The Nut Factory : Kitchen : hickoriy nuts

Beech

Fagaceae:

species Includes the filbert, beech, oak and chestnut

There are 10 different kinds of beech trees found in the north temperate zone. The most common is the American Beech

The beech has small triangular seeds which in form and general appearance resemble overgrown seeds of "buckwheat". Beechnuts resemble the chestnut. The nuts are difficult to separate from the shell. That is the reason the beech nut is not commercially harvested.

American beech

American beech trees thrive in the valleys of the Appalachian Mountains and extends from New Jersey to Illionis as far south as Florida to Texas. The trees thrive in cool climates at high elevations and tolerate shade.

Beechnuts are triangular in shape and are born in small burrs. These burrs are shed in late summer. The nuts fall to the ground over a period of several weeks and they deteriorate within two weeks unless harvested and dried. The kernels are inside the shells and constitute 46% by weight of the nut. As you can see, over half the nut is shell.

American grown beechnuts are seldom collected for food because of their small size, their poor development to a mature nut in the shell (partial voids), and the difficulty of harvesting in such a short period of time.

There is a Black Beech grown in Kentucky that has nuts that are black and about twice the size of the ordinary beechnut. When these are oil roasted or dry roasted, the nuts have an excellent quality and there are many ways to eat them.

More common us of the beechnut is the gathering and the extraction of oil from them by a pressing process. Beechnut oil is used in cooking and also as a salad oil. Sometimes it is used as a butter substitute. This is more common in France.

Mostly, however, the beechnut of America is grown for the beauty of the tree and for the abundant supply of the nut for wild animals.

European beech, used as an oil source and is also edible.

Nothofagus or Hortus

There are about 40 species of deciduous or evergreen beechlike trees and shrubs, native to temperate South America, New Zealand, Tasmania, southeast Australia, New Caldonia and New Guinea.

A few have been cultivated and grown in trial patches in coastal areas of California.

Six species have been introduced into European gardens and have proved fairly hardy in southern England and Ireland. desirable.

The Lithocarpus corneus

A more common name is the "edible acorn". The evergreen plant originates in China and is closely related to the oak. The nuts are as thick-walled as the hickory nut.

The kernels are white and the shape of a long flat acorn. They have a very sweet, agreeable flavor. In China they are sold in local markets just like we sell roasted chestnuts in the United States. In China they boil and/or roast this sweet nut.

There are over 300 species of the Lithocarpus tree found primarily in eastern and southern Asia and Malaysia.