Like jugs and vases, boxes and glass holders are made.

In the first case, the shape can be a rectangular or oval box, in the second - a glass. The handle for the cup holder is made in the same way as for the jug. Since the lid of the box must open, first you need to make a lid and bottom part, then glue a slightly protruding rim inside the lower part on which the lid will be placed. In addition, if you attach small loops to the rim, the lid will turn out to be hinged.

The surface of the products can be given relief. For this, thicker nut slices are used. One or more rims are made from them, which give things more decorative look. These slices can be used to finish the edges of plates and candy dishes, or to edge the neck of a jug. They can be made oval, thinned towards one of the edges, spherical, or even with edges curved upward.

The finished product must be processed with a file and all existing irregularities, nicks, etc. must be removed. hangnails. Thanks to the softness of the material, it is possible to easily achieve a completely smooth surface with smooth transitions from thickening to narrowing. Final finishing finished with fine sandpaper. Now all that remains is to remove the dust and sawdust and coat the product with varnish - it is ready.

In conclusion, it should be added that objects glued together from walnut should, if possible, be protected from overheating - under the influence of heat nutshell and varnish expand differently, which can result in cracks.

Usually, when I ask someone to name from memory any nut that comes to mind, they immediately, almost without hesitation, answer me: “Walnut!” And this despite the fact that in the Primorsky Territory and throughout the south Far East quite often you can meet its closest relative, who, moreover, is in no way inferior to his southern brother, and in some aspects is even significantly ahead of him! I assure you, you will be amazed when you learn about all the properties of this precious nut that you would never have guessed about in your life. So, in this article I will tell you about the wonderful and beautiful, amazing and incredible - the Manchurian Walnut!

It blooms simultaneously with the leaves blooming, at the end of May. The fruits ripen in September and fall immediately. Yellowing of the leaves begins in mid-September, leaf fall ends in the first half of October. IN good conditions In natural growth, fruiting begins at six to eight years of age, in crops - sometimes four to five years, and on poor soils and in dense stands - from 12 to 15 years. Profitable years alternate with two or three lean or low-yield years. In sparse stands growing on fertile soils, harvests occur almost every year. The yield of pure nuts from the collected fruits is 70%. Seed germination lasts up to two years.

Manchurian walnut is a valuable decorative and reclamation species. It is recommended to be planted in valleys and group plantings in parks, gardens, squares and boulevards. As a reclamation rock, it is used to secure ravines, in shelterbelts and roadside strips.

Under natural conditions, there are trees with fruits of different shapes and sizes. These individual characteristics trees can be used for breeding by selection best forms Manchurian walnut. The quantitative and qualitative indicators of more than 5,000 walnut fruits collected in the forests of various regions of the Primorsky Territory were studied. The following preliminary conclusions were obtained:

Chemical analysis of nut fruits collected in various regions of the Primorsky Territory showed that proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other high-molecular compounds accumulate in nut kernels in different regions of the Primorsky Territory in approximately the same proportions. At the same time, the accumulation of heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides and other toxic substances was either not detected at all, or was observed in quantities many times less than the maximum permissible concentrations. Many authors note healing properties all parts of the Manchurian nut, whose main medicinal raw materials are leaves (plucked by hand on young shoots during flowering), unripe fruits and pericarps.

The leaves contain a lot ascorbic acid, tannins, a small number of alkaloids, carotene and phytoncides. IN folk medicine The bark of the trunk and young branches has long been used for rheumatism, itchy skin, eczema and ulcers. Fresh leaves in the form of decoctions and tinctures were used for treatment diabetes mellitus, various skin diseases, as well as peptic ulcers. In everyday life, dried leaves placed in a closet protect, like mothballs, fur and wool products from moths. IN last years more and more new ones are appearing folk recipes from various internal and skin diseases of humans, where various parts of this plant are used to prepare medicine. For example, a decoction of Manchurian nut leaves is effective for sore throat and other colds - they should gargle several times a day. They drink a decoction of the leaves as a hemostatic agent for internal bleeding, and also as a fixative for diarrhea, rickets and diathesis. To do this, pour 20 g of chopped leaves into a glass of boiling water, leave for 20 minutes and drink a tablespoon three times a day.

