In shell Walnuts - Norene Rachess

Our In Shell Walnuts are Always From the Most Recent Harvest

The age of an in shell walnut affects the walnut’s flavor and appearance. Norene Ranche have customers who passionately believe old walnuts are less healthy due to some change in the fats in the walnut oil. I’m not sure about the accuracy of that view, but either way, fresh walnuts are a whole lot better, and the very freshest walnuts are what we sell.

Unfortunately Because older walnuts are much cheaper for distributors to buy and because they are often trying to dispose of previous harvests, many walnuts you buy elsewhere are often a full year, or even two years old. Even “expensive” walnuts can be quite old with distributors keeping a huge margin between purchase and end consumer price. We beat competitors walnut prices because our supply chain is multiple links shorter and we distribute our walnuts in a very inexpensive way. That’s a big reason we only sell a few sizes of walnuts: to keep our walnut prices and shipping costs low so that we can pass them along to you in the form of unbeatable prices on some of the best in-shell walnuts in the world.

At Norene Ranche , We will always have the freshest walnuts available in the Northern Hemisphere, and we try to ship the majority of our walnut crop immediately after harvest. For in shell walnuts that need to be stored for other times of the year, we use cold storage to preserve the freshness as well as we can. Our 2-3 day shipping times to Southern California and the cool season during which we ship the majority of our walnuts both work together to ensure our In Shell walnuts arrive looking and they came straight from the orchard.

The In Shell Walnut Varieties We Grow and Sell

The backbone of the walnut warehouse walnut supply is my Norene Ranche walnut orchard at our family farm. Norene walnuts were released by UC Davis in the late 1970s. Named for a professor there, Chandler walnuts are now the industry standard for lightness, meat yield, thin shell, and mild “buttery” walnut flavor. Most of the in shell English walnuts we sell are the Chandler variety. These are the most expensive walnuts to buy and are in great demand overseas; however, many old timers decry the lack of strong “walnut flavor” in the Chandler and favor some of the older walnut varieties with stronger walnut flavor like Hartley, Mayette, Franquette, Vina, etc.

Under Norene Walnut brand We also have Vina walnuts from a few acres our next door neighbor has. The Vina walnut is harvested a full month earlier than the typical Chandler walnut orchard, meaning we can have harvest fresh walnuts ready to go a full month sooner than we would without utilizing Vinas. Vina walnuts are a cross between the Franquette and Payne varieties of walnuts. Vina walnut meats are typically darker than Chandler walnut meats and Vina walnuts have thicker shells.

Finally, we have some Hartley walnuts. We harvest them between the Vinas and the Chandler walnuts. According to my Uncle, Hartley Walnuts are still the best In-Shell variety, and we acquire them from another small neighboring orchard.

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Immerse yourself in nostalgia with our top-quality, shelled, and in-shell walnuts. Straight from California’s ideal climate, our walnuts offer unmatched freshness, flavor, and health benefits. We ensure that you receive this year’s crop, delivering the perfect walnut experience.