Hickory Nut Milk - Bone health, Glucose regulation, Brain function, and Cardiovascular health... NOW WHAT!!!

Where we live, we have deciduous trees in abundance. Between maples, oaks and hickory trees there’s a good number of wild foods to be had. We don’t tap our sugar maples, we haven’t taken the time to do that just yet. But one day I would like to make my own maple syrup! I have made acorn flour with which I made pancakes and breads.

I was always attracted to tree nuts, I used to harvest walnuts with my father when we walked to and from the forest where he lived outside of Paris. He also had a bunch of hazel nut trees in the yard. For a good part of the year, there was a wicker basket full of walnuts and hazel nuts sitting on a side table in the kitchen with a nut cracker, that always made for a good little snack. I really have some good memories of my father’s old house!

Since I’ve been in the US, I have missed that. It was really nice to be able to walk out of a home and pick some food off the trees. It took me a long time to realize that I had missed that part of my life, and that I can fulfill that desire again. We are again surrounded by forests and wild foods… berries, nuts, mushrooms, and greens!

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We do not have much in the walnut department where we live, but we do have lots a different kinds of hickory trees. These trees have a good history. First let me say that the hickory tree is in the same family as the pecan tree… well actually, the pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is a species of hickory native to the southern United States.

In the north there also are some hickory trees that produce a sweet nut (my wife said it was even sweeter than the pecan nut). So, with a little bit of work, these trees can give us food. I’ll show you how do that a little later. The other important feature of the hickory tree has been its hardness. We’ve used this tree to make tool handles for hundreds of years.

Hickory wood is very hard, very stiff, and with good shock absorbing properties. There are many timbers that are harder, and some that are stronger, but the combination found in Hickory is hard to beat. source

Nutritional value of the hickory nut

Hickory nuts are full of thiamin, manganese, copper, and magnesium.

• Thiamin plays an essential role in energy production and general growth and development, also known as vitamin B1. Manganese is an essential trace element that has vital functions for skeletal health, and it may potentially help to promote blood glucose regulation. Copper is a necessary cofactor for a wide variety of enzymes with important functions within the body. Additionally, ensuring an optimal copper status may potentially have a protective role against cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s.

• Manganese has vital functions for skeletal health, and it may potentially help to promote blood glucose regulation.

• Copper is a necessary cofactor for a wide variety of enzymes with important functions within the body. Additionally, ensuring an optimal copper status may potentially have a protective role against cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s.

• Magnesium is a crucial mineral that influences numerous bodily systems. Research suggests that chronically low magnesium intake may increase the risk of various chronic diseases. source

These facts are taken from the National Institute of Health, which is a US government department of health… not sure how much they really want us to know about what’s really healthy, but I do trust the native people who used hickory as a source of food. And I like that these vitamins and minerals have been around in health circles for a long time. This nut looks like a great nutritious food to have!

How to prepare Hickory Nut

Late October through November is the most plentiful time to gather hickory nuts. However, as one elder known for his skill in making kanuchi balls for hickory nut soup warned:

To gather the appropriate nuts for making kanuchi, one must learn to “get up early and beat the squirrels to the best nuts.” source

We should also take a good look at the Forager Chef’s post on the subject, he makes a really good job at telling the history behind this wild food and going through the recipe: hickory nut milk

For authenticity I will have to try this recipe one day too… I've tasted the sweet nectar that is hickory and Kanuchi balls sound amazing!!!!

I made hickory milk from a recipe basically like this one, though I boiled the same batch about 5 times with new water to collect a very oily milk in the end:

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I add the oily milk into my coffee or mushroom tea with local maple syrup, it’s delicious!!! I hope you get to try this for yourself one day. It’s truly an awesome experience. I for one will go back every year to that spot with the four trees standing alone in a field. The nuts were just everywhere, untouched by the squirrels!!!

I must have gathered 4 pounds in under an hour! That’s a lot of nutrition for very little effort, well the harvesting bit… you still have to process it!

Let me know if you learned something today and if you’re excited for next season to roll around so you can try it too!