An infusion of leaves is also used for sclerosis of the brain and heart vessels, to improve metabolism and reduce blood sugar. A tincture of leaves containing a significant amount of vitamin C can also be used to strengthen hair.

Fresh walnut leaves are widely used in everyday life. When working on garden plot Many gardeners, before taking up a shovel, hoe or other tool, rub their hands with fresh leaves. By this they save themselves from future calluses, as the skin of their hands becomes brown and rough, thereby acting as protective gloves. Another one was discovered useful property fresh Manchurian walnut leaves - they are placed in new tight shoes and after a few days of “hard trials” the shoes will be “worn in”, and the brown tint on the skin of the feet will quickly be washed off.

The indigenous population of the Primorsky Territory used walnut leaves to catch (bait) fish in the streams. In recent decades, this method has been secretly used by Chinese workers arriving in the Far Eastern region of our country for seasonal work.

In addition to leaves, unripe fruits and pericarps of the Manchurian nut are widely used in folk medicine. Experts have published several recipes for treating patients using unripe (June or July harvests) Manchurian nut fruits. To treat cancer patients in the Primorsky Territory, a composition prepared from July Manchurian nut is used. The nuts are placed in a 3-liter jar and filled to the top with sugar. The composition is placed in a dark place until the nut dissolves. In the future, the composition is consumed before meals, 1 teaspoon three times a day. Depending on the patient’s condition, the dose can be increased to 1 tablespoon.

For the treatment of cancer patients, a composition of Manchurian nut prepared with honey is used as a general tonic after chemotherapy, as well as for the treatment of goiter. The nut, collected in June, is ground in a meat grinder and dissolved in honey. Various ratios are prepared. The unripe fruits of the Manchurian nut are also used as an immunostimulant. 40 nuts are taken, the nuts are ground through a meat grinder. 1 kg of sugar is added to the crushed nut mass, the mass is thoroughly mixed. Then vodka is added in such an amount that a 5 cm layer is formed above the mixture. Leave for 21 days. Drink 1 tsp. on an empty stomach in the morning. Naturally, before self-medicating using various published recipes, you should definitely consult with your doctor.

How to crack a Manchurian nut

Many gardeners who grow Manchurian nuts do not eat its fruits because they cannot remove the kernels from the shell. But agronomist and gardener Anton Ivanovich Makunas found a way to crack the shell without damaging the grain.

I once read an article that in China they make excellent oil from the fruits of the Manchurian nut, and that’s when I became interested in how they extract the kernel from it, because you can’t make oil with the shell. I started trying various methods, but none of them gave a good result - the shell shattered into crumbs, and with it the kernel.

But after a while, I still managed to find a way to extract the nucleolus without practically damaging it. I'll share my secret.

I harvest nuts at the end of September; by this time the outer shell dries out and they become lighter. I pick them up in bags because I love them so much. I store the bags in the basement until December, and after finishing the gardening work, I can start chopping. And after a while it is much easier to do this, because the kernel of a freshly harvested nut fits tightly to the walls of the shell. When the nuts dry, the grains are easier to remove. But you also can’t overdry them, otherwise at the slightest blow to them they will shatter into particles. To prevent the nuts from drying out, I do not peel them from the outer shell.

To extract the kernel of a Manchurian nut, you will need a birch log about 70 cm high and 30 cm in diameter and a medium-sized hammer (its working surface should not be rounded, otherwise it may slip off the nut upon impact and damage your fingers). It is best to use birch, since with a more rigid support the nut will fly apart, and if you take a log of soft wood, it will penetrate deeper into it with each blow.

On the cut of the log I make a small depression into which I insert the nut with the sharp part. It is very important to place the “nose” down; if you place it the other way around, it will crumble. Hold the nut vertically with a hammer without special effort I deliver several blows to his rear.

You should not try to crack the nut with one blow, it is better to do this with several moderate blows, this way the shell cracks and does not shatter, at the same time the internal partition is destroyed, after which it is no longer difficult to get the kernel.

