TESTING OF A MACHINE FOR WALNUT CRACKING

Fruit of walnut (Juglans regia L.) belongs to stone fruits. This means that the lignified, stony endocarp, a shell, contains delicious kernel. On the tree a nut is surrounded by the green husk.In Slovenia and in the other parts of the world heavy tools (such as stone, hammer and hand-crusher for nuts) are used to remove nutshell. In the intensive walnut production heavy tools are not competitive with today world economy. This is because the priority in walnuts and nuts kernel production is to reduce costs. Walnut shell cracking devices are invented to reduce walnut handling costs and consumer price. Characteristics of this device and walnut kernel quality are presented in this research.