Nuts

Flour

Walnut flour is a fine powder milled from dried walnut kernels after shell grit is cleaned away. It is high in oil and low in structure, so bakers treat it as a flavour and tenderness ingredient—blended into cookies, tart shells, cakes, and gluten-free mixes— rather than a solo yeast-bread flour. Fresh flour smells sweetly nutty with a mild tannin edge; stale flour smells of old oil paint and must be replaced. Sift before measuring, weigh for consistency, and consider a light toast for deeper aroma in biscuits. Keep bags airtight and cold or frozen. Good flour is free-flowing and aromatic; bad flour is clumpy, grey, or bitter. This stage assumes shells are already gone. Compared with almond flour it is more bitter-aromatic; compared with chestnut flour it is oilier and less starchy-sweet. Major tree-nut allergen status remains after milling.