North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>]

After doing some research into how to identify beech trees, I have located
them lining both sides of the street for about 10 blocks in the Greenwood
neighborhood of Seattle.  I used to live in this part of town for many years
and never realized what kind of tree they were.  I located one tree that
seemed especially loaded with beech mast, (ie the pod that holds the nuts).
Inside each mast I found two triangular shaped nuts, each wrapped like a
miniature chestnut.  Beech it turns out is in the same plant family as
chestnuts.  Yet unlike the chestnut, the nuts of the beech are loaded with
oil.  The mature nuts contain around 20% oil, that is similar to hazelnut
oil.  They aren't very large, maybe the same size as a peanut.

In my research I found these interesting facts...
American settlers used beechnuts as a food source, either eating them
directly, or boiling them to release the oil that was skimmed off the
surface.
In Germany, beech nut oil was turned a margarine during WWII.
In rural parts of Europe, beech nut oil is still commonly used in cooking.
It does not readily go rancid.
In the world of landscaping, a Scottish beech hedge is the largest hedge in
the world.  Planted in 1746, it is 580 yards long.  Regular trimming keeps
the trees from forming the abscision layer which causes other trees to drop
their leaves in the fall.  This makes the brown leaves to hold on the
braches through the winter until bud break.  The hedge thus provides
screening year-round.

-Mark Lee, Seattle, z7B/8A