Ever wonder where walnuts come from? Or walnut oil? Market Watch columnist David Karp offers a closer look at the process, started with a mechanized harvester at Whitney Warren Ranch, north of Sacramento. The machine gathers the walnuts, some of which still have their green hulls, from rows between the trees. A lot of debris is also picked up -- and later sorted out. More photos of the process follow.
Christopher Schubert, the marketing director for Rancho La Viña near Lompoc, pours little tasting cups of La Nogalera walnut oil, from the Payne variety of walnut. The walnut oil is sold at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.