These nuts are a cross between butternuts (white walnuts) and Japanese walnuts. It's hard to find the purebred ones. I checked it out online because a number of the seedlings were planted by squirrels in the lawn, and I wanted to help restore the species. They still taste great!
Pure butternut shells are spikier, and do not clearly show the central ridge where the halves meet.
This first nut opened beautifully, I must have hammered it just right. The other two came out somewhat mangled! Thinking about getting a good hardshell nutcracker.
Previous research said to let the nuts dry in their green hulls, just keep them exposed to dry air, such as by hanging in onion bags, until the hulls dry on their own. Well that didn't work for me, they still molded on the inside. I had too many. You know they're dead when the get very lightweight.
Finally the best advice came this third year of knowing the trees, from Leda Meredith in Northeast Foraging. She said to go ahead and remove the husks with a hammer; they'll be less likely to mold.
Next, when to shell them? Unlike her recommendation for black walnuts - to dry a couple months for the best flavor - she doesn't mention waiting for butternuts. Anyway, maybe I can put some loose in the fridge to dry out more quickly... Perhaps they'll be ready to shell and replace with a new batch before they get piled up...
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