Manchurian nut is much tastier than walnut, more aromatic and has no bitterness. We especially like to melt white chocolate and pour it over the kernels - the result is an extraordinary dessert. It is also very good to use in the preparation of various baked goods, and wherever it is used. Walnut.

How to extract the Manchurian nut kernel

Tough Manchurian Nut

Have you tried Manchurian nut kernel? No? Give it a try. It's very tasty. Obviously tastier than walnut. But it’s unlikely that you will succeed. This nut cannot be bitten with teeth, crushed with tongs, or broken with a hammer. After being hit with a hammer or stone, the shell and kernel scatter to the sides in small crumbs.

In the village of Altai, Altai region Altai Territory there are walnut plantations in the form of forest shelterbelts in old orchards. The trees have long reached fruiting age, and the total harvest volume annually is about 10 tons.

Despite such an abundance of the harvest, the local population practically does not collect it and does not use it for food, although the kernel in the nut makes up 30 percent of the total weight and is a valuable food and dietary product.

The reason for this is the very thick and hard shell of the nut, and its rather thick internal partition. In one article I read that in China they somehow successfully crack nuts, and the resulting grains are used in food, including for the production of high-quality nut butter.

After many attempts I finally managed to find reliable way crack the Manchurian nuts. The method is quite simple. I'll share my secrets.

I usually harvest the nuts themselves at the end of September. At this time, the juicy outer shell of the nuts becomes dry and such nuts are more convenient to collect and weigh less. I crack nuts in December. Until this time, I store the collected nuts in bags in the underground.

To extract the kernel, you need a tall birch log 30x70 cm and a medium-sized hammer. Logs made from either hard or soft wood are not suitable as a stand. Birch is the most suitable. At the end cut of the log we make a small depression into which we insert the nose (sharp part) of the nut and with a hammer, without much effort, we make several blows to its rear part. When cracking with the fingers of your left hand, be sure to hold the nut in an upright position.

You should not try to crack the nut with one blow; the result may be unexpected: the nut will break into small pieces, and your fingers may suffer greatly from such a blow. With a few moderate blows with a hammer, the nut shell cracks, but does not shatter, but collapses; at the same time, the internal partition of the nut is destroyed, after which it is no longer difficult to get the kernel.

As strange as it may seem, time, or rather, the physical state of the nut when the grain is removed, also has great importance. The fact is that the kernel of a freshly harvested Manchurian nut occupies all the space in the shell and fits tightly to the walls. When the nuts dry out, it is much easier to remove from the shell. You should also not overdry the nuts, because then the nut kernel will crumble into small pieces at the slightest impact. To prevent the nuts from drying out, they should be stored without peeling the soft outer shell before cracking.

And one more note - about the hammer. The working surface of the hammer should not be rounded. Hammer with rounded work surface upon impact, it often slips off the nut and can injure your fingers.

Good luck in mining the golden core!

Anton Makunas , scientist agronomist, Altai village

Other works by Anton Ivanovich can be found on the page Makunas Anton Ivanovich, horticulturist variety tester

Other materials on nuts can be found in the main section Nut crops

Look for nut planting material in the section "Nurseries. Seedlings"

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Manchurian walnut - natural lace

In their works, artists use a lot natural materials- and familiar ones, such as stone, clay, wood, straw, and sometimes quite unexpected ones like fish skin or poplar fluff. Among these not very common materials is Manchurian walnut, the interest in which is due to its decorative properties has increased recently.

Manchurian nuts resemble walnuts in appearance. But the similarity is purely external. Unlike walnuts, they do not have partitions dividing the core into two halves - it is located inside intricately curved channels. The inner part of these nuts is cut into a relief with an incomparable symmetrical (as a rule) pattern, reminiscent of lace or the finest wood carving. It is these structural features that attract artists.

You can make many interesting things from Manchurian walnut: decorative jugs and vases, plates, candy bowls, frames, edgings, bracelets, rings, beads, brooches, key chains, buttons, boxes and even candlesticks.

Processing nuts does not require complex equipment. It is quite possible to get by with a basic set of tools, which, obviously, any amateur will have: a small vice, a hacksaw, files of various shapes, needle files, a hand or electric drill, a set of drills, and for finishing - furniture nitro varnish like NTs-222 or NTs-228.

