Showers of Golden Rain Tree

Golden Rain Tree Blossoms

The scallions didn’t have a chance.

My Taiwanese friend liked to grow scallions in a postage stamp garden in her back yard. They added fresh flavor to her down-home Chinese cooking. But her neighbor had a Golden Rain Tree that loomed over the scallion patch like an ominous shadow. In the fall it was constantly showering her garden with seed capsules, producing hundreds of sprout seasonally. The tree eventually won. Unfortunately this was a quarter of a century before I knew those Golden Rain Tree shoots were edible. You must, however, have the right species.

This particular Golden Rain Tree was a Koelreuteria paniculata (kole-roo-TEER-ee-uh  pan-ick-yoo-LAY-tuh) a native of China and Japan. It was named for Joseph Gottlieb Kolreuter,  1733-1806, who carried out experiments in hybridization and published research about tobacco. He was noted for two things; his ingenious experiments and his complaint that professors of botany didn’t make much money. My German isn’t that good but I think Koelreuter can mean “cabbage patch” or “cabbage thief.”

Golden Rain Tree seed pods

Besides eating tender young shoots and leaves (boiled) the yellow flowers produce a yellow dye and an eye wash. The mature leaves produce a black dye. As for eating the seeds… all reports say they are roasted but acidic, which makes sense as they have the same irritating oil found in unrefined canola oil (which if I remember correctly is erucic acid.) Their the seeds also might be insecticidal. By most accounts the roasted seeds are a famine food. I have not tried them. They’re on my list of things to do when I have better health insurance. The leaves and shoots have some antioxidant and anti-tumor “activity” but also have some traces of cyanide, hence the cooking. These are not for raw salads.

The Golden Rain Tree was introduced to the west from China by Jesuit missionary, Pierre d’Incarville in 1747. The trees were under cultivation in Jardin du Roi by 1763. The tree reached America by 1809 when Thomas Jefferson germinated seeds sent to him by a French friend. While it has since become a popular landscape tree worldwide it is also an invasive species in many places including Florida.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter, 1733–1806

IDENTIFICATION: Trees or shrubs, deciduous, bark grayish brown to black, stout, fissured, lenticels gray to dark brown, small; branches tuberculate, appressed pubescent or glabrous with axes and petioles. Leaves fascicled on young branches, spreading, pinnate, imperfectly bipinnate, or sometimes bipinnate, sessile or very shortly petiolate, opposite or alternate, ovate or broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate,  sometimes hairy or densely pale yellow pubescent. Flowers pale yellow, slightly fragrant, 4 petals

TIME OF YEAR: Locally it is in its ornamental glory in October.

ENVIRONMENT: Full sun, rich soil, will tolerate some variation.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Boiled young shoots and leaves, roasted seeds… perhaps.

HERB BLURB

SUN Bao-teng et al (College of Life Science,Nanchang, University,Nanchang,Jiangxi 330031)

[Objective] The study aimed to analyze the oil content in seed kernel and the components of fatty acid in the seed oil of Koelreuteria bipinnata Var.integrifolia T.Chen.[Method] The seed oil of K. bipinnata was extracted with soxhlet extraction and the oil content in seeds was calculated. The component of fatty acid in seed oil was detected with gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer after the fatty acid being methyl esterified.[Result] The oil content in seed kernel of K. bipinnata reached 54.04%. There were 5 saturated fatty acids and 3 unsaturated fatty acids in seed oil,among which,the content of unsaturated fatty acid reached 75.26%,and the unsaturated fatty acid mainly contained oleic acid(31.07%), eicosenoic acid(35.07%) and erucic acid(9.12%). The nutrition value of seed oil of K. bipinnata was higher,but in which there were no polyunsaturated fatty acid with more higher nutrition value and there were erucic acid and arachidic acid that indigestible in the oil.[Conclusion] The seed oil of K. bipinnata had higher nutrition value, but whether it could be used as edible oil needs to make the toxicological study.  (GREEN DEANE NOTE: Erucic acid is limited to 2% and 5% in Canada and Europe respectively in Canola Oil for food.)

