As kids growing up in rural Nebraska we knew all about hackberrys, and often carried pockets full of them, to chew on as a ready snack, or making tea with them around the campfire. To collect the fruity skin we'd roll a bunch of them between two wood boards, and then scrape off the mushy residue with our pocket knives and eat it, or mix with water to make a fruity drink. Then the seeds could be boiled in water to make a good tea and chew up the softened seeds. We had no idea about cavemen doing it, we were just country kids doing what country kids do. By the way, elderberries were a lot more delicious.
I grew Sambucus nigra but the taste was less sweet and flavorful than a tomato. I guess I didn't know which type to grow or how to make them taste good. Any tips?
I suspect those cavemen were also just country kids doing as country kids do. The more I learn about anthropology, the more I enjoy the revelation that humans really have been humans for at least as long as there's been humans
I worked a season as a chimney sweep, and hackberry is the absolute worst tree for firewood. In fact, you should never use it in a fireplace as it will line the chimneys flue tiles with creosote very quickly, and it will catch fire and burn down your house. When you see an ad for "free firewood "must pick up" it's almost always a hackberry someone cut down and can't get rid of. It's great for bonfires, though.
Luckily once people learn you have a wood stove the entire town contacts you everytime a tree falls so long as you do a good job of cleaning up, spoiled for choice!
Had a giant hackberry tree that produced TONS of seeds. All those years living at my old house and never knew that they were edible. I remember seeing squirrels eating the seeds making me wonder if they were edible. I remember trying to identify it back then but never could. Until now. The tree is still standing to this day too.
Copicing hackberry makes a yard friendly bush that keeps the berries in reach and makes tarp gathering much easier. It will produce more berries in less space.,
@bubu567 - - I wonder how they processed the berry? They did not have all the fancy kitchen gadgets that we have today - - Perhaps just cook the berry in the fat and maybe the cooking process separates out the seed???
I find it inspiring that your videos are constantly being updated with new information found in the comment section from viewers. This is what RUclips is all about.
I have a hackberry tree, they almost have a little bit of a ginger bread flavor to me, with maybe molasses and dates well. I like to eat the nut , the texture of chewing the shell feels like chewing glass, but in a good way some how. It easily completely disintegrates, satisfying and unique to me anyway.
is it a tree that gets troubles with heavy metals in the ground easily? the chart here at 1:06 tells of lead (Pb) and Bromine (Br) Are these chemically inert presences? if so, what the HECK is the LEAD in?
Kids in Turkey like to eat them. My neighbor in Istanbul was an archaeologist and in the very old settlement she was excavating they found tons of hackberry seeds.
Wow, that's so cool! Turkey has a TON of archaeological sites that we REALLY haven't explored enough! One of the MANY places I'd like to visit some day!
as a Turkish I was looking at okay we ate those but what are they called in my language? :D I thought it was mürver but nope that's elderberry, I def know this one and ate while playing make believe with my plastic kitchen supplies :D There is one more species that was dangerous tho those 3 looks very similar before they ripen but the dangerous one had a disgusting smell and strong bitter taste.
I like that you give the season they are found ripe in rather than the months. As I live in the southern hemisphere and so often have to convert months in the north to ours. Season is so much easier to parse. Thank you.
As kids growing up in the Texas Hill Country, hackberries were just part of life. The trees grew everywhere, and their little orange fruits were perfect for grabbing on the go. We’d fill our pockets with them, chewing on the sweet skins and spitting out the seeds as we ran around. Sometimes, we’d get creative. We’d crush a bunch of hackberries between two flat rocks, scraping up the sticky pulp with our pocket knives. We’d eat it straight or mix it with water in an old coffee can to make a kind of fruity, gritty drink. If we had time, we’d boil the seeds in a tin can over a fire. The water turned into a nutty tea, and the softened seeds were great for chewing. We didn’t think about cavemen or history-we just did what kids do, messing around and trying stuff. Hackberries weren’t the best-tasting thing, but they were always there. Of course, when the wild grapes came in, those were the real treat, hands down.
