- When I say walnuts, what's your first reaction?
- They go in salads or cakes.
- They wouldn't make my top five nuts.
(Jamie laughs)
- Well, let's see if we can change that.
Barry and I travelled to California,
home to some of the best walnuts on the planet.
(pin dings) (upbeat music)
We did so by invitation of the California Walnut Commission.
Yeah, that is a real thing. (choral music)
And it was super eye-opening, there are so many ways
that this vastly underrated ingredient can transform a dish.
Now, let's see if we can convince these two.
We have the dishes ready for you boys.
Lift the cloche on number one. (upbeat music)
- Ooh, ooh, mm. - Ooh.
- Now, I was not expecting that.
Ah, I'm excited.
- Before you dig in, perhaps you lift the mini cloche.
- Our cloche usage is getting ridiculous.
- (laughs) Yeah, hey, walnuts. - Hashtag love Sac.
(record needle scratches)
- Right. - You two have obviously,
had a lovely time together.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- To be fair, Sac, meaning just short for Sacramento,
which is where we were.
At its most basic, have a taste.
How would you describe the taste of a walnut?
- Creamy to- - Creamy.
- Ooh. - Oh hello, yeah.
Creamy texture.
Yeah. - Smooth,
with a bitter after taste. - Yes.
- They're nice.
- [Ben] And now try it in the dish.
You've got some other little crispy things to dip.
- Always get more dip than crisp.
- Oh, always. - Yeah,
it's all about the ratios, cheers.
- Cheers. (upbeat music)
- Now, this is muhammara.
So it's a Middle Eastern Turkish or Syrian dip
made from roasted peppers and walnuts, primarily,
but also olive oil and some spices like Aleppo pepper.
- So a bit like a romesco sauce?
- Similar, in the sense it's a nut and bread-based dip
with roasted peppers and garlic, as this has,
but slightly different, traditionally almond.
We had a version of romesco while in California,
made with walnut, so that can be done too.
But this is muhammara.
- That is stunning.
- That is astonishing.
That is so good.
The smokiness. - Yeah.
- Mm.
- The sweetness and the tang of that
is genuinely spectacular.
- And what's the walnut doing in there then?
- I'm guessing, texture.
- It's the body of the dish,
in the sense that it's giving it like a creamy,
but also a texture that is similar
to a chickpea would give a hummus,
the walnut is giving this dip.
- If I was to ask you how a walnut is grown,
would you have any idea?
- Literally no clue.
- The walnut is actually the seed of a fruit.
And the fruit, from a distance, looks like
a little green apple.
- So I'm Bill Carriere,
this is Carriere Family Farms, we grow walnuts.
On the tree, you wouldn't know, you know,
it looks like a green apple almost, a small apple.
And then when the moisture finally hits, and they're ripe,
the hull starts to open up and come off.
And then inside you have a walnut.
And so the walnut is the seed of the tree.
- I did not know that, it's like a conker.
- Yeah. (Barry laughs)
- It's kinda like a conker. - When you think of it
like that, a horse chestnut.
And it's got the outside hull or husk,
and inside is the shell.
And inside the shell is what we call a nut,
but it's actually the seed of the fruit.
- And when the husk dries, the nut naturally,
pops out and falls to the floor.
But sometimes it needs a little assistance.
- Whoa. (Mike laughs)
I've never seen something like that before.
- [Ben] It's like sitting in a Thunderbird.
- Genuinely interesting.
- When it was shaking, not just the tree was shaking,
but the whole floor was, 'cause the whole root system
is shaking around.
And like, these trees are really, really heavy.
- Did you try?
- [Barry] I tried, and did not drop a nut.
(Jamie laughs)
- The roots of the walnut tree,
basically, everything you see above ground,
exists underground as well, they are such deep root systems.
- They've spent so much time together.
- I know, now they're interpretive dancing in sync.
(group laughs)
- Technically, if you take the tree
and just turn it upside down,
that's what the roots generally look like.
They're a little flatter, but in good soil they'll go,
it'll look almost exactly the same as an upside down tree.
- And whilst we were in California,
the walnut is thought to originate
from like, Persia and kind of the Middle East,
so that's kind of why we did this dip.
But even other dips you might be more familiar with
or other sauces, like pesto Genovese,
was originally made with walnuts before pine nuts.
