"A Dog, A Woman, And A Walnut Tree"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 196, 26 March 1943, Page 12

"A Dog, A Woman, And A Walnut Tree"

| (Written for "The Listener? bv DR.

MURIEL

BELL

‘- Nutritionist to the

Department of Health)

"A dog, a woman, and a walnut tree, The more you beat them the better they be."’ S far as the first two are c on cerned, don’t take the proverb’ too literally, or you will

incur the attention of the R.S.P.C.A. and the S.P.W.C. As for the walnut tree, it does seem true that it becomes more assiduous in bearing fruit if something is done to retard the flow of sap. Procedures vary from cutting the bark about with an axe, to tying a wire band around the trunk. Once it has expended its impulse to make wood, i.e., if it is an oldish tree, there is no further: need for these inflictions — it bears fruit of its own accord, There are two reasons why a walnut tree deserves our attention. Green walnuts (at the’ stage just before the shell begins to harden), have a larger amount of vitamin C than any other thing that grows in New Zealand, As it ripens, the vitamin C becomes lessened in amount, but the nut then becomes rich in vitamin B. The method of piercing green walnuts and soaking them in_ successive brines then pickling them’ renders them valueless as far as their vitamin content is concerned. But, if you can bear their bitter taste, you can turn them into black-currant and green walnut jam; or, what was suggested by an old French recipe, halve them (or pierce them), then preserve them in thick sugary syrup. When they are halved and packed into this syrup, then left for a month, the syrup is more than twice as valuable as rose-hip syrup, and the walnuts quite nice to eat. You are.warned about a certain amount of bitterness to the taste and against suffering any bitterness towards me for stained hands! But probably this method of preserving in syrup will be the most palatable to New Zealanders. When a teaspoon of it provides quite an appreciable amount of vitamin C, it can easily be taken neat or added to drinks. The walnuts have gone past this stage now, but you may care to use them in this way next season. We New Zealanders are either too lazy to plant walnut trees or too impatient to wait 15 years for them to bear nuts, or too nomadic to think that we may still be resident 15 years hence in the place where they were planted. But could we not plant them for the future? Even if we have to leave trees for others to benefit by, there is some pleasure in leaving a legacy of this sort: to future generations, Certainly not all places.are as good for growing them ‘as Marlborough. But they will grow anywhere in New Zealand-handsome trees with scented leaves and valuable fruit, Make a note of it for Arbor Day.