In 2017 I spent 2 months in the Arizona desert in the Tonto National Forest doing an extreme wilderness survival camp. All we had to eat were raw ingredients such as flour and some vegetables and dried fruits. In Arizona grows the Desert Hackberry tree. Little orange berries similar to these European ones. We would make little pastries with these using crude bread making a type of hot pocket with these inside. They are delicious. The Desert Hackberry fruit tastes similar to an apricot mixed with a white grape. But the flavor is much lighter and has no acidity. They’re very good. If you live in Arizona or get the chance to travel there and see one of these trees give the berries a try. They’re very good.
Jesse, you are one of my favourite woodland creatures! I love the way you talk about those beautiful trees with reverence and respect, like they are our brothers.
Selenium ~164% DV / 100g seems possibly prone for Selenium Toxicity if you aren’t careful. Though not as high concentration as Brazil nuts, just would be good to be aware of Selenium intake via all of one’s daily food. Mentioning this hoping others may be aware
RDA or DV is the minimum to keep you alive, NOT the amount to keep you healthy. A map of areas with low Selenium in the soil matches a map higher heart attack rates.
Based on my calculations, hackberries have approximately 1/18th the level of selenium as Brazil nuts. You can eat approximately two Brazil nuts a day without overdosing on Selenium. Assuming that hackberries are approximately the same density as Brazil nuts, that's a rather large volume of hackberries per day, perhaps a double handful. So long as you don't go crazy for hackberries, you should be fine. The level of selenium in hackberries probably varies according to where they are grown.
@@gewgulkansuhckitt9086you'd hit it if you were using them to sustain yourself, the "never go hungry" part. Cooking removes and destroys some of it though. Not that many other mono-diets of foraged things weren't problematic of course.
Official guidelines set a healthy upper limit of selenium consumption at 255 mcg per day, or 464%(!) of the daily recommended amount. Bottom line: you can probably slam 100g of hackberries a day and be fine (maybe not more than that, since other foods throughout the day have selenium, too).
These are called Ber or Bora in Bharat(India). They and there nutrition is well established here since thousands of years. The raw green ones are also edible. Lot of vitamin C when raw. They taste sour and amazing with salt.
Bro you gotta check out how cannabis seed makers separate their seed diy style. Literally there’s machines built for this job and also a leaf blower, a five gallon bucket and some patience learning the techniques work very well. It’s basically winnowing! I’m serious though the right angle in a five gallon bucket with a leaf blower on low is super useful!
Hackberries are a fence species courtesy of birds. The main identification points are their leaves with that little droop at the end (the leaves have a characteristic look throughout), "warty" bark without spines/needles like Tickle Tongue ("Hercules Club"). Those also grow in fence lines (barbed wire fence mostly), but the leaves are different and the tree never gets nearly as tall. Hackberries usually have a light grey to grey bark color as well. Their tree form is usually consistent as well. They are easy to identify once you can.
I'm in Australia and Celtis sinensis Chinese hackberry is common in creeks here on the east coast especially in Queensland. Smaller fruit but they taste like a date m&m. I just crunch through the seed. Delicious and it fruits 3-4 times a year in Brisbane with the warm climate
The chocolate covered energy ball looks like the pill Miracle Max made to bring Westley back to life in The Princess Bride. What a great video, thanks!
Hackberry has three names in Turkey " Çitlenbik, Bıttım and Menengiç ". How we use it ? We consume the fruit directly, as well as making soap (Bıttım Soap), coffee (Menengiç Coffee) and tea (Çitlenbik Tea). Also, what will be a surprise for everyone is that we domesticate them by grafting. What will be the result of this? Pistachios are grown. Hackberry is the wild pistachio.
I once knew an old rancher in South Texas. I asked him what kind of tree he was having cut down in one of his pastures. He said it was a hackberry. I asked him why cut it down? He said it was a water hog & was worthless for anything except firewood. I told him that I heard that the berries were edible. He said that they were & that they tasted pretty good, but that they weren't worth the effort to gather them. I asked why he didn’t keep it for the cattle to browse on & rest in the tree's shade. He said it again: that tree is a water hog, almost as bad as cedars... In Texas, what they call cedars are actually junipers, mostly Ashe's junipers. Most ranchers try to eradicate all junipers because they compete with other plants for water in areas that have frequent droughts.