Panic grass starts out tightly bundles then relaxes outward. Photo by Green Deane

Panicum maximum and then some

I eat grass. Actually we all do — rice, wheat, oats, barley  — but my local trail nibble is Guinea Grass, a relative to millet.  I’d like to tell you I collect enough to bake a loaf of bread, but I don’t. It’s an extremely common small-seeded grass here in Central Florida, unlike say Barn Yard Grass, and offers itself as a supplement to ones diet. On the trail I strip a stalk and just chow it down raw  (making sure it is not purple or red or black or brown with fuzzy ergot.) Or, I gather a few cups and parch the seeds till lightly green/brown and then snack on them. No, I don’t winnow them. It has a slightly burnt peanut flavor, quite nice actually.

The small seeds often have red flower tufts. Photo by Green Deane

Relatives of Panicum maximum provide a lot of food around the world. You will find grasses among the most difficult foragables to sort out. There are few quality references and grasses are frustratingly alike. Fortunately, there are just a few poisonous grasses but one you do have to look out for in North America is Johnson Grass, Sorghum halepense. Its leaves are toxic to humans. The Andropogons are iffy, too. Panicum maximum PAN-ih-kum MAK-see-mum) means “big bread.” Millet is not an important grain source in the United States but it very common in the rest of the world. I suspect the seeds of most Panicums are edible.

This just in: This plant’s new name is Megathyrsus maximum… which means “Big Flower Stem.” I hope that nomenclature update makes things much, much clearer.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Panicum maximum  is a perennial with a short, creeping rhizome, height to seven feet. Leaf sheaths at the bases of the stems are covered in fine hairs. Blades are up to 1.5 inches wide, tapering to a long fine point. Inflorescence is a large multi-branched, open panicle with loose, flexible branches. The lower branches in a whorl. Spikelets are green to light purple. Usually in large stands.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowers from November to July, seeds in fall.

ENVIRONMENT: Prefers fertile soil, adapted to a wide variety of conditions. Grows well in shade, damp area, under trees, seen along rivers and open woodland.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: I eat them as a trail side nibble raw off the stalk, or parch them and eat without winnowing. Experiment.

Hawthorne Fruit

The Crataegus Clan: Food & Poison

The very first Hawthorn I ever saw — and the only one I knew for quite a while — grew on the other side of the dirt road that ran by our house in Pownal, Maine.

This Hawthorn was very old. They can live to at least 400 years. It’s gone now — road widening — and I never knew which Hawthorn it was but that’s not unusual with this species. Experts today can’t agree if there are 200 species of Hawthorns or 1,000. The genus has a lot of variability.  What I remember most clearly was its huge thorns, most about two inches long. It also had several families of birds in it each year. Few predators were going to brave those thorns.

Twenty-feet tall with a crown equally wide, it grew on high ground right at the intersection of two pastures, a very fitting place. Haw means hedge and indeed Hawthorns were used as hedges. In fact, in 1845 England pass the General Enclosures Act allowing Hawthorns to be used as hedges to mark off land. That caused a lot of irritation because until then folks could go wandering from hill to dale at will without obstructions. It took another 150 years or so for England to pass a “right to roam act” allowing people more access to such land. Let it not be said that England does not correct bad laws, it may just take a century or two.

The other thing that intrigued me as a kid growing up by the tree was that the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne had the same name as the tree. I’ve never met a Mr. Catalpa, Mrs. Hackmatack, or Ms. Oak. Truth be known that author’s family name was Hathorne. But, one of his ancestors was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials. The speculation is Nathaniel change the spelling of his last name to distance himself from that infamous incident. Indeed, just as he had an ancestor who judged “witches” at the trial I had an ancestor convicted at the trials for witchcraft and hanged (Susannah North Martin.) Over the years I have met a few Pynes, Apples and one Dr. Maples (the forensic anthropologist who identified Pizarro’s remains and those of the Russian royal family. We met under unusual circumstances. If you want to know, email me. He wrote “Dead Men Do Tell Tales.”)

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 4 July, 1804 – 19 May, 1864

The first thing you need to know about the Hawthorn berries is you should not eat the seeds. They contain cyanide bonded with sugar, called amygdalin. In your gut — actually small intestine — that changes to hydrogen cyanide and can be deadly. You can cook the berries then discard the seeds, but don’t eat the seeds. I recently saw a recipe on the internet that called for using hawthorne berries whole. Clearly that cook never made that pie, or if she did, only once. Don’t eat Hawthorne seeds. If you eat the raw berries spit the seeds out. If an adult mistakenly eats one or two seeds they aren’t deadly but they could be to a child. The seeds are best avoided.  Very young spring leaves — called Bread and Cheese — can be a trail side nibble as well as the flower buds or young flowers. Mature flowers should be avoided or any part that smells like almonds when crushed.

