Hickory on Elm

This rather remarkable yellow hickory can be found on North Elm just south of Bessemer, west side. Catch it before the leaves fall.

I think it is a "pig-nut" hickory, pretty much the same kind that grew all over the place in Columbia where I grew up.

When we were kids we would go out and collect bags of nuts, then sit in circles in somebody's carport, or on somebody's driveway, and crack them with bricks. The trick was to crack them just so - not too hard so as to mash the nut, and not too soft so as to barely open the hard shell. We had these little metal nut picks to help get the hickory nut proper out. We got pretty good at breaking them open,

and would feast on Hickory nuts for half an afternoon. There is a distinctive taste to hickory nuts found nowhere else. I've taught my daughter how to crack them, to continue the tradition.