There's also juniper eradication I've seen being done in northeasern California, Oregon for some decades now. I'm not sure if they do it in Nevada, but it's likely. They do it for the same reasons you mentioned, and it's considered invasive in places that were historically grassland areas. It started growing more heavily due to fire suppression and stuff like that.
More recent research shows that Texas juniper is actually not the water hog they were thought to be. They have been found to be a pioneer species that supports the establishment of other species.
One thing about Texas hackberries is they are a big source of food for birds and wildlife. They tend to reseed themselves all over , one of the real reason people don't like them.
Another thing is that cedar trees are extremely flammable. They have coniferous leaves and they produce a sort of sap that makes them ideal kindling. Not great in such a drought stricken state. Many times people will gather them into huge pyres and ignite them in large bonfires. Also a lot of people, myself included, have really bad allergic reactions to cedar trees and their sap. Winter is prime cedar fever season when cedar related allergies kick into overdrive. That’s the main reason why I tend to get very sick in the winter.
I'm 79 years old and have been eating hackberries most of my life! It's one of those things you can starve to death by eating them! It takes more energy to eat them than you get out of them! The meat between the seed and shell is very thin, but the flavor is delicious! They are a favorite food for racoons! They just eat them whole and poop out the seeds. I'm not sure if that would be a good method for humans, though!
Regarding winnowing the berries - - I have found that putting the brass metal shells from the gun range, into a deep bucket and judicial, careful use of a leaf blower and gently stirring, what is in the bucket, does a good job to blow out the trash, leaves, etc from the metal.... . This might work for you and the berries ...
In the (American) West, we have Celtis reticulata, or netleaf hackberry. It's a smaller tree, with leaves that feel like sandpaper. The berries are basically the same, but the hard seed shell is thicker and harder. I like to use hackberry milk as a base for curry instead of coconut milk. The flavor work very well for that.
@@mamma_jamma You don't need to boil it. Just 1 part berries with 4 parts water, blend for a couple minutes and filter. I use exactly the same technique for almond milk or cashew milk.
@@mamma_jamma i just gather a handful, then stick them in a coffee grinder (it is a bit sticky so i have to put my finger in there and get it all out) and then put in a glass.. boil some water and pour into the cup with the ground berries... The tough shell part will settle to the bottom of the glass .. Its really good.. Tastes like fig newtons sorta ...
The nut roller is also used for picking up brass on a firing range, much smaller wire cage. Take a look at a gunshop or online, maybe Natchez or Brownells.
If you use hardware cloth with a 1/2 inch grid you can make frame to sift the loose berries. Any berries left in the frame you can brush them through the screen or manually pull them off.
UUUGGGHHH. I have a tree right off my deck that I HATE. I’ve been begging my husband to let me cut it down for years because it makes a horrible mess and stepping on its berries when barefoot is like stepping on a Lego. It’s a hackberry 🤦🏻♀️😩 Now if have to keep it. Thanks 🤨😂
❤ Now that the tree has purpose, that you can use it, it has been redeemed, become an asset instead of an annoyance. The many critters that depend on it won't go hungry when there's nothing left. All of the little snow birds say thank you.
lol I used to live ginkgo til I lived in DC & met the plant itself. Every autumn, pukeberry mess & odor everywhere all over the streets. I was so mad when I found out they were an extremely useful plant!
Oh, hackberry. They're famous in Finland for blooming on the end of the cold spring and the warm eaves of summer, immortalized in songs celebrating the end of the school semester and the beginning of summer vacation. I remember the beautiful white flowers of the hackberry trees, and at the same time very heady smell of the sewer emitted by the trees' bark and young berries. I got so curious that I actually started feeling like I'd want to try making a liqueur of local hackberries come autumn. From thereon it would be interesting to move on to a greater variety of foods and drinks.
