Old Hickory Update

About a month and half ago I posted about a huge crop of wild hickory nuts I had picked up on the road side and set aside for later use. The internet seemed to agree the nuts should be air dried for at least a month before attempting to shell and use them. Well, we cheated a little and roasted a couple dozen (350 F for 20 min), and I shelled those. We sprinkled those on ice cream and they were actually pretty good, except for all the little bits of shell that snuck by. But, being from Southern Maryland, we're accustomed to eating around the shells in our crab cakes. Anyway, the month passed, and then some, and Georgia got on me to do something with the two pans of hickory nuts drying in the basement. I got out the vice grip (the best way I've found to crack them), and the dental pick and set to work.

It took a few dozen nuts, and a lot of hand strength and patience, and I can't really tell if the drying process helped shelling them much, but I managed to get about a pint cup of shelled nut meat. While I was doing it, Georgia was making a batch of Christmas cookies that are rolled in walnuts, and we took one of them and rolled it in the Hickory nuts and cooked it. It was pretty good, and different than walnuts.

Now I just have to make brownies with them.