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Walnuts in California

        California with it's mild climate and deep fertile soils provide ideal growing conditions for  California Black Walnut, aka California Claro Walnut. West Coast walnut orchards produce 98% of the total U.S. walnut crop and account for 2/3 of the worlds trade in walnuts. The Franciscan Fathers are credited with introducing Juglans regia (English walnut) into California from Spain in the early 1800's. The first commercial planting of English walnut began in 1867 by Joseph Sexton an orchardist and nurseryman in the Santa Barbara County town of Goleta. For several years walnuts were predominantly planted in the southern areas of California, accounting for 65% of all bearing acreage. Seventy years after Saxton's first plantings the center of California walnut production moved northward to the Stockton area, in one of the most dramatic horticultural moves in history. Better growing areas, improved irrigation and better pest control methods in the north resulted in greater yields which gradually increase each year.

The History of Walnut

       Walnuts have been recognized as one the oldest tree foods known to man dating back to about 7000 B.C.. Considered food for the gods in the early days of Rome, walnuts were named "Juglans regia" in honor of the Roman god Jupiter. Today these nuts are commonly referred to as "English" walnut in reference to the English merchant marines whose ships once transported the product for trade to ports around the world. Historians prefer the name "Persian" Walnut, referring to Persia the birthplace of walnut.