90 micrograms of selenium per 100 grams of fruit is OK, supplements often have 200 mcg. The lead (Pb) level looks like 700 parts per billion, well over the 10-20 ppb limits for children's foods set by the FDA.
Here in Phoenix I've had the orange desert hackberry before (Celtis pallida) it has a crunchy small seed and is very tasty kinda like a combo of fig and apricot and is relatively high in beta carotene, really wanna try the other variety of hackberry at some point soon too 👍
I’ve never heard of this and I have foraged for several years now just in the neighborhood here in wichita Ks. This is great! My body really needs copper and I have been concerned about how I can get it easily . I need to try this as soon as possible
I have a huge hackberry about 10 feet outside my bedroom window at the corner of my front deck. I had no idea they were edible. To think I’ve been sweeping them off the deck to keep the dogs from eating them for years. No more! Now they are eating little vitamins. 😉
Do NOT feed hackberry to your dogs. They are toxic to dogs! Edit: Further research is giving mixed results! Do some research of your own but definetly make sure they are dog safe before giving them to your dogs though!
Love that you’re sharing this. Hackberry are seen as weeds in central Texas and they are EVERYWHERE here. The seeds are easy to gather and taste almost like apple. I really like them!
The fruit of a pin cherry can mimic a Hackberry, but its also edible so not a big deal if you mix them up. Pin cherry fruit similarly is mostly see with a thin fruit coating but they are quite sour. EDIT: The seed of the pin cherry is NOT edible, only the fruit.
We have the sugarberry variety. Literally everywhere around us (North TX), especially near streams & drainage areas. Thanks for the harvesting & food prep tips. P.S. your wife is a genius!
I grow hackberry up here in Ontario, Canada, in my Zone 5b orchard! I planted them a couple of years ago! I am so looking forward to our first harvest of hackberries!
Pretty contentious topic these days erectus, denisedons/ potato ‘patato’ …nutrition for all right? now if we’re talking a lemur maybe I’ll raise an eyebrow 🤨
😂 in what way these are primate bones there is not one primate bone in the human body and there’s not one human bone in a primate body. How are we connected to these monkeys? We are a created species. That’s why our DNA has spices in it. The modern human is too weak and frail to have ever survived in the world thousands of years ago. The average amount of fractures found throughout the bones of a Neanderthal is something like 600 and Neanderthals do have primate bones. They had bigger brains. They were bigger faster and smarter than us. If I had to guess I would say there was numerous species of Homo sapiens on this planet prior to the last Ice Age and we did not prosper as a species until those other ones had died off.
I learned about hackberry just last year and it is incredible! Me and my brother love to pick them and just snack on them, but I will absolutely try some of these recipes given that I have a hackberry at a local park with quite a few berries. I have been waiting for just such a video about hackberries for a while now, and Jesse certainly made the video I have been waiting for (not to mention in great detail)!
I built a treehouse in a hackberry as a child. Well mostly my dad did.. and it was more of a few elevated tree platforms... Anyway.. it never occured to me to eat them. They were always small, dark, and shriveled when I saw em. As I got older, I became interested in forraging, but never though to look at this one for some reason.
Thanks; now they'll become the next "superfood" trend and they'll sell them for $25 per 10oz ziploc mini-pack. With all the plastic covered in post-consumer fibre, of course, so it looks sustainable. It is even called "hackberry", so the magazine articles about it being a "diet hack" are built right in.
👍🏆👍 i remember Hackberry & eating them in the 1960s as a kid! I think they fell out of fashion = commercial processed food & TV ads! As others forgotten about!
I had the pleasure of introducing paw paws to a 34yr old hiking buddy. Now he is paw paw crazy, plants seedlings in forests with no paw paws. Its great😊
They are really tasty, turns out every time I walk home from school I pass THREE hackberry trees, I started to gather some berries off of them and I've got to say, they are pretty darn good, I was a bit concerned at first and wasn't sure if they really were hackberry trees, but after looking it up a couple more times, I am now sure that they are. Great Video!
