Hurrah for Hickory

by Martha R. Fehl

A tree may be just a tree to you or me, but the humble hickory holds a wealth of worthy products to those who appreciate its value.

When English settlers came to America, they found the Indians and many types of trees and vegetation among the wilderness. One tree which became a favorite was the hickory which provided a wealth of uses including nuts. Ounce for ounce, they contain four times as much protein as milk and was a blessing in the early fall.

From the drink called “pocohicora,” the English-speaking settlers gave the tree the name “hickory.”

The Indians boiled nuts and when the oil rose to the top, they skimmed it off and used it for cooking or on their bread.

When spring came, they would tap the tree for sweet sap which was boiled down to make sugar and syrup.

They found other uses for it in paint and on sunburn. They also discovered that by using the bark chips, their homegrown wool cloth turned a warm yellow.

Although all of these discoveries were found to be helpful to the people, the wood of the hickory was probably the most valuable part. Being smooth and tough; they fashioned it into tool handles, fence rails, wagon parts, barrel staves, and a few centuries later baseball bats. The Indians had long known it was great for fine bows.

They burned it in stone fireplaces and watched it give off a radiant flame with no sparks and a clean ash. Modern measurements of heat show that a cord of hickory wood used as fuel is almost equal to a ton of hard coal.

The green timber was used to cure meats, particularly ham, and today packaged hickory shavings can now be purchased to give the true hickory-smoke flavor to food cooked on modern barbecues.

The tree’s shagbark is easy to spot and climbers find the tree difficult to climb therefore protecting its nuts from the squirrels when in season.

They have large leaves from seven to fourteen inches long, usually with five leaflets, although older trees may have seven. Yellowish green leaves with delicate sharp teeth along the edges is usually the last tree to leaf out in spring and one of the first to drop its leaves in the fall.

A slow-grower, the hickory and does not shag its bark until it produces nuts after about 40 years of age and despite its toughness, it must have pure air to survive, so it is seldom found in large cities. But, in small towns and remaining woods in the mid-west and eastern part of the country, the tree still thrives.

Next time you take a walk in the woods, consider the hickory.