The claim to fame for Hawthorn berries is they are high in pectin, so they have been added to other fruits to make jelly as the Hawthorn itself often has little apparent taste. However some Hawthorns are tasty enough in their own right to be made into jelly. Should civil society end and you want to make jelly, the Hawthorn berry is your friend. Just ripe berries have the most pectin and over ripe berries the least.

No-cook Hawthorn Jelly, photo courtesy of Ray Mears.

At least one Hawthorn’s berries (those of the Crataegus monogyna, the one-seed Hawthorn) can be made into a no-cook jelly.  If you have the-one seeded Hawthorn here’s the formula with thanks to Ray Mears and Professor Gordon Hillman. If it doesn’t work you can always cook it, add pectin and make jelly.  I would suspect this was how jelly was discovered.

Hawthorn Jelly Dried, photo courtesy Ray Mears

Put the berries in a bowl and quickly crush them thoroughly with your hands. The resulting liquid should be about the consistency of pudding just before it sets. It should be that consistency naturally. If you’ve had a dry year add some water to get to that consistency. Work quickly. Squeeze the seeds out of the berries then quickly filter the thick slurry into a bowl. In about five minutes the liquid will jell. Flip it over onto a plate. It can be eaten as is or sliced or sun dried. It will be sweet and will last for many years. Remember just ripe berries have more pectin that over-ripe berries. To see a video on this go here.

Hawthorne blossoms

Crataegus monogyna is native to Britain and Europe but is naturalized in the United States and Canada. It can be found north and east of Tennessee, up the west coast from California to Alaska, as well as in Utah, Montana and Arkansas. Local and regionally known Hawthorns are C. aestivalis (commonly known as the May Haw. The only tree I’ve tried to raise that died)  C. anomala, C. arnoldiana, C. calpodendron, C. canadensis, C. chysocarpa, C. coccinoides, C. columbiana, C. crus-galli, C. dispessa, C. douglasii, C. flava, C. intricata, C. marshallii, C. mollis, C. oxycantha, C. phaenopyrum, C. pulcherrima, C. pringlei, C. pruinosa, C. pubescens, C. rivularis, C. spathulata, C. submollis, C. succulenta, C. uniflora, and C. viridis. All but the C. phaenopyrum, C. pulcherrima and C. viridis are know to have been used as food. There are no “poisonous” Hawthorns except for the seeds. Many Hawthorns, while not poisonous, are not palatable. Some improve with cooking. The genus has many medicinal uses and is known for its heart support and is actually a beta blocker. Herbalist recommend one teaspoon of leaves or berries (minus seeds) or blossoms seeped in a cup of water twice a day.

Crataegus (krah-TEE-gus) comes from the Greek word Krataigos, which was the ancient name used by Theophrastus (372-287 BC) for a flowering thorn. Kratus means strong — the wood is tough — and akakia or akis, thorn. Monogyna ( mon-NO-gy-nuh) means one seed. I don’t know if there is any connection but most Greeks with a surname that end in -akis comes from or had ancestors who came from Crete.

Hawthorn Schnapps

Stalkless berries from Crataegus monogyna or Crataegus laevigata are usually recommended. Direction: Rinse the Hawthorn berries and leave them to dry off. Fill 2/3 of a clean glass jar with berries. Cover with clear, unflavored vodka. Close the jar with a tight-fitting lid. Let the berries steep for 5-6 weeks in a dark place at room temperature, 64-68°F. Shake lightly from time to time. Strain and filter into a clean glass bottle or jar with tight-fitting lid. Age for a couple of months in a dark place at room temperature before serving.

Haw sauce

* 1½ Lb stalkless Hawthorn berries

* ¾ pint vinegar of your choice

* 4 oz sugar

* Salt to taste, optional, some use up to one ounce of salt

* 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Wash berries. Put in pan with vinegar and cook gently for 30 minutes. Press the pulp through sieve, return to the pan with sugar and seasonings. Boil for 10 minutes. Bottle and seal.

