American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

Family: Fagaceae | Edibility: Edible (2/5)

A stately climax hardwood with smooth silvery-gray bark resembling elephant hide, sharp-toothed parallel-veined leaves, and four-valved prickly burs containing two small, triangular, highly nutritious edible nuts.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Nuts/Seeds, Leaves, Bark/Inner Bark

Harvest Seasons: Spring, Fall

Flavor & Culinary Uses

Rich, sweet, buttery and hazelnut-like when mature; young spring leaves have a subtle tart lemony bite — Prickly burs collected in autumn after opening following light frost; triangular nuts peeled and eaten raw or dry-roasted; Ground roasted beechnuts folded into wild baking flour or porridge; Extremely young, translucent spring leaves eaten fresh as tender lemony salad greens; Historic extraction of sweet, clear culinary oil by pressing the high-fat nut kernels

Habitat & North American Range

Rich, moist, well-drained hardwood forests, valleys, and slopes in association with sugar maple and yellow birch. (Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8, Zone 9)