Before the comments start flying, I would like to state that there was no wine consumption associated with the writing of this article... although there may have been some absinthe involved... Just kidding! I've never actually had absinthe, although I am somewhat tempted to try the absinthe-flavored cancoillotte that they sell in one of the fromageries in the centre ville, just because it sounds so absurd.
Anyway, this post is about walnuts, specifically, the walnuts I cracked this past weekend when I was making the walnut oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for Steph's birthday. I received the walnuts from the very nice couple who own the antiques shop near my host family's moulin. Are you tracking? Anyway, when we ate lunch there a few weekends ago, Sophie commented on the large selection of walnuts they had drying outside of one of the barns. They generously offered us a hefty bag, which Noëlle proceeded to split between Sophie and me. Isabella, the wife, told us that at the time they had been picked a little early and thus now that they were dry weren't quite as good as they could be. I begged to differ though, I thought they were delicious!
But the part that really amazed me: I could crack them open with my bare hands! It started to hurt after a dozen, so I switched to using a nutcracker, but then only needed the slightest amount of pressure to split the shells. And the nuts came out whole, not in tiny shards! My only other memories of cracking walnuts are from my early childhood, take place at one of my grandmothers' houses (probably Christmastime), and usually involved my father's assistance. I realize now, that they must have been under-ripe, which is why the shells were so tough and the nut inside disintegrated under the pressure of the nutcracker. Cracking the nuts always seemed so silly and fruitless to me, but after attempting with walnuts of the proper age, the process was enjoyable and quite productive. Although, I did note how long it took to yield the equivalent of two cups of chopped walnuts. Having to crack each nut open individually, even under optimal conditions, made me think about how I was going to use them.
So where's the life lesson? I think it's always a good thing to have a better understanding of "how the world works." I'm not talking about free lunches or birds and bees, but how exactly we as humans interact with the world around us. Take food, for example. I am pretty far removed from the process of cultivating, harvesting, or butchering the food I consume. I consider myself relatively healthy because I try to eat lots of fresh produce and minimize the presence of packaged or preserved foods in my diet. But do I buy walnuts pre-shelled, of course? And this means that for me, eating them is just as easy as cutting open a plastic bag. Walnuts, and other nuts, are relatively calorie-dense foods. One cup (117g) of chopped walnuts represents 765 calories and 117% of your daily fat allowance! I'm actually a bit ashamed as I type this, because I'm sure that, on more than one occasion, I've consumed that equivalent in granola in one sitting. But the point being, you're less likely to eat one cup of walnuts in one sitting if you have to crack open each individual shell first. Does this mean I'm giving up civilization and living in the woods with only a set of tools? Of course not. But my experience reminded me of why, in the past, consuming very calorie-dense foods wasn't as easy as it is today.
But even this isn't the point of my post. The part of this experience which really struck me was how much easier it was to crack the walnuts when they were "ripe." My previous experiences with them as cocktail fare were so removed from the original setting of the food that I didn't realize it should have been easier to open them. I just thought walnuts were like that! Here's to learning more about the world around me, in a very concrete way.
No comments:
Post a Comment