Hawthorn Berry Soup

One pound of stalkless Hawthorn berries

1/2 cup water

Half a pound of sugar (more or less if you like)

2 cinnamon sticks

Pinch of chili flakes or powder (optional)

Add the Hawthorn berries to a pot  with the water. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover the pot tightly, cook for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, pass through a sieve (throw away the seeds). Transfer the sauce to a pan, add the sugar, cinnamon sticks and chili flakes or powder (if using). Cook until the sauce thickens sufficiently and serve.

Here is Euell Gibbon’s Recipe for Hawthorn Jelly:

To make Haw Jelly, crush three pounds of the fruit, add four cups of water, bring it to a boil, cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes, then strain the juice through a jelly bag and discard the spent pulp, seeds, and skins. If red haws are not too ripe, they will furnish ample pectin for jelly making, but if they are very ripe, add one package powdered pectin to the strained juice. We felt our juice could stand more acid, so we added the juice of two lemons. We put just four cups of this juice in a very large saucepan and brought it to a boil, then added seven cups of sugar and very soon after it came to a boil again, it showed a perfect jelly test.

Hawthorn Berry Catsup, from GatherVictoria.com

Ingredients

-2 cups hawthorn berries

-1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

-1/4 cup of water

– however much sugar or honey you want

-1/3 cup black cherry juice (optional but recommended)

-1/2 tsp sea salt (or as you like)

-Freshly ground black pepper or pinch of cayenne

Instructions

1. Remove the berries from their stalks then rinse in cold water.

2. Place in large saucepan, adding the vinegar and water. Gently bring to boil and simmer for about 25 minutes until the skins start to split.

3. After cooling, push the mixture through a sieve or pass through a food mill to remove the pits (seeds.).

4. Return the mixture to the pan, adding your sweeteners, and slowly heat, stirring frequently. Add spices or flavorings.

5. Bring to a low boil, then simmer for a further 5 -10 minutes, until the sauce thickens and becomes slightly syrupy.

6. Remove from heat, then add, little bit at a time, the black cherry juice, stirring until you find just the right consistency and thickness you prefer in your ketchup. (Remember the sauce will thicken once cooled.

7. When happy with your result, pour the ketchup into sterilized bottles. Refrigerate and use within 3 months.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: A medium-sized deciduous tree, 15 to 30 feet tall, branches slightly pendulous if not erratic. Leaves greatly varied, with C. monogyna they are simple, lobed, serrated at lobe tips, alternating to three inches long. Flowers small and white, bloom in late spring, five petals. Fruit a red pome with one seed, other species have multiple seeds. Long thorns on stems. Bark resembles an apple tree.

TIME OF YEAR: Autumn

ENVIRONMENT: Prefers moist fertile soil and full sun. Make a good landscape tree.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Out of hand (do not eat seeds.) Can be used to make jelly or as pectin for other fruits. Can be made into a sauce for cooking, or used to flavor alcohols.

 Herb Blurb

Herbalists say two teaspoons of leaves or seedless berries (or both) made into a tea twice a day is an effective beta blocker and lower blood pressure.

Cayra coffee, or Hickory Java

Hickories are not a migraine, but when you’re learning trees hickories can be a headache.

Just as plums and cherries are bothin the Prunus genus hickories and pecans are bothin in the Carya genus, and both in the greater Walnut family. Fortunately while there are a lot of Prunus there are only about a dozen Carya in the United States,  some say more, some say less . You really don’t have to tell them apart any more than you do oaks. Be happy they aren’t Hawthorns, even the experts can’t tell the thousand of them apart.

Note leaflet has seven “blades” one at the end

For many years most of my foraging was looking down, not up. To be more specific, other than acorns I kind of avoided the nut-bearing trees. But there comes a point in which you realize while greenery is fine, nutrition comes mainly from roots and nuts. When foraging is a hobby greens and berries will do. When one begins to ask, “can I live off this stuff?” then roots and nuts become more important. That’s when you seriously study roots and nut-bearing trees. That’s when you run in to hickories and pecans. Not only that but the line between hickories and walnuts is thin and that can be confusing as well.

The easiest thing to do is learn which ones grow in your area and then find them. Which species is rather secondary, except for flavor.  As for edibility, like oaks and pines there is no poisonous Carya and no poisonous look alikes. That makes life easy. When you find a hickory nut it will either be edible, or hopefully edible after leeching. The crux, of course, is make sure you have a hickory or a relative, even if you don’t know exactly which one.

