North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dr. Lucky Pittman" <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

Betsy, 
Mockernut(C.tomentosa) and some Pignut(C.glabra) hickories are edible - and
quite tasty; mockernuts have a strong hickory flavor, rivaling black walnut
in flavor intensity.  
Problem with them is that the thickness of the shell and the prominent
ridges of the internal shell structure tends to trap the kernel, precluding
you being able to extract much more than tiny little kernel fragments. 
There are occasional trees, however, if you'll sample the nuts, that do
crack out reasonably well - but I've never come across a mockernut that
cracks out as well as even the poorest shagbark.
I've got one tree on the farm here that I'd once thought was a hybrid
between shagbark and mockernut - but is probably C.ovalis, red hickory -
cracks out better than some poorer-quality shagbarks.

Lucky

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 2:47 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Good article on Hickories


Thanks Lucky!  I had never realized that pignut and mockernut hickories
were edible.  I just planted some of John Brittain's grafted shagbarks
this spring.  Wish me luck getting them established. I find grafted nut
trees difficult to grow on my dry uplands as they are such water hogs.

Betsy Hilborn
7a Central NC

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