Foraging Black Walnut and Making a Tincture, Infused Oil, and Powder
If you’re fortunate to live in an area where black walnut trees grow natively or perhaps have one in a yard nearby, you can harvest and use the hulls of the fruit for some strong plant medicine. Black walnut can be prepared as a tincture, infused in an oil, or even powdered for the extremely powerful medicinal qualities, especially for fungal infections and internal parasites. Strong tea washes can also be made by decocting the hulls.
Black walnut trees are absolutely beautiful and grow well in zones 4-9. They love rich, dark soil that’s loamy and loose. The bark is ribbed and is a lovely gray color, while the leaves are actually systems of odd-numbered leaflets that grow alternately along the stem.
The tree grows from 50 to 150 feet tall, and the walnut fruits drop off the branches from August through October, depending on the area. You can pick them up from the ground or pick them, if the branches are low enough.
You can see how to identify the tree as well as how to make the tincture and infused oil in this YouTube video, if you enjoy watching.
The medicinal portion of the plant is actually the hull of the fruit, and you’ve probably not seen this part unless you’re familiar with tree. You see, there are three layers of the fruit: the green outer hull, the white or light brown shell inside, and the nutmeat in the center. It’s the nut, or nutmeat, that you’re used to eating.
The green hull is generally discarded by people harvesting for food, but it’s that hull that we use for plant medicine! It contains compounds that are absolutely exceptional as a powerful antifungal useful for candida infections, overgrowth of yeasts on the skin or in the mouth or other cavities (thrush etc.), athlete’s foot, ringworm, and even nail fungus.
It’s also a powerful and well-known anti-parasite medicine, especially for internal parasites including tapeworms, round worms, and pin worms. These are common in both people and pets.
Here’s the video just below, and following, directions for preparing the hulls for a tincture and infused oil as a base for a healing salve.
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About the medicinal part of the plant: The fruit.
There are three layers to the fruit of the black walnut tree. There’s the inner nutmeat, then there’s the shell, which is the middle layer. Finally, on the outside is a bright green hull. The entire fruit is about the size of a lime, and although the hull is a similar color, the texture is different—-more smooth.
The very inner layer is the nutmeat, or the actual walnut. This is edible, however, the black walnut species (Juglans nigra) isn’t the usual culinary choice nowadays, as the English walnut (Juglans regia) is tastier, sweeter, and much more palatable than the black walnut. But in a pinch, the black walnut (nut) is still a good wild food choice, although it’s not medicinal.
The middle layer is the actual shell that surrounds the nutmeat. When you’re preparing the nutmeat to eat, you need to season the inner fruit (nut) inside the shell for a time until it’s completely dried. This is the hard, wrinkly outer shell. If you’ve purchased bulk walnuts at the grocery store in winter time, perhaps you’ve seen this middle layer, or shell.
Then there’s the outer layer, which is the hull. You can see this in the video picture above. It’s bright green, much softer than the middle shell layer, and is rather juicy until it begins becoming overly mature. This is the medicinal portion, and is the part of the fruit you work with when making black walnut plant medicine.
To obtain the hulls from the inner portion, you simply cut them off. It takes a bit of time, and you need gloves to protect your hands. This is because the juice from the hull stains terribly. It looks yellow at first, then turns very dark. If you’ve seen black walnut stain found in hardware stores, then you can see it’s a dark stain.
If it gets on your fingers, it will stain for weeks on some people.
Anyhow, you can see how I remove the hulls in the video above.
Here are black walnut fruits i the hull. To see the complete fruit and all the layers, be sure to watch the YouTube video above.
How to Make a Black Walnut Tincture
For the tincture, simply fill a wide mouth mason jar with the green or freshly fallen hulls. Pour 150 proof (75% alcohol) to within an inch of the top of the jar, making sure the hulls are fully submerged beneath the alcohol.
Place a lid on top, and be sure to shake it occasionally as it steeps. If you place it in a sunny window, the gentle heat will help the hulls release the powerful constituents into the liquid. This is also called an alcohol extract.
After four weeks or so, strain off the liquid and store in a glass jar in a cool, dark cupboard. It will last for many years.
Using and Dosing Black Walnut Tincture
One of the main benefits of black walnut tincture is to expel and kill intestinal worms. It’s got this capability because of quinone compounds including juglone, juglandic acids, and very strong tannins among other constituents.
