My husband was saying, not long ago, that he enjoyed sundaes with wet walnuts and pineapple topping... the wheels in my brain began turning... hmmm... I could can some... I have walnuts in the freezer left from last Christmas... wonder how one would go about doing that... Google to the rescue... I found lots of recipes and came up with my own version...

Here's what I did...

First I rough chopped my walnuts and toasted them a few minutes in the oven to bring out their aromatic, walnutty flavor.


Then I started making my syrup...

I mixed...

8 cups brown sugar


2/3 cup corn starch (for you non-rebel, non-rule-breakers out there, you can use clear-jel... I used corn starch because I HAD corn starch and it doesn't pose a danger, just has a chance of breaking down and "unthickening" whatever you have thickened... I've used it for years without break down, so I took a chance... use at your own risk and don't say I didn't warn you!)


3 tsp. vanilla extract (several recipes I read called for maple extract, I prefer vanilla and also I HAD vanilla on hand so I went with vanilla)


6 cups cold water



Whisk together and bring to a boil.  Boil gently for about 10 minutes... until syrup thickens nicely.


Meanwhile, I prepared my pint canning jars by boiling them in a pan of water set on two stove eyes; and sterilized my lids by simmering them in hot water, keeping everything hot until I was ready to use them.

I divided my walnuts evenly among the ten pint jars.


When the syrup was nice and thick, I ladled it over the walnuts, leaving an inch headspace.



I removed any air bubbles by running my plastic tool (or a butter knife) between the walnuts and the inside of the jar. I wiped the jar rims and tightened the lids on to fingertip tightness.

I then processed my jars in a boiling water bath (ensuring the jars were covered with water) for 10 minutes.

After processing, I removed the jars from the canner with my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel to cool... and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.

Ice cream sundae here we come!!!!

For a printable copy of this recipe, click here