A morning in Srinagar’s old markets
Where to buy dry fruit, spices and kahwa leaf in old Srinagar, and how to tell good stock from tourist stock.
Choosing walnuts: kernels, paper-shell and colour grades
Light, light amber and amber halves, and whole walnuts you crack yourself: what the grades mean and what each is for.
Kashmir grows most of India’s walnuts, and the orchards around Shopian, Kupwara and Anantnag harvest them from September to early October. In our shop we sell two forms: kernels already shelled, and whole paper-shell walnuts that you crack at home.
Kernels are graded by colour. Light kernels are the palest, almost cream, with a mild sweet taste; these are our ₹1,150 a 500 g pack. Light amber and amber kernels are darker and slightly more bitter, and cost less. The colour comes from the variety and how long the nut sat on the tree and in the sun, not from age. Halves cost more than pieces because breaking a shell without splitting the kernel takes skill. For baking and chutneys, pieces are perfectly good.
Paper-shell walnuts have a thin shell that cracks with a squeeze of two walnuts in your palm or a light tap. At ₹890 a kilo, you get about 450 g of kernel, so they work out cheaper than shelled kernels, and the shell keeps the nut fresh for longer. They are what Kashmiri homes keep through the winter.
Store kernels in an airtight jar in the fridge, especially from April to September; walnut oils turn rancid in heat. A rancid kernel smells of paint and tastes sharp. Whole walnuts keep for six months in a cool, dry cupboard. We sell only the latest harvest, and when it runs out in summer, we say so.