Another use for black walnut is to help balance the body ability to reduce excess candida and other microbes and yeasts that cause painful fungal rashes. Internally, an excess growth of candida weakens the intestinal walls, and allows leakage into the body. These days, we know this as “leaky gut” syndrome.
The tincture can be very helpful for thrush and overgrowths of candida in certain areas.
In addition, black walnut contains high levels of astringing tannins that tighten and tone the intestines. It can also be useful for those who sweat excessively, and can be a short term helper for hot flashes too.
It’s also very high in iodine.
For dosing, use 20-30 drops (about 1/2 tsp) in water two times a day. See the article linked below on adjusting dosages for children and other populations.
For dosing information, you can find out more here if you need to make adjustments. This link is to a government article that explains how to use the person’s weight to adjust dosing.
Safety and Contraindications:
Do not use it for longer than two weeks without taking a break for a week or two before resuming. Also, if you’re allergic to walnuts, do not use black walnut products. There is some evidence that black walnut may cause cancer when used for long periods of time. It’s a bit hard on the body, so use if for short periods (two weeks at a time).
Here is the tincture at the very start—-within an hour of pouring the alcohol over the hulls.
Here’s the black walnut tincture after 24 hours….see how black it already is? I’ll let this steep for another four weeks before straining off the liquid extract. My tincture ended up being pure black. So beautiful!
Making a Black Walnut Infused Herbal Oil
A black walnut infused herbal oil is wonderfully helpful for topical fungal infections such as ringworm, athlete’s foot, candida issues on the skin.
Normally, I’m very careful to use completely dried plant matter in oil, as mold easily forms when moisture is introduced into oil. Water harbors bacteria, after all. Here’s more information on herbal infused oils.
But in the meantime, I used a different method to extract the herbal goodness from the hull into the oil. I used a combination of fast, hot method with the use of some high proof alcohol.
What I did was to fill a wide mouth a little over half way full with the hulls. I then poured about a tablespoon or two into the jar with the hulls. Finally, I poured organic olive oil to within an inch of the top of the jar. I left the lid off to allow moisture to evaporate, while putting the jar into a crock pot filled with water about halfway up the outside of the jar. I also left the lid off the crockpot to alleviate the chance of condensed water dripping into the jar of oil and hulls.
I let this infuse for about 24 hours (a little more actually) on low and/or warm. Overnight, I left the heat on warm. Otherwise, I just monitored the water in the crock pot so it wouldn’t run dry.
After steeping for many hours like this, I strained off the hulls and poured the infused oil into a clean jar to store in a cool, dark place.
Using the Black Walnut Infused Oil
I like to use the oil as a base in healing salves for topical fungal infections. Apply to the affected area several times a day as needed.
If you want to strengthen the antifungal powers even further, add a 10% dilution of tea tree essential oil.
Here’s the Black Walnut oil at the very beginning of the infusion process….the hot, fast method.
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Preparing Black Walnut Powder
First, you’ll need to dry the hulls completely. They are quite juicy and wet, as well as being thick, so it does take some time to dry them. You’ll need to apply some gently heat to speed the process because otherwise they may spoil before they can become fully dry.
You can use a dehydrator or even an oven set on the lowest heat setting available. The dehydrator will take up to two days, while the oven will take a much shorter time. Be sure to check the hulls for dryness. You may be able to move them a bit, but otherwise, they’ll be completely dry.
Put the completely dried hulls into a grinder and powder them up!
If you want, you can purchase the powder already created from Starwest Botanicals.
Using Black Walnut Powder
You can take black walnut powder internally. Take 1/4 to 1/2 tsp as a full dose for an adult. You can also add it to foods or into liquids.
For topical use, you can add some water and make it into a paste, although staining may occur.
And here’s the black walnut infused oil after 24 hours of the hot method. I’m straining off the liquid to bottle and store. You can see how black the liquid and the hulls are!
Final Thoughts on Foraging, Harvesting, and Using Black Walnut for Home Remedies
Black walnuts are a perfect example of a commonly found tree or plant that you can easily find and use to make your own home remedies and plant medicine. We’ve lost our traditional ways, and it’s time we brought back the empowerment that our ancestors had!
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Hugs, Health, and Self-Reliance,
Heidi
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Find out how to forage for black walnuts and use them for medicine. You need black walnut tincture, powder, and herbal infused oil in your home medicine cabinet! Great for preppers and anyone who wants to be self-sufficient and empowered in your health.
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor. I am an herbalist and aromatherapist and use plant medicine 100% of the time. Statements made here are for information only and not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent disease. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.