My adorable Mr Misk discovered that he can crack a walnut using just 3 fingers, and each half of the walnut’s ‘meat’ remains perfectly whole.
Here’s how to do it. Tuck the whole walnut under your middle finger, tucking it back a bit so your finger touches the table. Now crook your index finger and 4th finger around the nut shell, tightly so it doesn’t shoot off the table like a bashed ping-pong ball. Now whack the the top of your middle finger (moderately lightly) with the side of your other hand.
Nine out of ten times, the shell will crack cleanly and easily in half. Sometimes it won’t so don’t bruise yourself if you have a duff nut.
Mr Misk Cracks a Walnut with His Fingers Here’s a video of Mr Misk performing this nifty, and thoroughly useful, party trick. So much more impressive than removing a beer bottle cap with the tip of your nose.
Do let us know how you get on with this. We think it’s quite amazing!
The Chalk Hills Kitchen 
This reminds me of the true story (it must be true, it’s from the internet!) of the guy who was selling ‘The World’s Easiest To Use Nut Cracker for just $9.99 + shipping’, of course. Those who ordered it received a small box containing two small blocks of wood, and a sheet of instructions, which read, ‘Place block 1 on the floor; place nut on top of block 1; then place block 2 on top of the nut; then step on top of block 2 until nut cracks. Guaranteed to work every time.’
If Mr. Misk likes these kind of ‘bar tricks’, I’ve got one that brought me quite a few free drinks – it involves showing a drinking companion a matchstick from a pack of paper matches, and betting him/her the next drink that you can toss the match into the air and make it come down on its thin edge every time. (this works best if your companion has already had a few) The trick is to show the match stick in its straight form, but as you are flipping it into the air, give it a 90 degree bend – it is almost impossible for it to land on one of its flat sides!
Cute! Never had anyone balk yet.
Very nifty trick with the match. Problem is that everyone’s quit smoking; no one carries matches with them any longer. 🙂 I should also, probably, set the record straight that this isn’t a bar trick that Mr Misk does. He read it in the Telegraph and tried it out of interest. We were amazed that something so simple worked so well.
Really nice to see you back in circulation again, Doc, thanks for continuing to read Misk Cooks.
Over the long run – years – how does that finger feel (fun post)
That depends on how nuts you are about walnuts! 🙂
So clever.
🙂 Mandy
Thanks! 🙂
Wow!
Yes, that’s what I thought when he did this the first time. And the walnut halves remain whole, which is great when a recipe calls for that.
Hi Misky. I bet you would have a sore hand if you needed half a kilo of nuts for a recipe:)
Hi Glenda, Yes, I suspect that’s true. Don’t throw away your nutcracker quite yet! 🙂
Sensational info. I look forward to seeing more.
Thank you, Lara, and welcome to Misk Cooks!
; )
I would think my finger would “smart” after doing this a few times!! Thank you for sharing — we have more pecans to crack than walnuts. I use to have a black walnut tree — but never could figure out how to open them. Even the “puppies” had a hard time — and they can crack rocks with their teeth!! 😀
Oh, how I wish that I had a pecan or walnut tree! How wonderful. My husband claims that his finger never gets sore from cracking nuts this way, and he does dozens of them at a time. I use an old fashioned nut cracker though because I can only do about half of the nuts this way. 😉