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About half of the flesh (kernel) inside the shell of a good quality properly dried walnut is oil. There can, of course, be significant variations depending on growing conditions in a particular region and also from season to season. Different varieties (cultivars) of walnuts also vary in oil content.
The European traditional way of making walnut oil is to grind the flesh (which has to be very good quality) into a paste, often using large stone wheels to do so. The paste is then roasted, the method and amount of roasting making a significant difference to the finished product. Roasting above a certain temperature will maximise oil extraction and minimise the chances that any vitamins survive.
After roasting the paste is pressed, usually in an hydraulic press. The quality of the resulting oil depends on the roasting time and temperature and on the pressing conditions. Wellwood cold pressed walnut oil is not roasted and is produced on a screw press. This method extracts less oil than the traditional method and results in an oil with a delicate nutty flavour which is most attractive. Our cold pressed walnut oil is made entirely from Australian walnuts grown in our orchard "Wellwood" at Wallace near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia..
After harvesting the walnuts are dried and cracked and immediately after cracking they are vacuum packed to retain maximum freshness until we are ready to make a batch of walnut oil. We also vacuum pack walnuts in for sale. When sufficient nuts have been cracked and packed they are cold pressed using a continuous screw press method. The resulting oil and fines are stored in stainless steel drums in our cool room to allow the fines to settle. The walnut oil is then bottled, labelled and packed on the premises. There are absolutely no additives of any kind whatsoever to the walnut oil. It remains pure and is not refined and is normally not filtered, so there may be a little sediment at the bottom of a bottle. We believe the unfiltered oil has a slightly better flavour than the filtered product. Trials over the past four years indicate a shelf life of at least three years for an un-opened bottle of walnut oil kept in normal home or shop temperature and lighting conditions. Once opened, the oil should be kept refrigerated and also seems to keep well for at least three years under those conditions. Our bottles are labelled with a “best before” date of about 24 months after bottling. Mind you, after you have tasted the oil, it is unlikely you will be keeping any of it for more than a few weeks.. |
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