Fox Grapes, Autumn Olive Fruit, Acorns, and Ginkgo Survival

[Seventhsonjr]

Hi Seventh -

I live in NYC, and there are three "Stinko Gingkos" right outside my window. Historically, the fruit doesnt fall from these trees until late November. Im thinking these must be a different variety of gingko than those that you have already harvested. Do you know if all varieties of gingko are safe (and healthy!) for consumption?

As near as I can tell there is only one typw of Ginkgo either male or female and only the females produce the fruit which is orange/silverish when "ripe.

I picked the fruits off the lower branches within reach and just spent a few minutes collecting a bunch of the ground at "my" tree which is in town several miles away.

BUT - SOME folks are sensitive to the skin of the fruit so it is recommended that gloves be used (I don't use them and only notice a slight tingly feeling when I pick them off the tree or ground.

Just check the "fan"-shaped leaves (called by some "Buddha's toenails") to be sure its Ginkgo and the ornagey fruitpods.

I have been just letting them sit in a bowl outside until the skin of the fruit softens and it comes easily off the nut under cold water.

Again - some people use gloves to do this. I don't.

On reflection the feeling I get is as if I had uused some bleah on a sponge to wash a countertop for a minute after handling. It is hardly noticeable to me.

In Chinese medicine they say never eat more than ten nuts a day.

I bake them at 350 degrees for ten minutes and then crack 'em open with pliers or a nutcracker and chew 'em up warm - and they are at their best. I did use olive oil and salt a few times but the taste is subtle and really really good on its own.

In an article I linked (I think) above about a NY Asian restarateur who picks his Gingko in Central Park - he recommends boiling them for better, more distinct taste.

I haven't tried that yet as the roasted ones are just great. But I eat them fresh out of the oven as they get a little chewy when cooked and left to cool.

They are a very beautiful coral green nut which is opalescent/iridescent.
The thing about this is that you can collect a basket of them and have them around for the whole year. I guess taking the fruit covering off and roasting them for storage would be fine but they don't taste as good as when freshly roasted. I also do grind the roasted ones up with a small mortar and pestle and put them in tea.

You can buy them canned in brine at Asian markets too.

But I love the fresh ones and they have really seemed to help with a bunch of things making me fuller of energy, clearer, blood pressure down, less leg pain (I have tricky knees and a little sciatica) and just overall feeling of more energy (though I also include other herbs that help with this and found that the acorn meal prepared for coffee or tea or put in oatmeal seems to give me more energy too).

I also just like the idea of eating parts of local TREES that give me a sense of strength and accomplishment.

I once read about a native tribe from the Hudson/Canada area who were called the "Tree-eaters" and who were considered very fierce and powerful. I thought it was kind of funny at the time. But in zooming in on available local foods from trees (and learning about bark etc.used in medicine and soups - "gumbo file", for example, is sassafras leaves and is used to thicken and flavor soups) I am beginning to understand that power of trees and being a "tree-eater".

Now I have to get into the roots thing (burdock, chicory, and whatever else there is around me). So far the one root that I can find and which is kind of rare (but I know where there are huge patches in shadey damp areas and I spread the seeds when I pick the roots and even replant the roots after harvesting the bulbs) - is the wild leek or Ramp. It is healthy like garlic and grows wild in the northeast but is hard to spot.

It is one of the first herbs in the spring and the greens are great along with the bulbs which are like largew single garlic cloves. Umm... yummy in scrambled eggs or pasta sauce or stir fries. But STRONG (raw they are an emetic and very strong so only a little is needed to flavor foods).

I need to go pick some more before the ground freezes.

The one thing about city ginkgo is possibly concerns about pollution. But I would suspect that the filtering process of the tree itself might make this a very small concern. After all, squirrels in NYC eat the nuts etc and seem to be proliific...

Anyway - the NY chef uses his picked in the park at his fancy restaurant --- so I think this is probably just fine. My guess is that ones in the park get picked clean and so if you have some you should collect them, set them on a fireescape or soak them in a bowl of water so they are not too smelly and ENJOY as many as you can but NO MORE than ten a day.

