Fall-time is one of my most favorite times of the entire year, so what more befitting way to write about this season than sharing a harvesting story with y'all? I do love fall very much because it's the season that reminds us that nasty, horrible, humid summer is over and much cooler temps with that definitite crispness in the air is on its way. Be that as it may, this piece is gonna be about the American Hickory Nut tree, the Shag-Bark Hickory variety to be more specific, and how this September, I learned why squirrels have major OCD issues with such trees.
A coupla weeks back, the grandfather of the family who lives next door to me where I'm staying here in Connecticut, was out in the backyard throwing a metal pole up in a tree. At first, I didda coupla double-takes and thought to myself "I wonder if his daughter knows what he's doing right about now...??" but then I had to take some recycables to the bin out back and just as I was about to ask him what he was doing, he hollered over to me "Hey, can you help me with this over here, you gotta few minutes to help me?" I smiled at him and hollered over in his direction "Uhm, sure, exactly what is it that you're doing?" He replied back "Trying to get some of the best damn nuts on the entire planet!"
Now, as a gay man I instantly wanted to say "Oh, you're a fan of late 1980's/early 1990's porn star Dino DiMarco too??" but then I said to myself "Now Gidget, that's not what the old fart means!" Instead I hollered back "You're kidding me, right?" to which he responded back "Take this metal pole and throw it up into the underheart of the tree for me, will you please? While you're doing that, I'll fill you in" which over the next 35 minutes he certainly did and lemme tell you, when we were finished (I knocked down about half a bushel full of the green nuthusks for him, not bad I think) what that elderly man taught me about the Shagbark Hickory nut trees is something I'll never forget.
He was a wealth of information about the Shagbark Hickory trees, in fact, he was more like a walking factoid machine when it comes to those trees, things which I never even knew about that kinda tree, except for what my Grandma told me about them years ago, how during the Depression of the 30's, before they had to sell their farm and move into the city, her and her siblings would gather up the green four-sectioned nuthusks by the armload-full and then laying them out to dry on old newspapers so that they would crack apart, thus revealing the very light beige-colored, nearly impenetrable nutshell that housed a Walnut-like-looking nut that is smaller than it's first cousin, yet tastes like no other. In fact, my Gram said they were so delicious yet so hard to find in that area of Michigan where they moved to, that she really hadnt had any since that last fall-time on the farm, back in 1937. Well, thanks to my own perseverance, my Gram is not gonna be baking with just Walnuts, Pecans and Hazelnuts this coming holiday season, no sirree...
But onward with the Shagbark Hickory nut trees fact....1st, it's a known fact that IF the Shagbark Hickory nuts themselves weren't so damn difficult and time-consuming to harvest, that they would have commercially been the #1 baking & cooking nut here in America, instead of their larger cousin, the Walnut. 2nd, the actual nut of the Shagbark Hickory tree is hidden inside a green, 4-quartered, hard nuthusk that usually either falls right apart the instant you try to split it, depending on how dry it is; or, takes a few days or so of drying so that you can reach the nut itself. 3rd, the green nut-husk, when undried is very unique because it literally emits a yellowish, gooey liquid similiar to the lesser-yellowed liquid of the Alstromeria lilly, similiar in the sense that the liquid from both cannot only stain your fingers and hands, but also cause problematic drying and cracking of those areas as well. (if you're gonna get near those things like I did, definitely use a pair of work gloves). 4th, the Shagbark Hickory nuts are to squirrels, what catnip is to cats and that is no joke. From late August until early October it's not unusual to hear the thumping and thudding on the ground of falling nutshell pieces, compliments of the local squirrel communities.
Speaking of which, before I mention the last (and best) thing about the Shagbark Hickory nuts, please note that as hard as those outer green nuthusks are, the second the inner nuts are removed from them, they automatically turn black and start to disintegrate. They look nasty laying all around the place and can make your yard look a bit slobbish, but otherwise, they post no real harm or danger to the land around them, nor your lawnmower for that matter. Just so you know.
The 5th greatest fact about the Shagbark Hickory nut? The taste, as well as its fragrance! No shit. I couldnt believe it either until that elderly man showed me how to crack a few of them open. The delicious smell was positively overwhelming!! I dont think anyone out there can even fathom what I'm talking about unless they themselves try it too - imagine cracking open a nutshell and smelling the smell of a pure Maple-nut scent and that is EXACTLY what it smells like! I kid you not, what mankind took years to create, Mother Nature herself creates every fall-time in the form of the Shagbark Hickory nut. But the scent doesnt stop at the inner shell.
