Hickory Nut 101 - Harvesting and Uses

[@semco72057]

I have some hickory trees on our property and as a child I ate the nuts from the tree and only collected them after they fell from the trees. We have plenty of black walnut trees and different berries also which grow on the homestead. I am going to start collecting the hickory and walnuts again and use them to eat and during the Summer collect berries for canning and bagging in the freezer. We also have polk salad which grows here and I can use them like cooking other greens or with other greens.

[@2HAPPYDANCE]

I have been eating hickory nuts for ever, but growing up they were known as "PIG" nuts we also collected and ate BUTTER NUTS. we got them by the bucket full. Sad to say many of the trees are gone now. All we did was eat them, hours at a time, wonderful flavor. lots of happy family time.

[@Kurokubi]

Well, they were called pig nuts because they were probably from the pignut hickory. There are 20 species of hickory native to north america alone and there are even more world wide. Yes, it is a shame, but the pignut hickory is indeed hard to come by now-a-days. It's not endangered or threatened or anything, just not where people usually go. The reason being, all the accessible pignut trees that are worth harvesting have already been harvested, afterall, it is the densest, most rot resistent, insect resistant, shock resistant, and hardest species of wood in north america (even among the hickory species) that is, to say, it's a very desirable wood. Problem is, though, it takes it's sweet time to grow. The growth of a wild sapling was observed from the day it sprouted from the ground for five years. On it's fifth "birthday" it only measured 17 inches. Meaning it took 5 years to grow a foot and 5 inches. Year one, it grew to be 3.0 inches. Year 2, it grew to be 5.8 inches. Year 3, it grew to be 8.0 inches. Year 4, it grew to be 12.0 inches. And finally, year 5, it grew to be 17.0 inches. They have a very long lifespan.

[@Kurokubi]

Also, butternuts are walnuts, bitternuts are another species of hickory.

[@Athenaslife]

Hey Luke, I like your videos and its nice to see a young man gardening... Keep it up and I'll keep on watching! I'm going to start to get my garden going again and I can't wait!!!!

[@marylupo3656]

Zowie's is just Adorable!!!!! The second tree is a Shag-bark Hickory not Shell-bark tree... I have a bunch of Shag-barks in my woods behind my house... I just started to harvest them... There are a lot of common Hickory's by the Delaware River where I live, I harvested a joint compound bucket full and they were bitter so I threw them out... Thanks for the tip to use them for Hickory Smoking meat!!!! I gonna head out this week to get some cause there's buckets full....

[@Chris-jh3tg]

Correct. Shagbark, not Shell. Wondered if anyone else caught that.

[@NoFillerForaging]

Stop punctuating your sentence with "..." it makes you look ignorant.

[@cynthiaweathers6979]

You can eat the small hickory nuts also. They are just as good as the Shagbark but takes more work to get the meat. If you get enough nut meats you can make a pie like a Pecan pie just using hickory.

[@funnyguy19792009]

You miss identified those hickory trees, don't know if you have made a later correction video but if not, then I just thought you should know, the one you kept calling shellbark was actually a shagbark and the one you called a common is the shellbark. There is a difference and the names are not interchangeable. There are several species of hickory trees, but the three most commonly grown hickories are the shellbark, or kingnut (Carya laciniosa), the shagbark (Carya ovata) and Southern shagbark (Carya carolinae-septentrionalis) -- are closely related, and they are distinguished by their leaf composition and nut size.

[@murchlk]

In Michigan we have three native types of Hickory, Shagbark, pignut and bitternut. You are correct that the one in the video was a shagbark, But the other was a pignut.

[@stratify9704]

Thanks this correction was helpful

[@gormanlreynoldsii217]

Looked like Bitternut and shagbark to me

[@robinhobb4]

Thanks! Live and learn. Never seen it marketed in my country in any form ever...didn't even know the existent of a Hickory nut. I look forward to eating it one day.

[@patsyschindler7291]

Remember to tell your friends that the bark in the husk of your hickory nuts are great for smoking in the grill they all flavor of your food just like a wood bark wood and if you dampen them before you use them that will cause them to smoke more. Great flavoring for barbecuing

[@PreppingAngel]

Shagbark Hickory in the south. This is the first I've heard them called Shellbark.

[@mollywagner359]

They are two different species

[@arentheusarentheus5063]

nice video never thought to use the nuts for smoke like that thanks for the vid

[@akagecko]

Wow, I'm starting to get jealous of where you live. I'm as Fall/Winter is slowly, slowly approaching here in the South, I'm getting back into grilling. They sell hickory chips and such here, but it's so expensive.

[@tspaulding3845]

I have a hickory which is in the process of dropping leaves and nuts. Didn't know I could use the nuts when grilling 👍

[@nickystripe3303]

For the first time, we Live on land with hickory trees on it. I picked up hickory nuts for the first time today. I can’t even cracked the darn things.

[@justinskeans3342]

Luck do you have to peel the shells for long storage? I got a bunch of bitter nut I'm working on now.

[@IsaacsGarden]

Very interesting!! Thanks for the video!

[@TuckySlim]

I have shagbark trees... But also a few shellbarks.. our shellbark hulls are the size of tennis balls. And our common or SHAGbark hulls are the size of your shellbarks example. .... I might be misunderstanding your terminology though being in ky.. But we have pignuts (not edible really, and the hulls peel away like the small ones in ur bucket ). We have shagbark (most common and super edible but kinda small), and Shellbark/Kingnuts... those are huge.. and pretty much same as shagbark.. just way bigger. The leave stem count is different between the shag and shellbark as well. Not being snoody.. just curious as to which hickory you're calling the "common". Someone might have alrdy caught this in comments.. but i dont read em.. im here for the vids lol

[@Smalley172]

Hey Luke great video but just one point - I don't think that one is a Shellbark Hickory. I think it is actually a Shagbark Hickory. The shellbark hickory has nuts MUCH larger and is smooth bark at the base. You can also tell by the leaves - Shellbark has 7-9 leaflets and each leaf is usually more than a foot long. Sorry don't mean to be critical or anything because this was a great video, I am just somewhat of a tree "nut" - excuse the pun.

