Black Walnut Season

Updated Sept 22, 2026 – Overview: Black walnut season arrives in early fall around the Baraboo Hills. They’re edible, you can collect them for personal use on Wisconsin state properties, and getting from that big green husk to the actual walnut takes a bit more work than you might expect.

Among the many autumn memories I have, collecting black walnuts is, well, a mixed bag.

As kids, we’d be sent across the road from our grandmother’s house with much-too-large work gloves and onion bags to collect black walnuts from a line of trees along the road. Eventually, we’d come back stained in black and smelly, carrying as many nuts as our little kid arms could carry.

If that’s a fall memory you’d like to have, but you don’t have any walnut trees nearby, you can collect them in Wisconsin State Parks too.

Collecting Wild Edibles In Wisconsin State Parks

Yep, you can collect edibles such as fruits, nuts, and mushrooms in Wisconsin State Parks and natural areas without a permit, as long as you’re collecting them by hand for your own personal consumption. That includes black walnuts. (NR 45.04) Here’s some official info.

However, there are limits on what you can collect from public lands, so this isn’t a general invitation to gather plants, flowers, roots, rocks, or whatever else catches your eye. When it comes to walnuts, though, gathering a few for yourself is allowed.

Black Walnut Season

Black walnuts generally ripen around September and October. You’ll usually start seeing them dropping from the trees as the big green husks begin to soften.

And then comes the work.

Black Walnuts Make You Work For it!

The thing about black walnuts is that they are not like the big, fancy English walnuts you buy from the store. (Well, originally from the Middle East…) The black walnuts we collect around here demand a lot more work before you can enjoy them.

First, you have to find a tree and pick ’em. You’ll also find a lot on the ground, but you’ll want to collect them while they’re still in good shape. Then you have to remove the big smelly husks. Some say it’s a pine or citrus smell.

And this is where those work gloves become important.

Black walnut husks stain just about everything they touch, including your hands. In fact, walnut husks have historically been used as a dye.

Next, the nuts will have to be washed, dried out, and then cracked with something like a hammer. They work best in recipes and are not really the sort of nut you put out on the table for guests.

The University of Illinois Extension has a good step-by-step guide to collecting and preparing black walnuts if you want to give it a try.

Have fun.

And remember, wear gloves, or good luck washing your hands!