It's been said that you'll find a grocery store in the wilderness if you know where to look. Late summer and fall are prime times in the Ozark woods to find some of the most tasty treasures that nature has to offer. If you plan it right you can eat these delicacies in season and put up some to nibble on in front of the fire over the winter.
Woodland Nuts
The early settlers loved black walnut because the wood of the tree does not easily decay. It was a favorite for homebuilding and other uses around the farm, like fence posts. Walnut is also prized as a furniture wood.
If it's not growing too close in and around other big trees the walnut will sprawl and cover a large area with both branches and roots. It puts off a natural herbicide called juglone that will kill off many plants growing around it.
Black walnuts are native to the Ozarks, unlike the English walnut you might find in the store. Getting past the green hull and then the tough black walnut shell is a real chore, but the taste of black walnut is worth it, unlike any other nut.
Some people love them for the huge yard tree that they are, and the value associated with them commercially. Others hate them for the nuts they drop that makes it difficult to mow in the fall. Ozark natives make money picking up walnuts and selling them to processors, and if they keep them for their own use you'll see the driveway lined with the nuts. Driving over them separates the green hulls from the black shells inside.
Pecans were a food source for native American tribes people long before settlers came to the Ozarks. Fur trappers discovered the trees while making their way through this area and even traded them back East as “Illinois Nuts”.
Pecans are thought to be a member of the hickory family, but you have to really look them over to be able to tell them from a black walnut tree. The thin shelled nuts are much easier to crack than black walnuts, but you will still need a hammer to break them open.
The hickory tree is native to the Ozarks just like it is over most of Eastern US. There are thought to be around 10 varieties of hickory in our woods, not all of which are edible by humans. Early Ozark settlers loved the hickory stands to graze their pigs, especially the “pignut” variety that has a thin shell but a bitter taste.
Many varieties of hickory nuts have a great taste and are easy to harvest, although they go in 3 year cycles so not every year yields a bumper crop. The nuts ripen in late summer and early fall and can be picked up from the ground. Don't get right under a big tree on a windy day or you'll get hit by falling nuts.
Acorns are a different type of nut since they don't have so much of a shell, but a cap on them that is easily removed. All acorns are edible, but that doesn't mean you would want to eat them because some acorns have more tannin which makes them very bitter.
You can remove most of the tannin if you are desperate, but the best way to find edible acorns is to find a big white oak tree. The nuts are bigger and have a pale complexion, and they grind into a usable flour without much trouble.
As with other nuts don't use the ones with holes in them, and to find the good ones put them in water to take out any that float.
Oak trees, which bear acorn nuts, are the most plentiful trees in the Ozarks. They are one of the best firewood sources, putting off tons of BTU's when burned. One big tree will make enough wood to heat your house most of the winter, but you can usually cut up enough fallen limbs to get you by.
Woodland Fruits
Pawpaws are a fragile understory tree found in rich soil near river bottoms and growing under large established trees. In virgin forests Paw paws can be found growing abundantly, but once the forests are clean-cut, the paw paw will not usually re-grow. Leafy soil or other organic composted materials are very beneficial to paw paws, and where they have been un-disturbed they can be found growing in large stands all down the river.
The skin of paw paws is thin and edible and can vary in color from a light green to a golden yellow. Most people prefer to eat the pawpaw fruit after it becomes soft to the touch. The custard- like pulp tastes like banana and varies in color from white to deep orange.
If you want to find Pawpaws to eat you'll have to compete with the deer and squirrels because they love them, too. Prospect out the stands early in the year when you can identify them by their leaves and then watch them for fruit as they ripen in August. The pawpaw tree was voted by Better Homes and Gardens, in the year 2000, as the landscape tree of the year.
Persimmon is a native tree that bears a fruit which matures in the fall. The best way to harvest this fruit is to wait until it falls to the ground. Persimmon trees are easy to spot in the fall because the fruits are yellow, just like a little pumpkin. If you eat one that isn't ripe it will have a numbing effect on your mouth, but is not dangerous. When fruits fall to the ground naturally they are usually ripe enough to eat.
Persimmon groves are easy to find in the Ozarks just by driving along country roads. They are ready about the same time you might normally take a drive for the fall colors. If you see a tree with lots of fruit laying under it, you better stop right then and get your share or the opossums and deer will beat you to it.
Blackberries grow on upright canes that produce every second year. So the canes growing green this year will bear fruit next year. In the wild blackberry crops depend on natural rain, so if you encounter a dry spell in June the berries may not ripen to maturity. In a good, wet year you'll find bumper crops and the best berries grow in the shade, in among scrub trees that form a thick grove.
Blackberries are great to eat right off the vine, but I like to bring home a couple gallons and make blackberry cobbler. My family has a recipe that came from pioneer days called “top of the stove blackberry pie”. Just rinse your berries and put them in a kettle on the stove top, then cook them down until they are tender. Add sugar to your taste and while they are simmering drop in strips of pie dough. Let it simmer along for a while and the dough will be like dumplings, making a great dessert.
Raspberries bear fruit in June here in the Ozarks and I probably don't need to tell you how good they are. I've ran into nice raspberry patches as far north as the Minnesota Canadian line, and they are a great natural snack anytime you run into them.
If you have ever grown strawberries at home you'll know a wild strawberry when you see one. They are mighty good and all the wildlife knows it, so if you spot the plants before they bear fruit, you better mark the spot for later. You can see more about wild strawberries and other edible wild greens in our Spring Edibles article.
Possum Grapes are actually just a wild grape that is native in our woods around here. They are called possum grapes by native Ozarkians because the opossums like them. It's easy to find the vines which grow huge in the woods, especially down around the river bottoms. But it's rare to actually find any grapes.
When I hike through the Ozark woods on established trails I see a new trend among my fellow hikers. They are moving fast, for their health I suppose, with earbuds attached to cell phones. They never acknowledge me when we meet, never make eye contact. I usually give them a pleasant nod anyway as we pass, and then shake my head thinking about all they miss when they come to the woods. My advice, leave the music at home, look around while you hike and enjoy all that God has given us in our Ozark woods. Oh, and if you happen to be in the Ozarks, grab a handful of wild fruits and nuts as you go.
