Whether you’re baking with them, snacking on them, adding them to your oatmeal in the morning, or using them in your favourite recipes, when buying walnuts you always want to make sure that they are good quality and fresh. As a nut with a very high concentration of omega-3 fatty acids, walnut’s can go rancid very quickly, and so freshness and quality are key to ensuring that you get the best flavour and maximum shelf life. Here are five ways to make sure that you are getting quality fresh walnuts. 

Don’t just buy in-store, check online too

Your local grocery store may sell walnuts, but that doesn’t automatically mean that they are premium quality. The internet can provide you with access to hundreds of suppliers, and thanks to delivery, they needn’t be local to you either. Shopping online increases your choice of walnut products and means that if you are looking for something specific, such as black walnuts or organic walnuts, that you are able to source them. 

Check the package best-before date

If you are buying your walnuts in-store, then don’t just grab the first bag of walnuts that you see. Some of the bags could have been sat on the shop floor for quite some time and could be approaching their best-before date. If you’re buying walnuts from a zero-waste store or from a self-serve counter, then don’t be afraid to ask an employee for information on the freshness of their nuts, if they have been in the container for some time, then they could be starting to go rancid. 

Check their origin

Not all walnuts undergo the same quality control processes before they are sold, which means that if you are buying them from abroad then they may not meet USDA standards. When it comes to the very best quality walnuts, Californian English walnuts are widely considered to be the best, having undergone some of the strictest quality control checks in the world. This doesn’t mean that walnuts from other locations such as China are automatically poorer quality but just means that you should pay more attention to the reputation of their supplier. 

Read reviews 

When buying walnuts online, it can be difficult to know if the product you will receive will meet up to its description. The best way to ensure that you are going to get the same quality product as is promised is to always make sure that you read the product reviews. If a supplier has nothing to hide about their walnuts, then there will always be an option for customers to leave their reviews. 

Check the reputation of the supplier themselves

Finally, whether online shopping for walnuts or not, do some research into the background of the supplier. Have they been trading for many years? Do they seem knowledgeable in their industry? Do they specialize in the sale of nuts? By sourcing your walnuts from a supplier that has been selling walnuts for many years, and who is an expert in the industry helps to ensure that you will receive a good quality product. 

Now that you know how to make sure you're getting fresh walnuts, check out these 4 places to buy them!