[@costapopolis]

Smalley172 I concur with you sir. Good video, but I do believe the second tree identified is a Shagbark Hickory.

[@RainbowGardens]

Which I had a nut tree!

[@tattooskin72]

I'd imagine you'd get a much better flavor and scent from the nut anyway? I mean over the bark... I could be wrong though hehe. Love the puppy trying to get a taste LOL.

[@charronfamilyconnect]

***What do i do with the dried husks from my Shagbark hickory nuts? Can i use them for smoking too on the BBQ***

[@unconventionalforager6389]

Use the shell and husks for compost. This is for all nuts. They are high in calcium

[@janeR4311]

are the shell bark you speak of the same as Shaggbark? we call that type a shagbark hickory here in western ny

[@MIgardener]

Correct, yep. both the same.

[@solomongamboa8987]

+MIgardener | Simple Organic Gardening & Sustainable Living See my blog post on the hickories of SW Ohio, it shows the differences between Shellbark, Shagbark and the other hickories Nature In Humanity: Hickories of Southwest Ohio Also, your bitternut hickories are edible like acorns they just need the tannins leached.

[@funnyguy19792009]

No they are not the same, I posted the difference here in the comments.

[@PlanoPrincess]

Good to know. Smalley and Luke, I am thinking of getting a hickory tree, but would like to smoke and eat the nut also. Can this be done with the Shagbark? Thanks

[@Mickeym1a2n3]

can you get more money for the slick bark nuts or the shag bark? or about the same? and are both edible? Thanks for posting

[@rebeccasilveous8898]

I don't mean to correct you but it's not a shell bar hickory tree. It's called a "shag bark" hickory, And the reason to shag bark hickory is named this way is because it's bark is shaggy. We have several of them on our property and I gather these nuts because these are the big hickory nut, not the dinky small ones. You have on your property a "sand nut" hickory and a "shag bark" hickory. The sand nut hickory has a very thin shell and the shag bark hickory has a thick woodsy type shell. And now you have the rest of the story. I have gathered these nuts every other year when they produce their fruit. For you see they only produce nuts every other year. They have to rest a year and put the energy back down into the roots of the tree to sustain life.

[@honeybacres]

We dont smoke meats much in Australia but this sounds interesting.

[@theredcomet844]

Come on by across the other pond. We'll show you how it's done.

[@melissacompton18]

Can you use the shells ?

[@geomundi8333]

Shag barks have a different hull than what you are showing; I'm very confused. I'm sitting there eating shagbark hickory that have really thick woody shells that split evenly into five parts. What variety is that you have? I've got to try roasting; I just eat them raw and like them that way just fine.

[@kcl060]

Wow! Fabulous smoking idea! Those nuts are everywhere around here

[@XhanaLabs]

Good info, thanks!

[@debpolenz9554]

Makes me laugh no one shows what a pain it is to take the nutmeat out lol

[@midnightblue69]

True dat!

[@gblackburn31]

They taste good and WORK GREAT IN SLING SHOTS....JS🤷‍♂️

[@rudy52350]

very good info ...thanks...

[@Chicagoman36]

I have what i think is a pig nut Hickory in a forest near me about 4 or more & trying to get baby ones out of the ground like 6 to foot long but hard to figure out if it is a hickory bc that small does not have alot of leaves on it how can I identify if it is a Hickory or not when the branches r about 10 15 feet up in the air? I want to plant one in my yard but I am having hard time figuring out if the baby ones r or not do u know by looking at baby ones if so any pointers also is Big nut hickory good Hickory tree thanks

[@Simplygnomes]

Thanks interesting

[@lestattt100]

Very nice, thank you!

[@MIgardener]

thank you for watching! and sorry for the delayed post haha

[@bobbystanley8580]

Where can you find hickory nuts online? I would like to grow some trees from them. Thanks, Bobby

[@MIgardener]

you can buy them from loads of seed suppliers, they sometimes even have trees. I would try Parkseed.com first.

[@HyggeHomestead]

Aww I also have a ShihTzu named Zoe ❤

[@TheLingnerFamily]

Didn't think it was called shellbark but shagbark

[@roachmine2008]

There are shellbark and shagbark hickories. You can eat both.

[@rodney73991]

my newborn claims grandpa use cook in cookes ? any body know if true that eat in hickory nut cookies. i want see some eat hickery nut.

[@veranichole1981]

OMG, you were a baby here.

[@mikegrubmiller8421]

the face of god is in that tin foil lol! great video on the nuts. verry usefull!

[@mediamaker2000]

If like chocolate, the more bitter, the better for you.

[@js966ac]

shagbark not shellbark, otherwise great gob

[@Pennyg0785]

What your calling common is a Pignut hickory and your other is a Shagbark Hickory.

[@FrictionFire-q5z]

"Shagbark"

[@jmillsaps2204able]

those look like shellbarks to me. A shell bark and shag bark is a different tree, although they look vary similar. he was wrong on two variety's there are several.

[@wolfgangricky]

haha he said put some forkin holes in it

[@Verklompen]

You peel it open and it'll be very um... pause to peel it open... tan. Over a million subscribers?! Explain.