Fall in the Northeast is a time of abundance. Unquestionably my favorite season, fall provides a bounty unlike no other.
A phrase I’ve heard from a well known naturalist brings fall in the Northeast into perspective, “Beware of Falling Food”. This couldn’t be more true than when we talk about going out and harvesting nuts, Hickory nuts in particular.
Why Hickories
Hickory Nuts are normally overlooked by humans. Squirrels and raccoons will eat them if they can crack the tough shells. They will often bury and season them, making the shell easier to crack. The end result is most hickory nuts go uneaten.
Hickory nuts are, in my and many others opinion, one of the best tasting nuts available today (both wild and domestic). Yet millions of pounds of hickories go unharvested each fall. The question is then, why don’t more people harvest this bountiful natural resource?
The answer can be complex but in the end it comes down to value. Specifically your value of the food that fuels your body and the value you place on your time. The shells are difficult to crack and the nuts are smaller than most nuts found in the grocery store. To the average American who can buy nuts in their local grocery store for $4.00 a pound whenever they want the answer may seems obvious. But if you are reading this keep going, maybe I can convince you otherwise!
The Trees
Hickory trees are native to the eastern and midwestern US states. A relative of the Pecan tree, the hickory has a much wider dispersement. Hickories range from northern Florida all the way up into Canada. They go from the east coast to as far west as parts of Texas and Iowa.
Hickory are hardy long lived trees that grow in a variety of conditions, produce an edible nut, and can be found growing wild in most of its native range. Difficult to transplant because of their large taproot, hickories do best when grown in place from seed.
Trees can live hundreds of years and grow 80-100 feet or more. Hickories are slow and steady growers, most hickories start producing nuts after about 10 years. Yields can fluctuation from year to year. Some years trees produce bumper crops and then very little the next.
The Nuts
Shagbark. Buttery and sweet fresh out of the shell, the Shagbark hickory is the best eating nut in the Northeast. Hands down, no comparison! Some other nuts can leave a bitter after taste when eaten fresh. They are usually better roasted, toasted, or dried but the shagbark is great tasting no matter how you eat it.
Their hard shell and small nut size keeps people from jumping aboard the shagbark train. Some consider it a fools errand to work so hard for such little reward. Yet others find this great tasting nut their reward for taking a walk in the park (and collecting fallen nuts). Cracking nuts can be done unwinding after dinner or chatting with friends around a fall camp fire.
Shellbark. The largest nut of all the hickories, the shellbark can be twice the size of the shagbark. While the shellbark isn’t as revered for its taste as the shagbark, it still is a great eating nut.
It’s thinner shell and larger nut makes for quicker processing. To hickory enthusiasts the choicest nuts will always be the shagbark, but more reward for less time processing makes the shellbark a close second. Their large nut and softer shell have brought some to coin the shellbark as the ‘king’ hickory.
Whatever you end up calling the shellbark doesn’t matter. It makes for a great eating nut that will can feed your family nutrient rich food for decades provided you locate a few trees in your area!
Bitternut/Yellowbud Hickory. Now is the time where you normally hear the warning about bitternut or yellow bud hickory. Don’t worry I will give no such warning. Yes they taste terrible, tannic and bitter, don’t try to eat them. One taste is all you need to never forget!
Just because they aren’t good fresh doesn’t mean they’re useless. People like Samuel Thayer have brought back attention of pressing bitternut hickory for its oil. Valued by all those lucky enough to have sampled it, hickory oil compares favorably to olive oil. And it’s nuts grow wild and mostly unharvested in half of the country. Can you say potential!
For more details on pressing Hickory Nuts for oil check out this article (coming soon).
Finding Nuts
Want to go find your own hickory nuts this fall? You don’t need any fancy equipment. Time and knowledge is all you need. Stake out your local parks, hiking trails, neighborhood woods, or road side.
Shagbark hickories have very unique bark. You can actually peel off layers of bark. Hickory leaves are large, almost tropical looking. But the easiest way to find hickory trees is to search the ground for fallen nuts. Nuts normally drop from the trees once ripe. Ripe nuts will usually drop out of their hull leaving just the shelled nut ready for picking.
Once you have found a few hickory trees it’s time to start collecting nuts. All you need is a container to hold your nuts: a paper bag, 5 gallon bucket, or any other type of container will do.
Most nuts will already be separated from the hulls. If they haven’t, remove the hulls. This can be done by hand or with a screwdriver or knife. Now that the nuts are free from their hulls set them out to dry for a day or two before cracking.
Cracking hickory nuts is difficult to impossible if you try to using a standard nut cracker. Hickory nuts have an extremely hard shell. Try using a vise or even a hammer to crack the shells (while not the best methods they are inexpensive and a good way to begin cracking shells). Once you determine you enjoy hickory nuts and want to get more serious you can always get a better nut cracker.
Lastly you need a nut pick or something similar to remove the nut meat from the cracked shell. A pick will help you remove those stuck nut segments. Be careful to get the hang of using the pick. While I was learning I stabbed my hand more than I care to admit.
I hope we made the case for the proud hickory and their delicious nuts. Get out there this fall and try some of nature’s finest wild flavor!