North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lucky Pittman" <lpittman@murraystate.edu>]

Alexis, 
Depending upon your hickory - shagbark and shellbark are preferred, most
others are not worth the effort of trying to extract nutmeats from - and
some shag/shellbark selections are vastly superior to the run-of-the-mill
average - you may find that cracking and extraction is facilitated, to some
degree, by soaking the nuts for an hour or so prior to a session of cracking
- this allows the shell to absorb enough water that it should bend, buckle
and split, rather than exploding/imploding once you reach 'critical
pressure'.  
A good hard-shell nut cracker, designed for use on hickories or black
walnuts - or even a vise (I've even used vise-grip pliers with success) are
generally more effective than just bashing the nuts with a hammer, if you're
wanting to extract decent kernel pieces.  
But, again, internal nut structure is quite important - some have thinner
shell than others, some have an 'open' central cavity, with fewer internal
ridges which can trap the kernel. 

Lucky

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of alexis@conev.org
Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2013 12:53 PM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [nafex] Are Hicans Edible?

Hey Folks,
thinking about what nuts I can grow. Anyone have much experience with
Hicans? To what extent are the edible? Lots of things get called edible that
aren't  really in a practical sense. Wild hickories fit this latter
category. The nuts are very tasty, but the extraction rate is pitiful as the
nuts are wooden. The only practical way I have heard of eating them is to
crush the nuts and boil them, and skim the oily residue.
Can hicans be cracked and eaten, like pecans (walnuts, etc), or are they
more like hickories?
Any info appreciated.
Alexis Zeigler
__________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
aubscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward list
maintenance:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
message archives
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex
Google message archive search:
site: lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex [searchstring] nafex list mirror
sites:
http://nafexlist.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/nafexlist
https://sites.google.com/site/nafexmailinglist
Avant Geared  http://www.avantgeared.com