PICKLED WALNUTS ?

NO, this is not a reference to husband getting drunk, that would be "Pickled Numnuts". I have discovered another new, (to me), and odd food item here in Jolly Old England. Ger happened to be reading the food section of Sunday's paper, (he must have been desperate) and he came across a recipe that called for, yes, PICKLED WALNUTS! Never in all my life have I heard of this strange food and so naturally I had to find out first hand what this was all about. I did look it up on the Internet AFTER I went to the store and bought a jar of the mysterious things. To save you the time of an Internet search of your own I'll fill you in on what I found. It seems that these peculiar treats are well know to the English and are often part of the Christmas feast. Walnuts are taken from the tree before their hard shells form, (some time at the end of June), and are punctured and soaked in brine for several weeks. They are then drained, dried for a couple more weeks and then they are PICKLED ! Along the way of this process they turn black. This just intrigues me more and more. Since we just happened to be going to the grocery store YET AGAIN (remember it is one of the few places I can get to and back from without getting lost.), I added Pickled Walnuts to my shopping list. Not having a clue as to where to find them or what I will do with them if I do find them, the search was on. Low and behold there they sat in the Pickled food section. Now incidentally, on my list I also was searching for Sauerkraut to go with the fresh pork roast for dinner. Having not yet determined the rhyme or reason to the British grocery store I thought perhaps pickled cabbage,(as in sauerkraut) might be found in the same section as pickled walnuts. No chance! Silly me, the sauerkraut was in the "POLISH" section. That discovery was made by my assistant, Ger, and 6 employees of the grocery store. As we have often found in this country the first response is,"We don't have that." but if you persist they usually hit upon someone who can find what we are looking for. Along the way of our shopping adventure today we also picked up a very sad replica of a coconut. It is about a quarter of the size of the coconuts we have in Florida but I thought it would be fun for Abby to try.
Once home from our adventure to Tesco I had to check out the strange new walnuts. Sure enough they are soft, black, walnut sized things floating in a black malt vinegar. I tasted one and the texture is sort of like that of an olive The taste is fabulous! If you like pickles and walnuts. They are used to accent the taste of beef roasts and cheeses and I can see how they would make both taste wonderful. As with the clotted cream I think it is a good thing that these are not common in the USA because they are just more things my chubby body does not need to add to the menu. As for the walnuts I am now planning a beef stew with pickled walnuts for the end of the week.
OH, FYI . . . Abby had a great time smashing the coconut but does not like the taste or texture. I wonder if I could pickle coconut?