hat you get a better quality
nut from one county or one area than you do from another?

MR. MANGELSDORF: That is a question that I can't answer, because I am in
the research and development end of the business, and have very little
to do with the purchasing and marketing of the nuts themselves.

MR. LEMKE: What do you do when you strike a day that is very humid and
the nuts start getting moldy?

MR. MANGELSDORF: That is a bugaboo. I always say you don't have to be
nuts to be in the nut business, but it sure helps a little bit. All the
nuts that I have ever had any dealing with seem to be very susceptible
to mold growth. If the moisture content of the nuts is above a critical
level, mold growth takes place in the shell at a very fast rate. The
only thing we can do in a case like that is to get the kernels in to St.
Louis and destroy the mold growth or spores on the surface before it can
grow so that the fungous mycelium is visible to the eye. The black
walnut and pecan, if you examine them under the microscope, all seem to
have mold growth on the surface of the kernels. I am inclined to believe
that the nut kernel is not completely sterile in the shell and that
through some manner or means the mold spores have been introduced onto
the kernel, because immediately after shelling examination of these nuts
under a microscope, will show some fungous mycelium on the surface of
the kernels.

DR. MCKAY: One comment is that the pellicle of a black walnut or a
pecan, is very hygroscopic. It tends to absorb moisture readily, whereas
the kernel itself, being high in oil, does not take up water readily.
That, apparently, is why there may be evidences of mold growth on the
kernel though it may not be actually penetrating. It is only
superficial, growing on the pellicle of the kernel, not on the kernel
itself.

MR. MANGELSDORF: Right.

DR. MCKAY: Black walnut kernels are outstanding in their resistance to
heat and will get rancid very slowly under conditions of high heat--not
humidity. For example, we had some nuts in our attic for two summers in
a place where it gets very hot, yet dry. Those nuts are in very good
eating condition today. I don't know about pecans.

MR. MANGELSDORF: That's very true of black walnuts. Pecans have to be
carried throughout the season in our cracking operations under
refrigeration, but the black walnuts we can store out in any shed with
tin roof. The temperature gets very hot, and it seems to have n