Like a squirrel, I've stashed away a lot of foraged nuts. Now it's time to enjoy them! Come into my post and see my nutty plate of nuts for the Steemit Iron Chef contest.

Going Through My Nuts
Let's take stock of my stash of my nuts! Most are foraged, but I have one kind from here on the homestead, too.



Cracking and Cooking With My Nuts
Out of all those hazelnuts, there were only 3 that had any nuts in them! That's what happens in the wild! But the Shellbark hickory nuts had large, sweet nutmeats. It took a lot of torque on the vice to crack these nuts - and then some delicate work with the nutpick. You won't see hickory nutmeats that large in many places!

To process the acorns, I ground them in my coffee grinder. I put the nut meal into a big pot and filled it with cold water to leach the tannin out of the acorns. It took many hours and changes of water until the acorn meal lost its astringent tannin dryness! I strained out the water, for the last time, with a coffee filter.
Enjoying My Nuts
I prepared each nut in a different way -- and the gingko nuts in 3 different ways. The English Walnuts have a sugar-cinnamon glaze. The hazelnuts are toasted. The hickory nuts are not changed in any way. So few people get to taste a real hickory nut. It's a shame to hide their sweet flavor. They are such an incredibly good nut! But they are so hard to get out of the shell, they are rare to find for sale - and then they cost so much.



What Do You Think?
- What's your favorite nut?
- Have you ever foraged for nuts?
- Have you eaten acorns?
- Have you eaten hickory nuts?
- Would you eat my plate of nuts?
I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wild places.
Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series!
I try to make content that's interesting! If you found this informative and helpful, please give it an upvote and a resteem.
Plant List
- Shellbark Hickory Carya laciniosa
- Hazelnut Corylus avellana
- English Walnut Juglans regia
- English Oak Quercus robur
- Gingko Gingko biloba