It continues in the flavor of the nut as well! It's so bizarre, truly a misnomer of Nature because a Maple-nut tasting nut naturally should come from a Maple tree, right? Yet here is a nut that is the direct cousin of both the Walnut and Pecan but yet it's flavoring, texture and coloring are nothing like the other two. Shagbark Hickory nuts are delicious, indeed a true delicacy. They smell just like a Maple-nut and taste better than a Maple-nut if a Maple-nut truly existed! Their texture is almost identical to the Walnut and Pecan yet more softer and more oilier, and as for their coloring, it ranges from a slight yellowish color to a rich dark brown color, much darker than their cousin the Pecan.
As much as I adore almost everything about the Shagbark Hickory Nut, I would have to say that it's their scent that I'm the most impressed with. There isnt one of us out there who hasnt found ourselves in one of those cutesy country stores that has a vast array of natural-smelling scents yet I finally figured out why none of us has ever come across a Hickory-scented candle or potpourri - because that scent is something that ONLY Mother Nature has a patent on. I'm serious. I love that scent so much that I'm taking the shells of the nuts I have yet to harvest and putting them in a small crystal bowl once I get back to Boston just to get that scent flowing throughout the place. Simply amazing and as far as I'm concerned, non-duplicative.
Of course, the flip side about eating the nut itself is that I'll never be able to fully enjoy the flavor of the Shagbark Hickory nut because of my diverticulitis. I cant eat nuts of any kind unless they are in nut butter form. Now, I did take a quarter of a piece that afternoon and ate it and omfg, just that teeny tiny bit was outta this world! There truly is no comparison between it and it's cousin the Walnut, for where the Walnut has that almost non-flavorful bitterness towards the end of eating it, the Shagbark Hickory Nut has that replaced with almost a golden sweetness.
Everything has a flip side, yet the Shagbark Hickory nut's flip side is pretty major - they are a TREMENDOUS amount of work in harvesting and are a major pain-in-the ass (you never cracked a harder nutshell than that, lemme tell you) because since they are smaller than their Walnut-like cousins, you're basically talking about a whole lotta work for notta very huge harvest. However, if you love the flavor and/or scent of them, then of course, it's truly a labor of love. I'm not very big into statistics but to give some of you math whizes out there an idea of what I'm talking about...65 to 67 nuthusks only created about 1 and a half cups of actual nuts. In other words, it's extremely easy to comprehend why the Walnut was deemed so much more profitable by nutgrowers many generations ago, because it was so much easier to harvest and therefore mass-market.
Regardless of that fact, I'm just so damn happy that my Grandma is finally gonna be baking with Shagbark Hickory nuts again, like she did so many years ago. When I first told her about it all over the phone, she kept asking me "You mean, these trees are on the actual property, you dont have to go anywhere to pick them??" It was funny the way she reacted because when us kids were growing up, I cant tell you how many times her and my great-aunts would say "These nuts are so expensive this year, wish we lived down south where we could just grow our own damn nut trees!" We all are older now but nuts are still expensive here on the American market so when I told her that I would make sure they'd be ready to ship to her before Thanksgiving, I could already picture her smile over the phone that afternoon. Bringing a bit of pre-holiday happiness to your very own grandmother? Priceless, simply priceless.
SHAGBARK MAPLE COOKIES
Use walnuts, if you can't find shagbark hickory nuts in your woods. Makes approximately 2 dozen.
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 beaten egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shagbark hickory nuts (or as many as you have managed to shell!)
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease two cookie sheets, or line with a Silpat (silicone sheet) or parchment.
Cream together until light: brown sugar, shortening, and butter.
Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Sift the flour, soda, and salt together and stir in.
Fold in the hickories.
Drop on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375F for 12-15 minutes.
Let stand a few minutes before placing on racks to cool.
When cooled, frost with maple cream. If you don’t have maple cream, mix together:
1 cup sifted confectioners sugar
2-4 Tbsp cream –- adjust amount to desired consistency
2-3 Tbsp Grade B maple syrup (otherwise, make sure you use real maple syrup -– adjust amount to taste)
Note: If you don't want to use shortening, you may substitute all butter; however it doesn’t fully support the hickory taste and cookies will be flat.
All my life I've always hadda green thumb, a very good green thumb, to the point where years ago I started collecting various favorite flower seeds so in that very same tradition this year I'm adding a new seed to my collection - the Shagbark Hickory but tree. All you do is take the harvested nut and just keep it in a cool, dark place until you're ready to plant it and there ya go.! Of course, the squirrels are gonna be a HUGE problem so I guess I'll have to raise me some barn-cats to protect over those trees! Granted, my dream of having my very own Shagbark Hickory nut trees may or may not ever happen, but as long as I have those seeds, anything is possible. I think that's true with everything in life - if you have even that one tiny glimmer of promise or hope, there's nothing that cant become a reality. So if you have any Shagbark Hickory nut trees in your immediate area, I do hope you check them out and give them a try and see what you reall think of them. Hopefully you'll be as impressed as I was.Thank you for reading.
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