Thursday January 16, 1964 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

January 16, 1964
Thursday, beautiful, sunny, clear day, 70's.  Marilyn and Dean and Kathy ( a little girl she kept) were here in am a few minutes.  I fixed Sue's green dress and did mending.  Cracked butternuts outside.  Had a letter from mother.  Clifton and I went to Escondido in pm.  Sue stayed at Marilyn's all night.

Butternut Ripe And Ready

Comment: Again, lot's of family interactions. Butternuts are a pain to crack. We had a large butternut tree just below the steep part of the hill that ran up to the house. It was beside a small crick that ran off the mountain. It produced more nuts than we could crack and eat so there were always a lot of cracked nuts and husks on the road in that area. The only good way to crack a ripe butternut is to stand it on it's end on a hard surface, (bricks, stone, flat iron) and hit sharply on the other end. If done right, it would split lengthwise and the meats could be lifted out with fingers. The meats had a smoother, buttery taste and were delicious. Split wrong and a nut pick had to be used......as kids, I remember quite a few hours spent under that gnarled old tree cracking butternuts. There is no good way to crack a green butternut by the way.....the husks are very tough, bitter tasting, and ooze a green, greasy, oily fluid....

Green Butternut With Husk