The picture I chose for the lead photo for this column shows just how popular the mockernut hickory nut is with squirrels. The bushytails hulled the green enclosing husks from some of the mast, no doubt dropped some of the brown shells when trying to reach the inner “sweet meat,” and the creatures have littered the rest of the ground with the brown cracked shells and nutmeat.
Bruce Ingram
Bits and pieces of mockernut hickory nuts litter the ground in this region’s fall forests.
Gray and fox squirrels are not the only mammals that evince an affinity for the hard mast of Carya tomentosa. I can testify that the inner nut the mockernut tree produces is among the most savory in this region and one that this human eagerly seeks for. Indeed, this nut adds both flavor, vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 and 6-fatty acids to bread, muffin or cookie recipes.
What’s more, the mockernut hickory is one of the most common trees in the Blue Ridge Mountains and is fairly easy to identify. The leaves are perhaps the most diagnostic part with their alternative compound, pinnate leaves that have between five and nine leaflets, but usually seven. The leaves are a glossy green in the summer but turn yellow/brown come autumn. The hairy undersides help in identifying this tree. Other characteristics include upturned limbs, a narrow top, and on older trees, the gray bark forms plate-like ridges.
Seek the mockernut hickory this month and hope that the squirrels have left you a few nuts to snack on or take home.
Bruce and Elaine Ingram will profile a different wild edible every month. For more information on their book Living the Locavore Lifestyle, contact them at bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.