THE PALMETTO, Winter 1990, Page 13 Drawings by Mrs. A.E. Hoyle Native Wild Foods Forest Treesof Florida, Florida Forest Service Nuts to you! by Dick Deuerling and Peggy Lantz

Florida hosts a large number of native trees with edible nuts. Many of them are

partial to the northern part of the state, BASSWOOD but enough species grow throughout the peninsula to whet every gatherer's EASTEItN BLACK WALNUT sweet nuts ripen in the middle of the appetite. summer. They are extremely good, but Hickories. dye, including dying your hands when small. They're worth seeking, though, Four of the five species of hickory nuts, you gather them! The local people put because you can carry a pocketful and genus Carya, are sweet for eating. The the nuts in the driveway and drive over pop them in your mouth, bite out the pignut hickory (Caryaglabra) is the most them to remove the hull. meat, and spit out the shell. (Suggest widespread, covering the whole state Chinquapins. reading: Trees of Northern Florida, by except for the southernmost counties. The chinquapins are another group of Kurz and Godfrey, Basswood Family, The nut is thick-shelled, and can be small trees that offer nuts to eat. The pages 229-233.) sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter. Florida chinquapin (Castanea floridana The American hornbeam, or blue The mockernut (Carya tomentosa), = alnifolia) grows as far south ascentral beech (Carpinus caroliniana), has edible grows in the northern third of the state, Florida, with some found at Wekiwa nuts, but they're so small they're hardly Springs State Park. It has a good, sweet, worth the trou ble. Maybe if you're starv• but very small nut, and its cover has ing ... The range is from Orange County north. prickles all over it. The Allegheny chinquapin that grows KeyWest has planted almond trees in in the Panhandle (Castaneapumila) also the median of the highway. One time, has a pretty good nut. when Dick was there, the almonds were Pinecones. falling off the trees onto the median strip. He gathered about a bushel of the Pine trees (Pinus spp.) also haveedible delicious nuts! winged nuts inside the "scales" of each And how can we omit the coconut in pine cone. All are edible either roasted a discussion of edible nuts? Of course, or raw (except for the undesirable in• the coconut palm is not native, and vader, the Australian pine, which does not have cones or edible seeds). The grows only on the southern shores of the state, but it lacks some of the pine tree with the biggest nut is the MOCKERNUT HICKORY drawbacks of other nuts-though it's a sugar pine with enormous seeds that and does not come as far south as cen• tough nut to crack, it's very large and its grows in western U.s. The longleaf, tral Florida. The nut of this tree is also meat is sweet! (Pinus palustris), is the pine in Florida Non-nuts. thick-shelled and sweet. with the largest seeds. It grows all over Scrub hickory (Carya floridana) is not the state except for the southeast Groundnuts (Apios americana) are a very common, growing in the few re• counties. vining legume that have fleshy edible maining undeveloped scrub areasof the Beechnuts. tubers on the roots like a string of nuts, central ridge. The nut is sweet. from the size of a dime to the size of a American beech trees (Fagusgrandi• The water hickory (Carya aquatica) is hen egg. They have to be dug out of the folia) grow abundantly in north Florida the only hickory with a really bad-tasting, ground instead of gathered from trees! south toj\lachua County. The triangular bitter nut meat. It is edible, however,and They can be boiled, or sliced and fried, nut has an outside covering with burrs and are very tasty, but eat them while not harmful if you like bitter! The nut allover it. The nut meat is sweet, but looks like a pushed-together pecan. small, and the shell is hard to remove. they are still warm-they're not good Range is all of Florida except for the cold. They're especially good in stir-fried The Indians pressed oil from it. southern tip, always in wet places, meals. swamps, river edges, etc. Oaks. Yellownut sedge (Cyperus esculentus), The pecan (Carya illinoensis) is, of The acorns from oak trees (Quercus also known as chufa, nut grass,or earth cou rse, not native to Florida, but to the spp.) are all edible. The white oak group almond, has tubers that can be eaten out Mississippi valley. It has escaped from is best for eating. Red and black oak of hand, roasted and ground to make a cultivation in some places in the north• group has more tannin and require coffee substitute, or mashed and made ern part of Florida, and can be planted leaching to get out the bitter acids. (See into flour. The tubers can be made into in yards. article on oaks in the Winter 89/90 issue a good drink by mashing them, adding Walnut. of The Palmetto, including uses and water, and letting the mixture set for a Black Walnuts Uuglans nigra) are recipes.) couple days. Then strain it through a cloth. famous for their especially good taste. Others. The tree grows in north Florida in upland Basswood (Tilia americana) is some• Fallis the time to go nutting. Soget out habitat. The hull makes a good brown times called the American linden. Its there soon and enjoy!