Get a pair of electrical side cutters to clip the shell pieces after the initial cracking, and you can extract the meats with ease. No digging with a pick will be necessary.
That 'ring' is the (nut) off a 3/4" iron pipe union. Buy a 'Black-Iron' union. It doesn't have any heavy metal (zinc) treatment to contaminate your nut-meats. I highly recommend that you scrub it clean with a healthy dose of Dawn dishwashing soap as it will have oil on it from the mfr. This guy is wasting a huge amount of nutmeat. Get yourself a pair of 6" Diagonal Cutters from the electrical tool section and use them to cut away the 'retainer' shells. Easy-Peasy...!
