Ginkgo Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire
Before Jack Frost nips your nose, gather your ginkgo nuts for a fall treat!
If you live in an area that has autumn leaf colors, you might be noticing the trees with leaves that leave a brilliant yellow carpet all around like a beautiful fall tree skirt. You might have found a Ginkgo biloba tree. Also known as Maidenhair trees, Ginkgo leaves have a very distinctive fan-shape that are grass green in the summer and golden yellow in the fall.
They are also dioecious, meaning some trees are male trees and others are female trees—so you might also be noticing a stinky whiff as you walk by the golden carpet. Female trees produce cherry sized orange-yellow fruits that are soft and pungent when ripe, and if you decide to pick these fruits and gather the nuts, you’ll be rewarded with a delicious treat.
The nuts have ivory shells and look like a more rounded pistachio. In Eastern Asia, they are an autumn treat enjoyed in small amounts. They are prepared in many ways but most commonly either by boiling and then placed in savory steamed egg custard, or roasted and served as is. Once cooked, the texture is soft and slightly firm, much like an al dente pasta. The pungent smell of the fruit almost entirely disappears once they are heated, leaving a rich, aromatic pistachio-like flavor with a lightly bitter aftertaste.
Recipes for Ginkgo Nuts
Preparing this seasonal delicacy is straightforward, and you'll likely have all the necessary items in your kitchen. Cleaning the fruit is the most challenging part, but with a pair of gloves, it can be done quickly. The final product retains the same flavor regardless of the preparation method, but the outer texture varies: soft for boiled, and crispy for fried or roasted nuts.
Materials
Plastic gloves
Nutcracker, pliers, or hammer
Bowl
Pot or frying pan
Fresh Ginkgo fruit harvested from the ground around the Ginkgo tree (with gloves!)
Methods
Washing away the fruit. Wearing your gloves, place your ginkgo fruits into a bowl of water, just enough to cover the fruits. Leave them to soak for 15-20 minutes. If the fruits are fresh, they will easily come off the nut without soaking. If they have dried a bit, it may take a little longer to soften. It is very important to wear gloves at this step because the fruits contain bilobol, a skin irritant similar to the one found in poison ivy!
Rinse and repeat. Rinse the nuts under cold water and wash away any remaining bits of fruit.
Drying the nuts. Before cooking them, the nuts should be completely dried. Spread them out on a flat surface or a baking sheet and let them dry on the counter or under the sun. This may take 1-3 days.
Nut cracking. It’s time to crack them open! The nuts are now safe to handle with your bare hands. You can use a nutcracker or a plier to lightly squeeze them, or you can gently tap them with a hammer to form a small crack. Once a little crack is formed, the shell is easy to break away with your hands.
Heating. There are several methods of cooking the nuts and all are just as good! Before you eat, make sure they are a translucent jade green in color. If the nuts are still yellow or have a white cast, keep heating!
Open Fire Roasting. On a flame-safe cast iron skillet or aluminum foil, spread a thin layer of salt. Spread your dried nuts on top of the salt and place on the open flame. Roll the nuts around every few minutes to prevent it from burning, and when the salt turns a toasty yellow the nuts should be ready to eat.  Â
Roasting. Set the oven to 390 °F, and roast the nuts with thin skin on for 10 minutes. The skin will easily peel off after roasting.
Boiling. Pour the nuts into a pot and add just enough water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil and cook for 3-4 minutes. Move them around a bit with a spatula or the bottom of a ladle, and the skin should peel away.
Frying. Pour a thin layer of any cooking oil onto a frying pan and lightly fry the nuts at medium to high heat for 10 minutes, the nuts should turn translucent. Let them cool a bit so you can peel away the skin.
6. Serve. Enjoy just as they are, or sprinkle a dash of salt on your cooked Ginkgo nuts!
Safety
Ginkgo nuts contain 4'-methoxypyridoxine, a compound with a chemical structure similar to Vitamin B6. Consuming too many can lead to symptoms of Vitamin B6 deficiency, such as numbness, tingling, diarrhea, and dermatitis. Children under the age of five should not consume Ginkgo nuts. Those over five should limit their intake to five nuts per day, while adults should limit themselves to 10 nuts per day.
Historical Medicinal Uses
In addition to their popularity as an appetizer or a secret ingredient in entrées, ginkgo nuts are also recognized for their health benefits. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they are used to treat various lung-associated conditions, such as asthma, coughing, breathing difficulties, and phlegm. For medicinal preparations, they are typically combined in a decoction with Chinese skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis) and mulberry bark (Morus alba).
The Takeaway
You might be surprised by the rich history, stories, and uses of the trees in your local neighborhood! The next time you walk past a cluster of freshly ripened, pungent female Ginkgo trees, consider taking some nuts home for a taste. You might even start a new autumn tradition! If you've tried Ginkgo nuts before, let us know in the comments.
Yours in health, Xiaoling Chen and Dr. Quave
Xiaoling Chen is a doctoral student in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Kellogg at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. Her research is centered on discovering new anti-inflammatory compounds in plants and mushrooms through predictive analytics, emphasizing the integration of traditional medicines into Western medicine. Follow her on Substack at
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a scientist, author, speaker, podcast host, wife, mother, explorer, and professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She teaches college courses and leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription, with founding members receiving an autographed 1st edition hardcover copy of her book, The Plant Hunter.
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