Varieties

There are hundreds of named varieties of walnuts in the world. They all have the same genus and species name, Juglans regia, or the common name, English walnut. Previously they were known as Persian walnut, due to where they were originally found growing naturally.

However, over the last hundred and fifty or so years people have crossed certain cultivars of the Juglans regia to produce walnuts which have desirable characteristics, such as early or late maturing, shell thickness, ease of cracking, kernel colour and resistance to disease to name but a few. The Californians and the French have been the most active in breeding new varieties.

Walnuts Australia chose well known varieties to introduce to Australia and to multiply up in our nursery. After a lot of trial work a select number of varieties were chosen to concentrate on, these being Chandler, Howard, Serr, Vina, Lara, Ashley and Tulare. Most of these are Californian varieties as they are well known and recognisable in the world market. Walnuts Australia chose a range of varieties from early to late maturing so that the harvest season will be as long as possible, thereby reducing the amount of harvesting and processing equipment required.

Walnuts are sold as either in-shell or as kernel walnuts. Different varieties are better suited to each selling method, mainly due to the kernel colour characteristic. Chandler has a good reputation as it has a high percentage of extra light and light coloured kernel.