Walnut Kernels

Colour-graded ELH to Amber — halves, quarters & pieces

Shelled walnuts are graded on colour, and colour is very nearly the whole price ladder. The scale runs Extra Light Halves (ELH) at the top, then Light Halves (LH), Light Quarters, Light Amber (LA) and Amber (A), with pieces and meal at the bottom — paler kernels command a large premium because they look better in a visible application and because darkening correlates loosely with age and oxidation. Moisture is contracted at ≤ 5%, which matters more on walnuts than on most nuts: they are the highest in polyunsaturated oil of the common tree nuts, which makes them the quickest to go rancid, and moisture, warmth and air exposure all accelerate it. Halves percentage, foreign matter and shell fragments complete the sheet.

Buy by colour according to whether the kernel is seen. ELH and LH for premium retail in clear packs, cake and dessert decoration, and gifting; Light Amber and Amber for baking, where the kernel is inside the product and cheaper material performs identically; pieces and meal for walnut butter, pastes, granola, cereal and inclusion work where the shape is destroyed anyway. Buy in-shell instead where the customer cracks the nut themselves — festive retail and traditional markets — but understand that you are then paying freight and storage on a shell that is roughly half the gross weight, which is why in-shell prices per tonne look deceptively low. The single most important thing to control on kernels is the cold chain and turnover: walnuts held warm or long simply go rancid, and no specification sheet protects you from that. CBIL supplies against certification of colour grade, moisture, halves percentage, foreign matter and peroxide value, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.