Does anyone pick up Hickory Nuts. Ever wonder what to do with the green/brown husks. Never heard of this but my husband picked up some the other day and put them in the grill. Best hickory smoked grilled chicken I've had in a long time. We now have them drying in the shed for future use. Smelled exactly like hickory chips and hubby says it's just like using hickory chips. So Crack and shell the nuts and keep the husks also. Too bad you can't do that with black walnut.

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), October 02, 2000

Answers

Hopefully this winter I'll get back to working on a field guide to the edible plants I have on my land. Here is the rough draft I wrote for hickories. I hope you find it interesting. I'll have to try the shells on the grill. I've used the loose bark from the shagbark hickories in campfires. ==>paul

Hickories

When I was growing up the largest tree in my parents' yard was a huge shagbark hickory. That one tree alone could supply a person with a considerable amount of protein, calories and nutrition. Since I wasn't here one my land for nut season last year (1999) my parents' tree supplied me with my supply of nuts once again. I'm sure there were other types of hickories in that area, but shagbark was the only type I learned to identify. Here at Ledgewood Farm I now have 4 or 5 different types of hickory trees.

None of the types of hickory nuts are poisonous, but there is a bitternut hickory that is totally inedible due to its taste. Some types are better than others. You should crack a nut or two before you begin to gather them in bulk. Shagbark and its near kin the shellbark hickory are two of the best. Pignut hickory is also tasty, but the nuts are smaller.

As a kid about the only way I ever ate hickory nuts was to sit down by a brick with a hammer and eat them as I cracked them. It takes so long to shell them that I doubt one could shell them fast enough to ever get full. Once is a while somebody would shell enough to be used in cookies or fudge, and the effort was worth it.

A few years ago I heard that the word hickory' was derived from an Indian word for nut soup.' Their way of making the soup was to pound the nuts, shell and all, into a pulp and then add water and boil. The nut meat pulp and oil floats, while the shells sink. The pulp and oil can be skimmed off of the top and used like a nut butter, or with care not to stir up the shells the broth can be included and served with the pulp as soup. I've used about one part cracked nuts and 2 to 4 parts water. Keep the salt and pepper handy--a dash or two of each really helps bring out the flavor. I've also made this soup with a few crushed black walnuts added to the pot, with good results.

I've heard that hickories can be tapped like maples and the sap boiled down to syrup. It takes even more sap to get a gallon of syrup than it does with maples. I've never had the ambition to try it. If I ever get the chance, I'd love to try some that somebody else made so that I could tell if it would be worth all the work required to make my own.

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-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), October 02, 2000.

Paul my husband cracks ours with the walnut cracker from Lehmans and I freeze them for baking. Do the same with black walnuts. Great Holiday Treats for gift baskets. Everyone always appreciates the goodies.

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), October 02, 2000.

Could someone give me some basic information on black walnuts, butternuts and hickory nuts? I'm going to ask some dumb questions so here goes. I assume you harvest them when they fall off the tree but when do you eat them? Do you remove the husk right away and crack the nuts or do you wait for it to dry? I've been told to let them dry but then they were all shriveled up and really bitter tasting. Thanks

-- TERESA (TERESAM@ASCENT.NET), October 02, 2000.

We always used ours from the time they started to fall from the tree up until about mid February, if the squirrels left any on the ground. Some of my happiest memories are collecting hickory nuts. The husk will shell off easily if it is allowed to dry some. This just means that the shell turns dark and dries. You can also remove the shells by putting them in the drive way and driving over them. Or people used to put the nuts in a large cloth cotton (as in cotton picking) sack and beat the living daylights out of them with a stick. Be sure to leave plenty of room in the sack, and use a sack you don't care much for as it will be stained up.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), October 03, 2000.

I'd found a slew of walnuts in the yard of an aquaintance. I thought that the nuts had to be dried first, so I put them up in my attic. Well, some weeks later, I read that the green husks had to be removed first - otherwise, the nut meats absorb the tannic acid (?) from the husks and would turn inedible and BITTER. Well, those nuts are still up in my attic (we have little more than a crawlspace up there, and little is stored up there, so, there they sit...), and will be up there for another few years! :-)

I also read that the green husks are VERY difficult to remove, and will stain - use rubber gloves - the brown stains will stick on the skin for weeks. I wish I had the time to try again - the walnuts on that tree are numerous and huge. Sigh....

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), October 03, 2000.

As a child of 10 or 12 my husband used to pick up walnuts to sell for extra pocket money. He said when they purchased them, they purchased husks and all. The husks were then sold to make black walnut wood stain. He said the old timers around here used to take and boil them in water(the husks) then pour the water in pond or river. The black walnut water would make the fish come up dead then they would skin them for food? People don't try this one! If the wildlife people catch you I never heard of you!!!!! Besides I don't know if it works?? or not!

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), October 04, 2000.