The work begins with the nut being clamped in a vice and sawed lengthwise or crosswise with a hacksaw into several flat slices of equal thickness, which will serve as blanks for most products. One nut, of course, will not be enough - you will need to cut it and prepare a sufficient number of slices of equal thickness. You should try to saw as evenly as possible, so that later you don’t need to additionally sand the surface using sandpaper. Then you need to clean out the core from the canals using a needle or awl. After this operation, which, by the way, must be carried out carefully, the slices can be used for the intended work.

Obviously, you should start with the simplest products, for example, beads. To make them, holes are drilled in the slices - two in each. They can be drilled in different ways - perpendicular to the plane of the segment or parallel to it. It all depends on the way the links are connected. In any case, these holes should be located in the thickest parts of the walls. Two small rings are passed through holes perpendicular to the surface plane, which are connected to each other by segments of a chain. Wire loops are inserted into holes drilled parallel to the plane and, as in the first case, connected to each other by chains.

How this is done can be seen from the figure. You can varnish the slices before or after joining them together.

Making beads.

Two ways to fasten the slices: using a ring with a piece of chain; using a wire loop inserted into the hole and filled with a drop of glue.

The nuts make original buttons. They are made from transverse slices, in which one or both planes - back and front - are filed with a file (or on a sharpener) in the form of convex surfaces. In the middle part of the nut, as a rule, there are two thin round or oval channels through which it is convenient to sew buttons to clothes.

It is better to make key rings not from transverse, but from longitudinally sawn walnut slices, which are obtained by cutting along the dividing seam. A hole is drilled in the top of the keychain and a ring is passed through it.

For a bracelet, you can use both longitudinal and transverse slices. They should be slightly thicker than for beads - 6-8 millimeters. The back side of these slices should be slightly concave so that the bracelet fits your hand.

However, beads, bracelets, and rings are far from the most interesting crafts made from Manchurian walnut, and we focused on them more as educational work. The most attractive are things for practical purposes - plates, candy dishes, vases, jugs. Glued together from individual walnut slices, they are elegant and beautiful. Their patterns resemble the finest wood carvings, the intricacy of which can perhaps be compared with lace - they are just as airy and unique. Of course, making a plate or candy bowl is more difficult than, say, beads, but it is also quite possible at home. The most important thing, as in every business, is consistency and patience.

Let's first tell you how plates are made. They can be quite varied in their design. One of the options is a plate in which a metal disk of small diameter (10-12 cm) is used as the bottom. The nut slices of the first row are placed on this disk, for which slots of the appropriate size must be made in them on the side (see figure). All subsequent slices will be glued together at their ends, forming concentric circles in their rows. Since the edges of the plate should be slightly raised, it is convenient to glue the slices together inside a bowl - in this case, the plate will almost exactly repeat its shape. You can glue it with glue, but it is better with the same furniture varnish, only slightly thickened. When working, you need to make sure that the plate does not stick to the mold.

Dish with a metal bottom.

The first row is assembled from walnut slices with a slot. Subsequent rows are glued to the end.

You can make a plate without a metal disk. In this case, the whole thing, starting from the middle, is glued together from just nut slices. There is no need to worry about the fragility of such a structure. Of course, the same requirements cannot be placed on it as on monolithic objects. However, furniture varnish, applied in several layers, firmly holds the slices together, providing sufficient strength to the product. A plate made in this way is quite suitable for putting bread, crackers or sweets into it. The fact is that furniture nitro varnish, hardening in a fairly thick layer (about 1 mm), reaches such hardness that it can be processed with a file, and it can withstand considerable loads.

The candy bowl is glued together in the same way: the end parts of the slices are connected to each other with glue or thick varnish. But in this case, a glass jar is taken as a form - liter, two-liter, three-liter. At a distance of 8-10 cm from the bottom plane, put a rubber ring on the jar. Then the jar is turned upside down. The first row of nut slices is placed on the ring, then the next one is glued to it - and so on until the entire bottom is covered. You can use a small bowl as a mold - in this case the candy bowl will turn out with the edges bent outward - this is also very beautiful.