- I know. - Walnut trees
are a Mediterranean crop,
so they grow all across the Mediterranean
and that's why they also work so well in California,
which has a Mediterranean climate.
- Specifically where we are, the soil and water
is plentiful, I think our climate is conducive
and we have a Mediterranean climate,
very clear four seasons.
In the fall, it's generally mild and good for harvest.
We get cold weather which puts the trees to sleep
in dormancy in the winter.
Mild spring for good blooming and pollination,
and then a warm summer to get the trees to grow
and be healthy.
- Very interesting, very tasty.
- Really good. - I feel like I've started
a journey, I don't know about you.
- Are you on a journey?
- I might be on a journey.
- You're on a journey,
it's moved up into the top 10?
- Warm, warm. - Warm, warm.
- I could do with more convincing.
(cheerful upbeat music)
- Can you beat that dip?
- Well, we'll see, lift on number two.
- Ooh. - What on earth is that?
Oh, it's aubergine.
- Oh, oh oh, do I know what this is?
- You should do. - You probably do.
- Yeah, I do know what this is.
Ha, you are the odd one out.
You're the only one in this room
that doesn't know what that is.
- I don't know what that is.
- Have a taste.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
(upbeat music continues)
- Mm, hm, mm. - Oh wow.
That's stunning.
- Oh yeah. - That is so nutty.
That's so savoury and oily, but in a great way.
- That's like supercharged walnut flavour.
- What is this?
- So there's a dish inspired by Georgian cuisine,
which is why Jamie will know it.
We had it when we were in Georgia, earlier in the summer.
But it's basically a walnut paste that's then been bound
or rolled almost roulade-style, in grilled aubergine.
It's finished with some pickled onion
and fresh parsley and some whole walnuts.
But the paste itself, is seasoned with garlic and olive oil.
Khmeli suneli, which is the spice blend from Georgia
we did a long time ago, and date molasses.
- Oh. - That's what it is,
it's a date molasses as well.
- So you've eaten this before,
and at the beginning you were like,
"walnuts are for salad,"
but you knew that this had walnut paste in before.
You've eaten it before and you've enjoyed it before.
- It's got aubergine, it's like a salad isn't it?
Aubergine, (group laughs)
onions, olive oil, it's basically a salad.
- [Mike] I mean the walnut paste is so creamy,
earthy and bitter, with the molasses, it just goes bang.
- So you're getting more walnut flavour from this one then?
- Yeah, definitely. - Definitely.
That walnut paste in the middle
is like supercharged walnut flavour.
- Because it's not completely smooth,
the texture's really enjoyable to eat.
And when you crunch through it
you do get proper walnut taste,
which, when balanced with everything else,
it tastes phenomenal, genuinely.
- So you've obviously heard of things like ground nut oil.
You've heard of sesame oil, which comes from a seed.
You've probably heard of peanut oil.
(spoon clatters) - What does it smell like?
If you say walnuts, I'm gonna put this in you.
(Jamie and Barry laugh)
Oh, it's really roasty,
really roasty. - Yeah, very roasted.
- And again, like other seeds,
like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, you get that nuttiness.
Even though it's a seed, this we called a nut,
even though it is the seed of a fruit.
- It's really aromatic.
It's really light. - Mm.
- So we finished the dish by drizzling over
because something like a walnut oil,
you wouldn't necessarily want to cook with.
But we finished with a little drizzle of that over the top.
- This one says you can.
- It's like a,
'cause it's like a cold pressed walnut oil.
- Fine. - A bit like an extra virgin.
You can, but it is better as a finishing oil.
Interestingly, we were lucky enough
to be shown around the processing plant.
So the Carriere Farm we went to, fourth generation,
although his son's already involved,
it's a very soon to become fifth generation.
They are growers but also processors.
And we saw the whole system, from walnuts coming in,
being sorted and washed and then down through,
some of them being crushed and sorted into different sizes.
But what I found fascinating was like, all of the dust
that doesn't quite make the packaging,
and all of the broken shell,
that can be used to make walnut oil.
So it's not just the nut, it's some of the extra skin
and shell that also goes into making walnut oil.
So it's kind of a byproduct of the amazing
walnut halves you get, but it's delicious.
- That is dangerously more-ish
for an oil. - Yeah.
- Again, I found it fascinating to see how much effort
goes into getting a walnut out of its shell.
Again, if you do it by hand, it's quite a fiddly process.
