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You know...I don't expect people who grew up in a city to know much about their natural surroundings because nature is mostly over-whelmed by a city.
What does surprise me is that I, having grown up in the country, had so little experience with eating wild things. Although I had lots of experience with nature, my family only ate things we grew in the garden or bought at the store.
But there is SO MUCH available in the woods and fields for free!
As I was walking in the park yesterday, I noticed Hickory nuts on the ground. I did not take a photo of the Hickory tree -- easily identifiable, and you can search Google to find out what it looks like. I knew these were edible but had never had them, so I brought some home.
The nuts grow in a surrounding skin. The skin usually turns dark brown before the they fall off the tree.
The skin had already come off most of the nuts, so they were easy to gather. Here they are on a dish at home --
The nut has a very hard shell. I took a hammer and attempted to break one on my cutting board. You can see the divot the nut left on the board -- and with no effect to the shell itself!
So I took the nuts and the hammer outside to a granite rock which conveniently had a nut shaped divot in it already. When I whacked the nut on the rock with a hammer, it cracked open.
I didn't eat a lot -- just tasting it. If I were to describe the taste, I would say it is NOT like an walnut. The meat was dense like a pecan. And it was sort of was like eating a pecan, but more bitter. Pecans are sweet, and I would not call the Hickory nut sweet at all -- more bitter.
They were good, but the meat is not easy to get out of the shell. In that respect, it also like a pecan, but the shell is way harder than a pecan shell.
So maybe that's why we didn't eat them as a child -- it was easier to get nuts from the store :)
What does surprise me is that I, having grown up in the country, had so little experience with eating wild things. Although I had lots of experience with nature, my family only ate things we grew in the garden or bought at the store.
But there is SO MUCH available in the woods and fields for free!
As I was walking in the park yesterday, I noticed Hickory nuts on the ground. I did not take a photo of the Hickory tree -- easily identifiable, and you can search Google to find out what it looks like. I knew these were edible but had never had them, so I brought some home.
The nuts grow in a surrounding skin. The skin usually turns dark brown before the they fall off the tree.
The skin had already come off most of the nuts, so they were easy to gather. Here they are on a dish at home --
The nut has a very hard shell. I took a hammer and attempted to break one on my cutting board. You can see the divot the nut left on the board -- and with no effect to the shell itself!
So I took the nuts and the hammer outside to a granite rock which conveniently had a nut shaped divot in it already. When I whacked the nut on the rock with a hammer, it cracked open.
I didn't eat a lot -- just tasting it. If I were to describe the taste, I would say it is NOT like an walnut. The meat was dense like a pecan. And it was sort of was like eating a pecan, but more bitter. Pecans are sweet, and I would not call the Hickory nut sweet at all -- more bitter.
They were good, but the meat is not easy to get out of the shell. In that respect, it also like a pecan, but the shell is way harder than a pecan shell.
So maybe that's why we didn't eat them as a child -- it was easier to get nuts from the store :)