Shagbark Hickory nuts

[adegiulio]

We have been blessed with many Shagbark Hickory trees on our property. Yesterday, I finally grabbed a couple of the nuts and bashed them open with a hammer. The delicious meat inside was a real treat....fatty, sweet, without being at all bitter...very pecan-like. The only problem with these treats is that they are a real pain to liberate from the shell.

Anyone else enjoy these (free) nuts? Any hints on shelling?

[JTravel]

We have been blessed with many Shagbark Hickory trees on our property. Yesterday, I finally grabbed a couple of the nuts and bashed them open with a hammer. The delicious meat inside was a real treat....fatty, sweet, without being at all bitter...very pecan-like. The only problem with these treats is that they are a real pain to liberate from the shell.

Anyone else enjoy these (free) nuts? Any hints on shelling?

←

When in junior high school my parents built a house out in the country near Binghamton NY. The property came with a couple of HUGE old shagbark (we used the bark that fell off for kindling)hickory trees. One tree got an old swing attached to it.

Some years were very good nut years. Some had none. My father harvested them whenever they appeared. He had to shoo off people who drove by, saw trees beside the road, and decided to help themselves.

I had an old photo of the drying trays he set up in the basement the year of the "really big" crop. I think that is the secret. Spread them out to dry, keep moving them and they become "easier" to crack as they age. I "think" they hold quite well in the shell. We always froze them, or at least kept them cool, in jars, after they were picked. I don't think there is a secret. It is tough, slow work. My parents filled a big bag, drove to Florida, and while Dad sat in the sun he picked them.

A jar of nuts was a treasure and my mother had a special hickory nut cake recipe. You really appreciated the cake if you had had to pick them.

[HungryChris]

I used to live near a grove of Shagbark Hickory trees. I would collect bags full and let them cure. As the nut meat cures and dries it becomes more tasty and easier to remove from the broken shell. It's not at all like cracking a commercial walnut or pecan, but it can be addictive. I used to sit on my patio for hours cracking and eating them. This will be the last one......OK, this will be the last one, OK, OK this will..........

HC

[sparrowgrass]

I have a pint jar of nutmeats in the freezer right now, shelled by my 93 year old uncle. I haven't quite decided what to do with them, besides opening the jar every now and then and just smelling them. The scent alone is worth more than gold.

When I lived in Berea Kentucky, we had a big shellbark hickory in the yard. Shellbark nuts are as big as walnuts--those were worth cracking.

The sandbox was in the shade under that tree, and my kids had little hardhats they wore in the fall when the nuts fell. Those suckers hurt.

Forgot to mention that the nuts, shells and green outer covering of the nuts are great for smoking meats. That is what I do with the nuts from the tree I have now--they are too little to mess with.

Edited September 20, 2007 by sparrowgrass (log)

[scottie]

My mother has a bottle of shagbark hickory syrup which someone gave her a few years ago. It's from southern Indiana, and apparently it is produced in a manner similar to that for maple syrup.

I gotta say, it's kind of weird. Anyone else run across something like that?

[rooftop1000]

Anthony

maybe because we have a ton of scrap wood from a project but I keep wondering if a couple of pieces of 1X12 and some C-clamps might work for cracking the shells....

and shagbark syrup was something I saw when I looked these up earlier in the week Maybe Wiki

[adegiulio]

Anthony

maybe because we have a ton of scrap wood from a project but I keep wondering if a couple of pieces of 1X12 and some C-clamps might work for cracking the shells....

and shagbark syrup was something I saw when I looked these up earlier in the week Maybe Wiki

←

The shells crack just as easily as any other nut. The problem is getting the meat liberated from the shell. It adheres to the shell and breaks apart when you try to pull it out, as opposed to regular nuts which seem to spring out of their shells in one piece...

[Kouign Aman]

Let em dry and age a while and see if that helps. I think that might be SOP for many tree nuts.

[JTravel]

My mother has a bottle of shagbark hickory syrup which someone gave her a few years ago. It's from southern Indiana, and apparently it is produced in a manner similar to that for maple syrup.

I gotta say, it's kind of weird. Anyone else run across something like that?

←

I remember learning from the Rochester Museum and Science Center that the local peoples (Seneca Nation of Indians is one of the six tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy ) used a variety of trees for tapping. There weren't sugar maples everywhere and apparently many (most?) trees have a somewhat sweet sap that can be reduced. Black walnut is supposed to be wonderful, but of course not commercially viable.

[Catherine Iino]

We have a big old shagbark on our property in CT, and the only hint I have for cracking the nuts--which are indeed delicious--is to get a really heavy nut cracker. OXO makes a good one. I have not found that letting the nuts sit around for a month or two makes it any easier to get the meats out.

Thanks to Sparrowgrass for the hint on smoking with the nuts and shells, though. That's a great idea.