Pignut hickory nuts top and right, water hickory lower left

Some hickories are esteemed — used in ice cream and the like — and others are listed as “not edible.”  That is not toally accurate. They are edible, but they may be astringent or bitter. Often those qualities can be leeched out.

Two hickories that are common here are the Pignut Hickory, Carya glabra, (KAIR-ee-uh GLAY-bruh) and the Water Nut Hickory, Carya aquatica (KAIR-ee-uh a-KWA-ti-ka.) One reads the first is not esteemed and the latter is not edible. Actually, both were used as food by Native Americans.

The Pignut Hickory is so called because when cut the nut resembles the front aspect of a pig’s nose. The Water Hickory is so hailed because it likes to grow in damp areas and is the tallest of all hickories, some times as much as 150 feet. It is usually bitter, and the nutmeat resembles the coloring of a pecan. It can be eaten, though, and you can also leach out the bitterness like you do with acorns. The Water Nut Hickory’s major claim to fame is it is the hickory wood used to flavor foods by smoking and in barbecues. Other Carya include C. floridana, C. tomentosa and C. illinoensis, which is the well-known Pecan. It is not native locally but is planted here and there (Eagle Lake Park in Largo is one location.) C. floridana actually grows only a few miles from me in Wekiva Springs State Park. It has very small nuts and completely covered with prickles.

Circle marks the stop to hit

The big issues with hickories is how to get at the nutmeat. There are several ways. You can buy motorized and hand-driven machines that do the work. You can learn how to hit them with a hammer and pick the meat out. You can do what the Indians did. They pulverized the entire nut, added water, then filtered out the particulates leaving hickory milk called pawcohiccora which was shortened by settlers to pohichery  giving in time “Hickory.”

Sometimes instead of adding a lot of water they would sift until few shell bits remained. That can be squeezed into a ball.  Then they put the ball in a small amount of hot water, to float it. The shell bits sink and the rest is poured off for a soup base.

As for shelling by hand, remove husks if they are not off already. Wash and dry the shells. Lay the hickory nut down on its narrowest side and hit the closer seam with a hammer one third the way back from the stem end. It takes some practice. Second method: If you soak the nuts for an hour or more and work with them wet they will open without shattering. Either method is a personal preference. Some say you get a greater yield by soaking them.   Don’t try to use a lever-type nutcracker.  Either the nuts will be too hard or way too soft for that kind of nutcracker to work well.

The name Carya comes the Greek word ka-RI-thee, which is Greek for the hickory nut that they have in Europe, though it is a bit more complex than that. The walnut is kaREEa, named after Carya, daughter of the king of Laconia who was changed into a walnut tree by Bacchus. Glabra is bald, meaning no hair on the leaves or stems. Aquatica, of the water.

Some recipes are on the bottom of the page.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: A tree from 30 to 150 feet. Vertical furrowed bark, sometimes shaggy. Leaves usually leaflets of five or seven, two to four on the main stem, three leaflets splayed at the end, terminal leaflet often the largest. Not be confused with an ash. Hickory leaves alternate whereas the ash leaf is opposite.

TIME OF YEAR: Fall, usually october or whenever the tree drops them and for some time after that.

ENVIRONMENT: Varies with variety from dry scrub to root-in-water swamps.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Raw or roasted as a nut, a flour, a meal in water. No toxic look alikes. Bitter hickories can be leached like acorns.

Recipes

by Linda Schaalma and her parents Ray and Virginia Pamperin, Juneau Wisconsin

Hickory Nut Cake Makes 12 to 16 servings

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ cups sifted cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped hickory nuts

5 egg whites, stiffly beate

Hickory nut filling (see recipe)

Boiled frosting to cover 3-layer cake

Additional hickory nuts for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three (9-inch) round cake pans.

Prepare cake: In mixing bowl, cream butter. Gradually beat in sugar. Resift flour with baking powder and salt. Add to butter-sugar mixture alternately with milk, to which vanilla has been added. Add nuts and fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into center of each layer comes out clean.

Let cool in pans on rack 10 minutes, then carefully remove from pans and let cool completely on rack. Run knife around edge of pan to loosen sides and remove from pan.

Prepare hickory nut filling. Transfer one cooled cake layer to serving plate, top with half the filling, then another layer, the remaining filling, and finally, the last cake layer.