Molding a candy bowl on a glass jar. The outermost row of nut slices rests on a rubber ring.

Using the same technology, you can make a flower vase or jug ​​by enclosing a suitable transparent glass vessel (flask, lamp cylinder, etc.) inside. If a vase with a long neck is conceived, then another component is added on top, made on a cylinder or cone of the appropriate diameter. You can finish the top with horizontally glued walnut slices or a bell glued onto a funnel.

Connection of vase parts molded on three different bases.

The pitcher will probably need a handle. It's also easy to make. To do this, two arcs are glued together on a plasticine mold - one is slightly larger than the other. Then the smaller one is placed inside the larger one, and the space between them is filled with halves or smaller parts of the lobules. When everything has hardened, you can file the rough edges and then glue the handle to the jug.

Molding the top of the jug onto the neck of the bottle. The middle section is molded onto the top of a three-liter jar.

After assembly, finished products should be coated several times with varnish, but not thickened, but liquid. This will first of all provide additional rigidity, which is so necessary when smoothing out unevenness. The fact is that nut slices, sawn with a hacksaw, are flat. It is difficult to adjust their edges to each other when gluing, and there is no particular need for this. The main task is to achieve a sufficiently tight fit of their ends. And then they are polished on the finished product.

Like jugs and vases, boxes and glass holders are made.

In the first case, the shape can be a rectangular or oval box, in the second - a glass. The handle for the cup holder is made in the same way as for the jug. Since the lid of the box must open, you first need to make the lid and the lower part, then glue a slightly protruding rim inside the lower part on which the lid will be placed. In addition, if you attach small loops to the rim, the lid will turn out to be hinged.

The surface of the products can be given relief. For this, thicker nut slices are used. One or more headbands are made from them, which give things a more decorative look. These slices can be used to finish the edges of plates and candy dishes, or to edge the neck of a jug. They can be made oval, thinned towards one of the edges, spherical, or even with edges curved upward.

The finished product must be processed with a file and all existing irregularities, nicks, etc. must be removed. hangnails. Thanks to the softness of the material, it is possible to easily achieve a completely smooth surface with smooth transitions from thickening to narrowing. The final finishing is completed with fine sandpaper. Now all that remains is to remove the dust and sawdust and coat the product with varnish - it is ready.

In conclusion, it should be added that objects glued together from walnut should be protected from overheating if possible - under the influence of heat, the nut shell and varnish expand differently, as a result of which cracks can form.

