Hi there I'm trying to find out if the hairy husk sourrounding the beech nut, is edible. My plan is to use it to make some kind af brandy. I'll put it in 40 % alcohol, and the alcohol will pull out all compunds from the husk, so i need to make sure that it's not toxic. Do you guys have ANY idea where to find out if the husk contains any toxic compounds? Best regards, Tommy
Not edible in the normal sense, they're made of wood. Whether you'd get any worthwhile flavour out of them, I doubt. Alcohol-soluble components will be mainly tannins, so probably astringent and bitter.
Hi Michael Are you 100 % sure they're just made of wood? I'm gonna soak them in alcohol, and my theory is that the tannins will get smoother with time. Tommy
Do you know if they contain Hydrogen cyanide? It must be the same as tannins. I live in Denmark, so it's the european beech i'm refering to. Tommy
Info is hard to find online, but it does look problematic. Plants for a Future says the seed residue is poisonous, but does not explain much more. http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Fagus+sylvatica This blog mentions a toxin, "fagin", but it is really hard to find info about that chemical. http://www.eattheweeds.com/the-all-american-beech/ I found this old text ( http://archive.org/stream/scientificfeedin00klim/scientificfeedin00klim_djvu.txt ) Text is very old, but it does indicate problems with consumption of parts of the plant. Sounds like it may be removed/neutralized by soaking in water or heating. Good luck.
That's referring to the nuts, not the husks. The nuts were even used as human food in the past (most recently, during world war II, as a famine food).
Perhaps 'bark' is more accurate than 'wood'. I'd not want to risk drinking anything made with it, even after long maturation storage. Straight across the Vesterhavet from me!
