SANTA ANA, Calif. — The racket made me sit up in bed. Every September, my childhood sleep would be interrupted by ripening walnuts hitting our wood-shingled roof. It sounded like bowling balls, as heavy nuts hit shingles, the startling sound diminishing as they rolled to the grass from the slanted surface.

When walnuts fall from a tree, most often a fleshy green hull still surrounds the shell.

Bigger than a golf ball, the apple-green hull is sturdy and heavy. It's a shell protecting a shell, forming two layers around the meaty inside.

Often the hull would split from the interior shell on impact with the roof or ground.

After a fitful night, I'd seek revenge in the morning, stomping the orbs to expose the milky-white nuts inside. Under-ripe, they were juicy and had an acidic "green" taste. At first I ate them just to get even. But as I grew older, I ate them because I loved the bold taste. Years later in culinary school, I learned that immature green walnuts are cherished in Europe, used in everything from spreads to ice cream.

My parents built our home in the middle of a one-acre walnut orchard in rural Van Nuys, the heart of the San Fernando Valley. In 1947, a fast-talking real-estate salesman promised them large annual revenue from the walnuts. Enough profit, he promised, to easily pay the taxes.

But hungry squirrels and pests of every description stood in the way of bumper crops. As it turned out, the rewards weren't cash but loads of walnut-enriched treats from my mother's kitchen. My brothers and I gobbled up mountains of warm oatmeal-walnut cookies; playmates, relatives and neighbors ate the leftovers.

Walnuts appeared in salads, on fresh vegetables and baked apples, occasionally on French toast, and in pies and hot cereal.

Dad and I would spend autumn weekends collecting nuts and spreading them on outdoor tables to dry in the valley's blazing sun. Once the nuts dried, the meat inside would be covered in mahogany skin. It tasted sharply nutty and had a crunchy texture. We'd crack the shells with small hammers, then dig out the stubborn meat trapped inside.

Little did I know that I was eating something that would someday be labeled a "superfood" because of its health benefits.

Recently, I spoke with Dr. Steven Pratt, author of "Superfoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life" (William Morrow, $24.95). Pratt, an ophthalmologist who specializes in ocular plastic surgery at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, says walnuts are superstars.

"When incorporated into a healthy diet and lifestyle, walnuts can play a role in preventing age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness," he said. "They can also help prevent cataracts, type-2 diabetes, Alzheimer's and some forms of skin cancer.

"And they can lower C-reactive proteins, which are markers for inflammation in the body, the root cause of many chronic diseases. Basically ... (eating walnuts is) like taking an anti-inflammatory pill."

He added that walnuts are an excellent source of heart-healthy, plant-based omega-3 fatty acids, the good fat often credited with improving cholesterol. Pratt says he eats a handful of unsalted walnuts every day, scooping them from a container in his refrigerator and placing them in a small plastic bag so he can take them with him to nibble throughout the day.

"That way I can control the amount I'm eating. I leave the mother lode behind. Walnuts are high in fiber and very filling," he said.

If you don't like the taste of raw walnuts, place them on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them in a 350-degree oven for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned (watch carefully, because nuts burn easily). Toasting them rounds out their flavor and reduces acidity.

Here are 10 luscious ways to enjoy them: