Further refinements will be needed to crack heartnuts. Heartnuts need to be precisely sized and then fed in a single stream on edge into slightly curved cracking rollers. Heartnuts crack best when the edges are struck. Then they open like a locket, releasing the kernel in one or two pieces.

Aspirators (similar to dust collectors) and blowers can be used to separate the nut meats from the shell. An easy home made blower can be made from a furnace blower. By pouring the nuts and shell mixture into the stream of air, the shell being heavier will blow away, while the heavier nut meats will fall straight down into a bin. This action may need to be repeated two or three times to remove the majority of the shell. This works well with hazelnuts, Persian walnuts and to a lesser degree with heartnuts.

When the nuts are fed into the updraft of air in an aspirator, the compact nut meats fall, while the lighter shell fragments go up in the air stream. The amount of separation can be very finely tuned by dampening the amount of lift.

A final hand sort is necessary in both systems, to remove all shell fragments and spoiled nut meats. The meats then can be bagged and sealed with your own attractive label.