How to Eat Maple Seeds: 4 Steps

Table of contents:

How to Eat Maple Seeds: 4 Steps
How to Eat Maple Seeds: 4 Steps
Anonim

If you own a maple, you most likely have an overabundance of seeds once a year. The incredible news is that they can be eaten. Once cooked, they take on a flavor that can be described as halfway between peas and nixtamal. They can also be enjoyed raw or dried and added to a salad. Follow the guide's advice to get the most taste out of it.

Steps

Eat Maple Seeds Step 1
Eat Maple Seeds Step 1

Step 1. Collect the seeds

They should be harvested in the spring when they are full but still green. Run your hands along a branch of the tree and collect the seeds. All maple seeds are good to eat, although some are more bitter than others (the rule says: small and sweet, large and bitter). Later, when they have taken on a brown color, they will be slightly more bitter, but still good.

Eat Maple Seeds Step 2
Eat Maple Seeds Step 2

Step 2. Peel the seeds

Remove the outer skin, the one that transforms the seed into a natural helix. Cut off the end with your thumbnail. Squeeze to extract the seed, it will look like a small legume.

Eat Maple Seeds Step 3
Eat Maple Seeds Step 3

Step 3. Rinse to remove the tannins

Taste some raw seeds, if they are too bitter, you will need to boil them in water, drain them and repeat the process until the bitter taste is eliminated.

Eat Maple Seeds Step 4
Eat Maple Seeds Step 4

Step 4. Cook the seeds

In case you have already boiled them, simply season them with butter, salt and pepper. Taste your seeds. As an alternative to boiling, you can opt for:

  • Roasted seeds - transfer them to a baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt. Bake them in the oven at 175 ° C for 8 - 10 minutes.
  • Dried seeds - display them in a dry, sunny location or use a dryer. They must become crunchy. If you wish, you can grind them to turn them into flour.

Advice

  • If the idea of increasing your knowledge about edible wild plants appeals to you, search online or through the pages of local library books. Always be very cautious as some species could prove harmful and even lethal.
  • Try to harvest the fruits, seeds and any other products of nature from younger plants. Normally each of the parts of an older plant has a more bitter taste.

Warnings

  • Watch out for food allergies.

    When you first taste maple seeds, eat only a small number of them and wait several hours. In the absence of unwanted reactions, you can eat more.

Recommended: