HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm setting up a batch of young walnuts fermenting for walnut ketchup, and it occurred to me the crabs might like one (unfermented). The only info I can find on safety refers to mature shelled English walnuts, not whole black walnuts with husk and shell, so I was wondering if anyone had an idea as to their safety.

Wow, you have my attention!! I love ketchup!!! What is walnut ketchup, and what is it used for?

I personally purchase organic walnuts, although not black ones, never heard of those, and my crabs love them! I have given my crabs the shells. I crack them open and expose what is inside. Mine love all sorts of nuts


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I would at least husk them, it is extremely bitter and pretty much nothing eats it so it might turn the crabs off. Walnuts and shells are safe though.

As recently as the turn of the century, ketchup was pretty much a generic term for sauces containing vinegar, with mushroom and walnut being popular bases. It was only recently that tomato ketchup became synonymous with the term. I found the recipe in an old edition of The Joy of Cooking, of the vintage that includes instructions on preparing beaver tail. It pretty much amounts to brining young walnuts (before the hard shell has developed within the husk) for a week before boiling the mash with spices, anchovies and port and straining. From what I've read, walnut ketchup is not dissimilar to Worcestershire sauce.

I'll make it an experiment, I think, since the concern is them not being eaten, not them being a danger. A whole immature walnut alongside one peeled down to the still-soft shell and one bisected to expose the heart.

Interesting information!


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Ooh - careful not to get the dye on your clothes. Maybe wear gloves if you'll need to cut out bad bits or anything & don't want your fingers discolored?