I eat a few more than that but I am a fairly big man (6'4" 225 lbs)

[chiggerbit]

Not sure if you have considered "cultivating" it in ditches, etc., 7thson, but chicory seed is really cheap at this site, like $12.50 a POUND, which grows a helluvalotta plants, at 426,000 seeds per pound:

http://www.wildseedfarms.com/individual ... t_side.htm

[chiggerbit]

Kentucky Coffee Tree:

http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/ ... sweet.html

"....Reportedly early immigrants in Kentucky used the large seeds of this tree to make "coffee....."


http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1669/

"..This tree is mostly native West of the Applachians. It's seeds were roasted and used as coffee in some areas during the Civil War.

Native Americans were supposed to have roasted the seeds too...eating them as nuts. Care should be taken ,because as with any wild food, parts of this tree are poisionous. The pulp between the seeds is poision and cattle will even become ill after drinking water where seed pods have fallen into it...

[Pazdispenser]

Thanks Seventh!

I can hardly wait til the end of November (or the middle of December if these warm temperatures are any indication!) to have them fall.

[annie aronburg]

When I lived in Los Angeles I perpetually surprised at how much delicious fruit was growing in the city.

Pomegranates, lemons, oranges, grapefruits, kumquats, loquats, a Canadian's dream come true. There was a huge avocado behind the Kinkos on Sunset Blvd. but the good ones were hard to reach.

I wish I had come across this site while I was living in L.A.:

http://www.fallenfruit.org/

Now I live in orchard country where my neighbours force me to take their canned peaches, pears and cherries. No-one pays for apples, apples are like garbage here.

Fortunately we have thrifty christians around who put them to good use.

http://www.okanagangleaners.ca/

There is so much good food going to waste.

Annie A.

[chiggerbit]

OMG, annie, I've been mulling about starting a new thread here about starting community food programs/resources, without even knowing that there were already ones out there of that sort, and here you post links. Would you consider starting a new thread in this forum with those links, to make them easy to locate?

A local who does a lot of jogging takes squash seed with him in the spring, and when he comes across one of the horrible brush piles the county has bulldozed while clearing ditches of brush, trees, he plants the seed on it, and later he and anyone who wants go harvest it.

And it's annoyed me for years that so much public land is useless. It would be so cool if people would ask the park systems whether they would allow the planting of fruit or nut trees for the public to harvest. Not in wooded areas, or where wildflowers grow, but in those areas that are mowed, maybe. I know, I know, they won't like having to mow around trees. But it seems like such a waste of usable land.

[Pazdispenser]

Well Seventh,

The good news: gingko berries fell today. The bad news: only one of the three usual suspects had fruit this year!

I gathered abut 5 lbs of brries and theyre soaking now. Given I got them from the ground, Im going to boil the nuts before I roast them. Ill keep you posted!

[Seventhsonjr]

Well Seventh,

The good news: gingko berries fell today. The bad news: only one of the three usual suspects had fruit this year!

I gathered abut 5 lbs of brries and theyre soaking now. Given I got them from the ground, Im going to boil the nuts before I roast them. Ill keep you posted!

First - dp noy eat too many of them. Usually cooked (boiled) they are better tasting and safer than roasted.

I shell them before I boil them, but I fad been shelling and then roasting until I did a little more research on some of the hazards of ginkgotoxins which cause allergic reactions in some folks and adverse reactions in others.

In Chinese medicine they say no more than 4-10 nuts per day.

But they use them toasted. According to preliminary research the ginkgotoxins come out when boiled and are much safer than the roasted.

I had a bowl of 20 or so boiled today with butter and salt and pepper but I usually use olive oil. Delish!

In famines and Chinese folklore there are stories of people eating too many and getting sick and even dying.

Because it acts on the vascular system it can be dangerous for folks on blood thinners or post-operatively especially.

So do some research.

I think boiling and then roating might be great too, but the flavor of the nuts is, accordsing to a chef in NYC which I found on a search, is much richer and I agree. Roasted they can be a bit chewy and boiled they are really good (I boil them about ten minutes but think longer would probably be safer if you plan to eat much or over a long period.

They are smelly too. I keep mine outside and just shell and prepare what I eat each day.

I have about 30 pounds or so --- I was literally shovelling them into bins in the parking lot at the post office near my home. Then wash off the dirt etc.

Also I save the leaves and dry them for tea - which is also really convenient as they have very little of the ginkgotoxins in them,