Hickory pics

Even though it's been cloudy, I just had to get some shots of this beauty today. I'm 99% sure it's Carya tomentosa (Mockernut hickory).

A closer look.

Another

I learned 7 different types of Hickories these past months and how to tell them apart not only from themselves but from Ashes with this little table. Ther e may be more Hickories, but that the only ones common for our area. Hope this helps ya some.

5 leaves
Carya ovata puby and bark hangs down Shagbark Hickory
Carya glabra no pubesence Pignut

7 leaves
Carya tomentosa puby rachis, puby underneath Mockernut Hickory
Carya pallida puby rachis, silver underneath Sand Hickory
Carya ovalis non puby, green underneath Bitternut Hickory

9 leaves
Carya cordiformis yellowish bud Bitternut

11 leaves
Carya illinoinensis narrow bud, some leaves falcate Pecan Hickory

I have several huge old hickories here. Junk Hickories. Nuts only good for the squirrels. Got some Mockernut and Bitternut.

All year long it is a battle not to roller skate aroudn the yard and bust a leg or bun from stepping on the nuts or empty shells rolling under your feet. I was hoping the severe drought would have cut back on some of the nuts, but no such luck.

Seems like there ought to be a better use for thousands of these darn junk nuts than feeding the suirrels or listening to em explode when racked and burned in a pile.

Starlight,
You can make hickory syrup from the mockernut nuts - fill a big pot with good clean nuts(you can use the husks, too!), cover with water, and boil all day; strain to remove any debris, then add sugar - I've forgotten how much; will have to check my notes, but it seems like 1.5-2 Cups sugar to each cup of hickory 'liquor', then cook it down, stirring constantly, until it reaches the consistency you desire, and pour off into clean canning jars(I add 1 tsp sugar to each pint jar). Tastes better (to me) than maple sugar, but will 'go off', so use it rapidly after opening a jar, or keep it in the fridge.

Whipped into softened butter, it makes a nice sweet hickory spread for biscuits & rolls.

Lucky-P How awesome!!!!!! You just made my day. Your the first person in all these years that has given me a good idea for these nuts. I got a bunch of canning jars and will hunt up my canner out of the shed.

Would love it if you can give me the exact amount of sugar to use. So do I have to crack the nuts if adding the husks too, or does it all boil down to a mush.

I'll be spending alot of time over the holiday out raking these nuts up and usually it is the most dreaded chore. Now I can do it with a smile and have something to look forward too. Thanks bunches! : )

You don't have to crack the nuts, but it might release more of the flavor of the nutmeat; I don't know for sure.. I've made it using the shell fragments left over after cracking & picking out a bunch of shagbark hickory nuts(some people make it by boiling strips of bark peeled off the tree!) - but I had a gallon of clean mockernut nuts I'd picked up just for the fun of it, and I did crunch them with a pair of vise-grip pliers before pitching them - and their hulls - into the pot.

You don't have to use a pressure canner; I just boil 'em in a big stainless steel pot, strain through a couple of layers of muslin cloth, then after adding the sugar(checking my notes, it looks like 1.5 - 2 cups sugar per cup of liquid - beyond 1.5 cups, it sometimes tends to crystallize out when it cools) and cooking it down, I just pour it off into clean canning jars, screw on the lids, invert 'em for 5 minutes, then turn 'em back right-side up, and they seal fine.

A recent paper in the proceedings of the NNGA detailed 'sugar-bushing' black walnuts - tapping them for sap to be boiled down into syrup, similar to the process used in tapping sugar maples.

This sounds similar http://www.earthy.com/Shagbark_Hickory_Syrup_C177.cfm

Yep. I'd seen that. Very similar, I'd say, to my hickory nut syrup.
There's a restaurant in the Cookeville, TN area that's famous for its hickory-bark butter.
I had a good supply of shagbark nutshells and mockernut nuts available, so I didn't bother with pulling the loose, exfoliating sheets of bark off my hickories.
Didn't know how the lichens, poison ivy rootlets, bugs & frass, etc. would affect the flavor, either. Maybe they make it better!

It sure is expensive, I think I saw a price of eighteen bucks for a 16oz jug of it.