Is American Black Walnut food safe?

[LyNx]

A friend needs a chopping board and wants it in walnut.

Is ABW ok to use?

Andy

 

[Colin C]

Hi Andy
I dont think it is but if I am wrong I am sure someone WILL ( ) let you and me know

 

[Gill]

There are some nice chopping boards here made with ABW. I know nothing about food safety but if others are making chopping chopping boards out of ABW, I'd take the risk.

Gill

 

[Colin C]

See I told you ( Gill that was quick )

 

[Rural Platypus]

Certain species of juglans nigra produce a toxin called juglone, which is poisonous to plant life around the tree as it is growing, and I know that stables using wood shavings for horse bedding from sawmills etc won't use them if they have walnut in them. I'd keep the walnut for kitchen joinery & use beech for the chopping board if I were you.

Cheers

RP

 

[Scrit]

I don't know about safe, but dark woods tend to taint the food with either their colour and/or their flavour (sand some walnut and see what colour it makes cheese go). I suppose that's why cutting boards are all traditionally light fine-grain timbers: sycamore, beech, maple, olive, apple, etc. I reckon any chopping board with dark/tropical woods in it is just for show.

Scrit

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Personally I think that these issues can be taken rather too far, you can eat the nuts, and probably wouldn't want to eat the timber anyway (unless you're really hungry :shock: )

I suspect that Scrit has the real answer, i.e. in terms of colour tainting.

Apparently apple juice contains a known carcinogen, but that certainly doesn't stop us from drinking it, farmed fish is well known for its levels of PCBs, Dioxins and flame retardants and we still eat that. Why worry about a chopping board that you are unlikely to eat anyway.

Cheers,

Dod

P.S. - I do appreciate that if you're making it for somebody else you would probably want to play safe

 

[tim]

Apple seeds are actually very good sources of cyanide :shock:

Given that as WD says you can eat the nuts and walnut oil is used for salad dressing, I'd bet on it being okay - but don't know if abw is the source of edible nuts and oil.

Does ABW mark badly like oak when in contact with iron?

Cheers

Tim

 

[wstellwagen]

On the other hand many people are violently alergic to walnuts. For example just a hint of walnut oil puts my daughter in the hospital

Walt

 

[Rural Platypus]

Further fuel to the fire, reproduced without permission from FWW July/August 2005 (knew I'd read about it recently):

"Although walnut is a joy to work, its toxicity can do damage.
The tissues in mature walnut trees contain the chemical compound
juglone as well as other extracts that can irritate the eyes and skin.
Precautions are reasonably simple: Wear goggles and a dust mask
or respirator when machining black walnut, and wash exposed
skin with soap and water afterward. Those with greater sensitivity
might want to wear a head covering, face mask, long sleeves,
and gloves. Juglone also can wilt or kill plants, and harm horses
and dogs, something to consider when disposing of sawdust or
if your dog likes to chew on table legs."

RP :shock:

 

[Scrit]

If you've ever picked or halved walnuts you will find that the juice from the husks and in the shells will cause the hands to go brown. The bark from walnut trees was once used in vegetable tanning and the husks for commercial dying, so I suspect that there must be quite a lot of tannin in the timber, too.

Scrit

 

[Chris Knight]

I love the smell of fresh cut ABW. When machining it, it smells so fruity, I literally salivate!

 

[LyNx]

thanks for the info people. Best if i stick to beech or maple :?

 

[edmund]

If you've ever picked or halved walnuts you will find that the juice from the husks and in the shells will cause the hands to go brown. Scrit

Walnuts used to be used for making Vandyke brown. You can even use a walnut kernel to hide scratches in brown furniture by rubbing it over the scratch (not the antique restorer's method mind ).

 

[Scrit]

thanks for the info people. Best if i stick to beech or maple :?

or sycamore - probably the only one which will be native.....

Scrit

 

[mudman]

thanks for the info people. Best if i stick to beech or maple :?

or sycamore - probably the only one which will be native.....

Scrit

British-Trees.com has beech as native.

 

[Scrit]

British-Trees.com has beech as native.

Yes, but if you go to a timber yard there is a high probability that the timber you will be offered will be German, especially if it's steamed beech :lol: . Similarly commercial maple is normally from North America as the quality of home grown is very variable.

Scrit

 

[mudman]

Ah, I see what you meant now.

I do like that website though, which incidentally says that walnut (non-native) leaves and green husks are a deadly poison. :shock: Surprised me that one.