But the machines crush them and then they suck up
the light bits of shell and then leave
the delicious walnut in the middle.
- Is it a sustainable nut?
- These trees that are making walnuts,
are doing a lot more than just making walnuts.
Think of all the good they're doing
to the atmosphere around it as well.
And the fact that they self-pollinate,
they don't need a partner to pollinate them.
- They don't need a bee. - Don't need a bee.
- Yeah, so walnuts are unique in that
they do not use bees for pollination.
So they're wind pollinated and so there's a little,
a catkin that grows on the tree, that is a pollen shedder.
And then the flower, you wouldn't even notice
the flower when a walnut's green.
And so it comes out in a different place
and then the wind just can blow,
blow from the pollen to the flower.
We're on the cutting edge,
and some would argue bleeding edge of sustainability
and regenerative agriculture.
We don't burn our prunings for example,
we mulch them and put them back in the soil.
We're working on an energy project for the shells even,
to create that to green energy.
We have solar panels on all of our irrigation equipment,
on our plant, on our office.
- Obviously, any fruit is gonna need water to produce,
but with careful irrigation, they use drip irrigation,
so it's very controlled.
And they're right on the Sacramento River.
So actually, every year that floods the groves
and orchards anyway, then gentle irrigation throughout.
And then essentially, yes, you get the walnut,
but also there's lots of uses for the shell and the husk.
And then the tree itself is carbon sequestering
a huge amount because of the deep root system.
- You are putting together a convincing argument lads,
but I'm going to need more food.
- Would you like another dish? - Yes please.
(image swooshes)
(upbeat music)
- This smells amazing.
- I think I can smell what it is.
- Off you go.
- Oh. - Yes.
But also why, how, where?
- Let's get you a portion, and taste it.
- Is that not the portion?
- Great, yeah, where's mine?
(group chuckles) (rock music)
- [Ben] It is indeed, a walnut and mushroom lasagna.
So not ragu-based, not tomato-based,
but we sauteed off some mushrooms with garlic,
added in chopped walnuts.
And then there's white wine,
there's a couple different cheeses in there,
some cream that makes a wonderful mix we layer
between fresh pasta, and on top a ricotta and Parmesan top,
which is meat-free.
- Interesting, well now, I'm actually
more intrigued to eat it now.
Cheers. - Cheers.
- [Ben] It's a vegetarian lasagna.
(rock music continues)
- That has a very savoury taste to it.
- Yeah, like a- - And a very different
texture, 'cause it's usually quite liquidy I would say,
and smooth, but because you've got all of those
little bits of walnut in it.
- The crunch through the walnut,
makes you really taste the walnut.
And it's really silky.
It's like the sauce is really like, emulsified.
So it's really silky.
- So there was a few times on our holiday,
I mean, business trip, (Jamie laughs)
where we had meat-free meals, where walnuts
were the meat replacement for it.
And we had these amazing tacos
with a fake meat inside of it.
But again, it was the simplest recipe in the world.
Took like, 10 minutes to make and it was delicious.
How does it fare in this, as a meat replacement?
- You don't miss it. - You don't.
- I mean, as a lasagna, it's an absolute banging lasagna.
It's a different tasting lasagna to obviously,
one with a ragu, but it's still a banging lasagna.
I can't think of anywhere where I would've had
walnuts and mushrooms together.
But they compliment each other really, really well.
- The thing is, when you chop the walnuts up
and you cook them, they add a texture and a creaminess
to the dish, and a flavour as well.
But they're also very good at taking on flavour
so then you've got all the garlic
and the wine and the cheese as well.
The mushrooms keep it really succulent,
and you are right, it's not a tomato-based dish.
Even a lot of vegetarian lasagnas are tomato-based,
this isn't, but instead, you get that wonderful
creamy earthiness from the mushrooms.
And although we saw the processing of the walnuts
in the factory, to shell them and sort them,
it's not like an ultra processed meat alternative,
like a like a corn or something else.
So it's a handful of walnuts chopped up.
- And it's really, I mean it's really interesting to eat,
interesting and delicious.
It's like the perfect thing that I look for in new food.
- Yeah. - It's like, show me something
that I've never seen before
but make sure it measures up in taste and eating experience.
And I think that has done exactly that.
It is really delicious.
- For me, it's the combination of walnuts
with mushrooms that make that-
- Yeah. - So good.
- That's it, and that's something that we can take
into our cooking.
