Walnuts are grown in many different countries all around the world and even in our small country of Holland you can find walnut trees. It is a very nice nut which can be used in many different recipes. It is used in the different industries as well as in mixed nuts and dried fruits as a snack product.

Origins / growing areas
The most important growing areas are California (USA), India and China. Beside these main origins, France, Moldavia, Kyrgyzstan and Chile are processors of Walnut kernels. The quality of these various origin differ but each origin finds an application and is being bought for specific purposes.

Grades / Varieties
Walnut kernels from India and China are graded in Halves, Quarters and Pieces. The 2nd grading is done by color resulting in Light, Light Amber and Amber color.
The main reason for this selection is that goods are shelled manually, whereas in the USA, walnuts are shelled by machine.
In USA they have a different type of grading. They are selecting on colour and percentage of Halves (for example LHP80% means Light Halves and Pieces with a minimum of 80% halves)

Harvest times / Shipment times
India/China : harvest is starting in September/October until November.
Californian harvest starts at the very end of August (in a year where the crop is real early)/September and the late varieties are harvested during October.
Chile : New crop is available during February.
France and Moldavia are harvesting during August/September.

Packing
The product from USA is 25 lbs net per carton. In China they are packing in 10 or 12,5 kg net per carton. India is packing mostly 10 kg net per carton.

Nutritional values (per 100 gram)
Energy 698 kcal.
2.919 kJ.
Total Fat 64,0 gr.
Total Protein 14,8 gr.
Total Carbohydrates 13,7 gr.
Total Minerals 1,9 gr.
Total Vitamins 2,8 mg.