Prepare boiled frosting. Pour over cake, spreading evenly with back of spoon. Work quickly; frosting will crease as soon as it is firm. If frosting is not beaten long enough, it will run; if beaten too long, it will not be smooth. Frosting beaten too long may be improved by adding a few drops of lemon juice or boiling water. Note: This frosting is soft and has a glossy surface. If decorating the cake with nuts, place nuts on frosting as soon as it is spread.

Hickory nut filling:

3 cups sugar

1 cup light cream or half-and-half cream

1 teaspoon corn syrup

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup chopped hickory nuts

To make filling, cook sugar, cream and corn syrup in saucepan over medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until temperature on candy thermometer reaches 238 degrees, or a soft ball is formed when dropped into cold water, about 12 to 15 minutes. Add butter and let cool. Beat with mixer on high speed until creamy. Stir in nuts.

Hickory Nut Pie Makes 8 servings

Here’s another family recipe from Schaalma for a pie that substitutes hickory nuts for pecans:

Pastry for one (9-inch) deep-dish pie

3 eggs

1 scant cup light corn syrup

¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or ½ teaspoon maple flavoring

1 heaping cup coarsely chopped hickory nuts

Sweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Fit pastry into 9-inch deep-dish pie pan.

In bowl, beat eggs slightly. Add corn syrup and melted butter; beat well until smooth. Stir in brown sugar, maple syrup and nuts; mix thoroughly. Place pie pan on baking sheet and pour filling into pie shell; if it gets too full, add the last cup after you’ve put the pan in the oven.

Bake in preheated oven 45 to 55 minutes or until middle is set. Nuts will have risen to the surface. Cool to room temperature or chill thoroughly. Serve with whipped cream.

Customer Alverna Filter of Cascade recently shared this recipe for a crisp and nutty butter cookie with Schaalma. Filter told Schaalma in a note with her hickory nut order that she bakes these cookies to ship to her grandson, who is serving in the military in Iraq.

Hickory Nut Refrigerator Cookies Makes about 4 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped hickory nuts

In bowl, cream butter. Add egg and beat until fluffy. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt, then hickory nuts. Divide in half and shape into two logs. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours. Also wrap in plastic for longer storage, or to freeze.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice dough into 1/8-inch-thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes, until light golden on the bottom.

Note: These freeze well both before and after baking.

 This recipe from a www.prodigalgardens.info

Maple Hickory Apple Crisp Makes 15 servings

8 cups sliced apples (9 or 10 medium-size apples)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (divided)

3 tablespoons flour

½ cup water or apple juice

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup hickory nuts (or chopped walnuts)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

¼ to ½ cup pure maple syrup

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

Peel, core and dice apples. In large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon and the flour. Transfer to prepared pan and add the ½ cup water or apple juice.

Chop oats coarsely in food processor or blender. To oats, add flour, brown sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon and the nuts. Pulse until thoroughly mixed together. Add butter and mix until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. (Filling may seem too wet, resembling a paste – don’t get discouraged if this happens, just spread it as evenly as you can; it will be fine.)

Spread topping evenly over sliced apples. Drizzle maple syrup over topping.

Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes, or until topping is brown and apples are bubbly. If desired, serve with whipped cream or ice cream

Hickory Wild Rice Stuffing Makes 12 servings

Water

1¼ cups dry wild rice

8 ounces ground sausage (optional)

1 tablespoon butter

2 large celery ribs, diced

1 medium onion, minced

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 cups chopped hickory nuts

Follow directions on wild rice package and cook rice until very tender.

In skillet, cook sausage, if using, breaking it up with a spoon, until well done. Add to rice. Add butter, onion and celery to sausage drippings in skillet and sauté until tender. Add sautéed ingredients to rice and sausage mixture, along with salt and pepper and nuts. Mix together well.

Use to stuff a chicken or turkey (¾ cup per pound of poultry), then roast accordingly, until meat is done and stuffing has reached 165 degrees. (Or, place in a 13-by-9-inch greased casserole dish and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until thoroughly hot.)

Variation: If desired, add about 1 cup sliced mushrooms and/or 1 cup diced apples or cranberries…

Hickory Nut “Coffee”

Roast about six huled, larva-less hickory nuts for 15 minutes at 350. remove and let them cool. Do not cook them longer or at a higher temperature without first scoring them so heat can escape. Split the shells. Put in pan with one to two cups of water., Bring to boil. When water turns golden, strain into cup and enjoy/