Follow-up To My Beechnut Post

Posted by: Dawn

This is my little bottle tree with it's fall coloring but it is also a beech tree I keep pruned and short. Beech is a very pretty tree when it starts to turn color. Mine seemed to turn red on the top first, followed by a yellow with the middle of the tree turning red, and finally when the entire tree has yellow on it, it begins to turn brown. If you enlarge the photo and look very close, you'll see the top of my bottle tree is sparse, it was at the stage of just beginning to lose its leaves.

A while back I posted on a larger beech tree that had actual beechnuts growing on it. You can read that post here. Today I'm posting about harvesting and tasting those beechnuts.

I HAVE to say that these husks are very decorative and quite sturdy for a crafter to use in potpourri or flower arrangements. In fact, I picked an unripened nut and tried to open it but decided I'd do better to wait until they ripened. The nuts are very sturdy and are like nuts inside of another nut!

It even took a while to get to the food of this little beechnut. They are very small and the inner pod has a triangular shape to it that made it difficult to hold while peeling it with a knife. You can see the nut to the left of the photo, it is very tiny. Each pod was supposed to have a twin nut back to back with a extra space but mine had only one nut. Still, I had enough to eat and was able to get the true flavor of the nut. Bravery aside I took the plunge hoping for the best.

If I'm EVER lost in the Maine woods I'll know what to look for as protein food, that's IF! These weren't all that pleasant, it had the flavor of an old peanut and dirt combined, and....very oily as my first post stated.

I think I'll leave them for the Blue jays to eat. In the Garden

A Nut Tree

This is the first time I've noticed nuts on my tree (actually Tina noticed them)! Until now....I thought these did not exist! I did a little research on the Internet to make sure they are what I thought they were. Beechnut! It's not just baby food anymore!

I have several Beech trees but they are mostly in the shade, the right side of this tree faces my driveway and gets full sun. That is the key to making nuts!

I thought for a second they looked like burdock but the Internet indicated this is the outer husk for the beechnut, hairy and spiny. It still has a inner husk!

The tree has gray smooth bark and the leaves are sawtooth edged. The leaves are the prettiest in the fall, turning bright red and having the veined stem looking like identical lines throughout the leaf. They are also the first leaf to fall.

About the best information I found on this little guy was from a personal site. The writer reminded me of a mountain man, grizzled, denim clad, and photographed with beautiful mountains in the background. He suggests to lay a carpet of blankets under a canopy of beech and wait til the nut is ripe, they drop off the tree.. see the problem with my tree is....the nuts are very high. Jack of all Trades helped me to snip a branch so we could get a closer look.....

Mountain man, states the husk can be peeled to reveal the twin nut pods inside, once the pods are separated from one another, they will look like a triangular shaped lobe with one side being the flattest. The first husk opened on mine by sitting inside over night!

Choosing the flat side to open, (it's the easiest) and using a knife, shuck to reveal the smallest looking nut.

It's said these are a favorite of blue jays, but my blue jays appear to be too preoccupied with the peanut tray and taking turns cleaning me out!

The beechnut was useful in the manufacturing of oil and has a oily taste to them. I also read they are splendid in salads. However, I would think you'd need about a ga-zillion to make the taste or oil production count.

Finally.....I became brave and experimented with the little nut, (it's the littlest speck on the table) I ate it.....it has some faint hint of a hickory taste but a very woody texture. We concluded it wasn't quite ripe.

Maybe I'll try again in a few weeks....I think....

I like the first husk, so perfect for dried wreaths, potpourri and arrangements....

In the Garden.....