- Yeah. - Definitely.
- Have you got space for dessert?
- Absolutely. - Always.
(Barry laughs) We've still got
that to get through first.
- Yeah, this is pre-dessert. - Yeah.
(image swooshes) (rock music)
We putting nuts in something sweet?
- We must be. - Right, final one,
lift the cloche. (rock music continues)
- It looks fantastic.
- It's chocolate. - Looks like a Ferrero Rocher.
- [Jamie] Yeah, it does look like a Ferrero Rocher.
- [Ben] So you're gonna have to hack into it.
But think of it as a cross between Ferrero Rocher,
walnut whip, and a Tunnock's tea cake.
- Walnut whip. - Walnut whip.
- Classic UK confectionery.
- So absolutely, walnuts are used in baking,
whether it's walnut bread, in banana bread, in brownies.
However, we thought we'd try a few different things.
So here we've made a walnut sponge,
so a pretty classic kind of Swiss roll-style sponge,
but it's got ground walnuts in it.
We've also made a walnut granola, so heavy on oats
and walnuts to give it a bit of texture.
In the middle is a coffee and mascarpone cream,
and then it's coated in chocolate and chopped walnuts.
It's about 50/50 dark chocolate and walnuts,
and it's finished with a perfect walnut half.
- You've gone all out.
- It's gonna be hella walnutty.
- Cheers. (rock music)
- That mousse, oh that mousse.
- It's like a cloud. - So good.
- The texture difference between that mousse,
which is ridiculously light and airy.
(Mike gasps) And then the crunch
of the dark chocolate and the nuts on the outside.
I'm gonna use the word, decadent.
- It is decadent. - Decadent.
- And when we think about desserts or nutty desserts,
there are lots and we love them all.
But whether it's kind of like, hazelnut-based
or almond-based or pistachio-based,
probably tend to be more familiar.
But actually, walnuts, whilst we might use them
in cakes and more often tea and cookies and biscuits,
they're brilliant in dessert form too.
- For me, they're almost like, bringing back
some of the sweetness.
Like, when a cake is full of sugar,
the walnut kind of just levels things out a little bit.
- 'Cause it's not a sweet nut.
- Yeah. - 100%,
and what makes them so good nutritionally,
with all the omega-3,
omega-3 is a fat that goes rancid quicker than others.
So actually, something like walnuts,
whilst they're better in terms of the omega-3ness,
they will also go a bit more rancid a bit quicker.
And I think that's the problem.
And my biggest takeout of the whole trip
was we've been treating and storing walnuts wrong
all of our lives.
They shouldn't be a store cupboard ingredient,
they should be treated like produce.
- Shelf life for walnuts, typically,
if they're kept properly can be, you know, over a year.
So you wanna keep 'em in a cool dark place.
In the freezer is where we keep them
because especially after you shell them,
if you break the pellicle a little bit,
that causes the oxidation.
The high omega-3 fatty acids,
that makes walnuts so healthy,
it also breaks down very quickly.
- As soon as you picture a walnut hanging on a tree,
you realise it is a fresh product, it needs to be used up.
And especially once you've cracked it open
it's gotta be used up relatively quickly to stay fresh.
- This bag that we've been using,
they have to be least a year old
'cause they're only harvesting this year's now.
It sounds stupid 'cause I absolutely understand,
that when you say apple, there's lots of different
types of apple, depending on what you're doing.
Different types of pear, different types of strawberry.
In my head, a walnut was a walnut,
whereas California grows 23 different types of walnut,
and they all have slightly different profiles.
The Chandler walnut is the majority of the output
in California, and is likely to be the ones
that we get here.
So boys, we've only scratched the surface
with four new dishes.
But what are your thoughts on walnuts now?
- I think, six dishes would've been
more persuasive. (laughs) - Yeah.
- I think we say this with a lot of ingredients
that we get to learn more about.
But the more that you know, the more you understand,
the more you can appreciate it.
- Yeah. - And I wasn't there
at the beginning of this journey.
- Appreciation, appreciation,
(lips smack) appreciation.
(Jamie sniggers)
- Now over to you guys,
what are your thoughts on walnuts?
- And of course, a big thank you
to California Walnut Commission
for taking us out there and showing us firsthand,
the growers and the orchards.
We learned a lot, if you want to learn even more,
you can click on the link downstairs.
- And give the video a like, if you liked the video.