© "Encyclopedia of Technologies and Methods" Patlakh V.V. 1993-2007

From 1985 to the present day, more than 70 of my articles about different plants, but most of all I write about grapes. During this period, I managed to create 3 gardens, and I tried to share all my finds and discoveries with gardeners through my articles. But about 300 plants grow on my site, a lot can be written about many of them, and it is clear that it is simply impossible to write about everything. So, nut trees also grow on my site, letters from gardeners asking me to tell about these plants, and what I read in the newspaper “Gardens of Siberia” No. 7 for 2010, an article by Galina Kruglova (Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo region) “Jam from Manchurian nuts ", where she tells her recipe, made me write about these plants. Honestly, I was very glad that Galina Kruglova touched on this topic. It has long been known that jam can be made from Manchurian nut fruits. But first things first.
The nut family includes the genera Walnut, Hickory and Lapina. This time I will talk about the Manchurian nut, about which gardeners ask a lot of questions. I will only make a reservation that on the territory of Russia, in addition to the Manchurian nut, there are also walnuts, bear nuts, gray nuts, black nuts, hickory pecans and lapina pterocarpta.
What is good about Manchurian nut?
The fact is that many gardeners want to grow nuts on their plots, but do not plant them. frost-resistant species, mostly walnuts, usually do not achieve success, and get one disappointment.
Manchurian walnut stands out for its frost resistance, withstanding frosts down to -45°. Manchurian walnut is a tree up to 25–29 m tall, with large leaves, up to 1–1.25 m long and up to 40 cm wide, consisting of 11–19 finely serrated leaflets. Each leaf reaches 10–21 cm in length and 4–8 cm in width. In May, the Manchurian walnut blooms, producing long (up to 30 cm) staminate catkins. Pistillate flowers of 3–10 pieces bloom at the ends of the shoots. The fruit (drupe) has an elongated spherical shape, up to 6.5 cm in length and 3.5 cm in width. The drupes ripen in September and quickly fall off. There are about 120 pieces in 1 kg of dried nuts.
In the forest it blooms at 12–13 years, in a sparse state - from 5 years. In my garden - both in Ufa and here in Ulyanovsk - it began to bear fruit at the age of 8.
The trees grow in front of the house, at a distance of 7.1 m from the walls.
In Ufa, I had a garden plot on which there was a dacha with a balcony entwined with grapes. When I decided to plant a Manchurian walnut, experienced gardeners I was warned: “Walnuts are not friends with grapes. Plant a nut and the grapes will die.” I only had 6 acres of land, but I wanted to grow everything! I finally took the plunge and planted a Manchurian walnut. But so that its branches would not interfere with the grapes, whose trellis was 40 cm from the hole with the nut, I used nut shaping. I began to remove all the side buds, leaving only the apical one. I did this as long as I could reach it, and then I gave the nut free rein, and it, like a palm tree, spread its openwork crown high, which all the gardeners began to admire. The tree looks very beautiful! And the grapes grew, blossomed, produced a harvest, and both plants felt good.
Having moved to Ulyanovsk in 1991, I again planted both grapes and Manchurian walnut, applying the same formation to the nut.
The Manchurian nut grows quickly for the first 80 years. Its trunk reaches 1 m in diameter and lives up to 250 years or more. Root system very powerful, deep. The tree is wind-resistant and loves fertile soils. Tolerates temporary flooding and slight soil drought.
Walnut does not like transplanting. Therefore, it is propagated by seeds (nuts), which are sown in the fall. It's better to do this as soon as the nuts fall. When stored at home, it quickly loses its viability.
The kernel contains 59.4% fat, has a pleasant taste, is used as food fresh. The easiest way to crack a nut at home is in a vice. His shell is so dense. Nuts at milk maturity (at the beginning of June, immediately after they set) are used to prepare raspberries. Walnut wood is valued by furniture makers for its beautiful texture.
Manchurian walnut grows in the Amur and Primorye regions, but is found in cultivated plantings in many cities in the European part of the country, Siberia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
And I also value it for its medicinal properties.
Medicinal raw materials are leaves picked during flowering, as well as unripe fruits and pericarps.
The leaves contain a lot of ascorbic acid, tannins, essential oils, some alkaloids, carotene and phytoncides are also present.
A decoction of leaves and pericarp is used for stomach catarrh, diarrhea, rickets and exudative diathesis. Recipe: 20 g of crushed leaves are poured into a glass of boiling water, left for 20-30 minutes and drunk a tablespoon 3 times a day.
A tincture of the leaves is used to rinse the mouth when loosening the gums. Leaves are applied to wounds and boils. In homeopathy, preparations from the pericarp and leaves are used as mother remedies.
And to keep your feet clean, just soak them in water for 20-30 minutes. hot water 1 leaf of Manchurian nut, and when the water has cooled, pour it into a basin and keep your feet in this water for at least 20 minutes. Repeat the procedure for a week. The fungus will disappear, no need to go to the pharmacy or spend money on medicine. It has long been known that humans have countless skin diseases!
You can rinse your hair with a decoction of the leaves after washing to get rid of dandruff and improve the quality of your hair.
Finally, let me remind you that thanks to its huge, albeit openwork, crown, the Manchurian walnut improves the phytosanitary and healing environment in the garden plot, because It also traps dust. Experts have found that 1 sq. m of leaf surface projection retains about 5 g of dust in 1 month, which contains over 1 million microorganisms. This means that my area is becoming much healthier and the air is cleaner.
And jam made from Manchurian nut fruits is not only tasty, but also healing!
Here's a Manchurian nut for you!
Love and appreciate the Nature of our Russia!
Ivanova Tamara Georgievna, forestry engineer