Foraging for Ginkgo Nuts

Foraging for ginkgoes is a stinky business. You've seen ginkgo trees - they have those lovely green fan-shaped leaves. But you might not have seen their fruit, mainly because most landscapers choose to plant the male trees (which have no fruit and don't smell) as opposed to the female trees (which have the smelly fruits).

You will likely smell the fruiting ginkgoes before you see them. They grow all over the Quad at the University of Alabama, where my foraging venture this month has taken place. To forage for ginkgoes, you should first put on latex gloves. The nuts are encased in the pulpy fruits, which can give you an allergic reaction (a skin rash kind of like you would get from poison ivy). So practice safety! Look for the fallen ginkgo fruits on the ground around the tree, and disregard any fruits that have large holes or tears. They should be slightly wrinkly in texture.

Push the seed, or nut (technically a drupe) out of the pulp, and place it into a bag. Rather than leaving a mass of smelly, nut-less pulps on the ground, I tend to put the discarded pulps in a second bag - you can throw it out or, ideally, compost it.

Once you have collected enough nuts, wash off all of the remaining pulp (you can also discard the gloves at this point). Wash thoroughly.

You must roast the nuts - ginkgo nuts are not edible raw. Leda Meredith and Wildman Steve Brill recommend roasting at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, but I recommend longer, about 45 minutes. I should caution you that your entire home will smell like cheese.

When you finish roasting the nuts, they look a little like pistachios (but that's not how they taste). You will open them similar to the way you open pistachios, however - except that there's one extra step.

Once you've cracked open the shell, the nut will still have a thin peel - similar to a roasted peanut. It's edible, but I tend to take them off.

Ginkgo nuts have an interesting taste. My foraging companion and I decided they taste like something between an almond and swiss cheese. The texture is also between these two things - though closer to swiss cheese. They are extremely healthy. Ginkgoes are very low in fat and can lower cholesterol. They've been shown to promote higher brain function and help prevent memory loss. They're rich in antioxidants. However, health professionals warn that children should not eat more than 5 nuts a day, and 10 for adults (some say 8) to avoid "ginkgo poisoning" (an upset stomach in most cases), though I will say I ate about 15 and felt fine. I ate these 15 before reading about ginkgo poisoning, however, so that's my excuse.

Happy foraging!