I’m really glad I found your channel. The processing is what I really wanted to learn. I have read numerous books concerning edible plants, now maybe I can learn what to do with them after foraging. Thank you!😊
Hackberries are everywhere in Texas, and they taste amazing. Before I knew they were edible, I only knew them as the sticky berries that make a mess of my truck's paint job. Now I pick them for myself.
I've always wondered about these berries! I live near you (I've been subbed and in your Facebook group for years now) and these trees are everywhere. Also I love that your channel has blown up the way it has. It's so awesome!
Omg I have 2 of those growing in my backyard (and one pine tree about 6 stories tall for a total of 3 big trees in our backyard). They're both 4 stories tall, and have been my whole life. Me and my family always assumed the berries weren't edible because of the pit inside. We have been missing out on it's potential all these years (I'm 18 and my parents have lived in this house for over 30 years with those 3 big trees in the backyard) I am glad I found this video. I will show it to my parents and we can take advantage of 2 of the large trees in our backyard for food, and use them in harsh times.
I got Hackberrys in my Garden in Berlin never knowing what they are good for. Growing in shape of a bush with long branches adorning the iron gate in the hedge. Locally known as Traubenkirsche, a word combination of grape and cherry.
THANK YOU for this video. I discovered that the "annoying huge tree" at the edge of my property that I just could never identify is actually a Hackberry. I think a true Hackberry and not a sugar berry. I will wait till spring to find out for sure. I live in north central fl and I find it weird that it would be a true hackberry but that's what is looking more and more like. I tasted a couple berries I found on the ground and, oh wow, they are really good. Just like you said, a lot like dates infused with a little ginger. I can't wait till next fall! You saved that tree from being cut down, lol. ❤
LOL, growing up we used to call these "Choke Cherries" becuase of the huge seed, and sometimes threw the green version in a fire and it would "explode" or pop.
I have 3 or 4 of these trees on one of my properties here in Enid OK. The outer bark is a dead giveaway. Next fall I'll come up with a plan to harvest the berries and try them out. Thanks young man !!
just a minor note when you were peeling the fruit off of the seed in the beginning middle of a video it would've been good to mention that the seat is edible too because when you get to the end and then you're sort of blending the seed with the fruit it was a surprise.
Lingonberry as well. And cranberry. And rowan berry. And forest bilberry. And bog bilberry. And bird cherry berry. And juniper berry. And crowberry. And wild blackcurrant.
We have something called hardhack. Never heard of hackberry described in the local indigenous lore -WA state here. According to the USDA site its native range in the US is the upper NE Midwest. Btw pretty sure antartica lacks hackberry...
(Wiki Italy) Celtis Australis jam In the kitchen, a jam can be obtained from the berries: they must be placed in a founded pot and covered with cold water (at least three fingers above the berries); Half of the weight in sugar and the juice of a lemon is added. It brings to cooking in moderation; When the water is halved, it is chopped with an immersion blender and filters.
Fascinating. Unfortunately, these aren't native to the UK where I am, but they remind me a lot of haws (hawthorn berries). One thing I wonder is if you've checked out the constituents of the seeds carefully. Many small fruits like these have very nutritious flesh, but the seed often contains significant amounts of toxins such as cyanide and arsenic. A quick search suggests they're ok, but be careful if you eat large quantities of them. Amazing to think of our ancestors eating these hundreds of thousands of years ago.
I live in Illinois and planted 3 European hackberry trees about 20 years ago. They were about 10 inches tall when I planted them and are now about 15 feet tall. I pick them in the fall and eat them all year. I love them but they are hard. I wish someone would find a tree that had softer seeds and maybe thicker pulp and make it available. That or breed one for those qualities. About 6 years ago I cut some of the wood and made black tattoo ink out of it. It has lasted and still looks dark and great.
i have no idea why but i read glanced at the title before watching and read it as tavernmen and i was like, good for them tavern fellas eatin berries and what not
🤣 I recently saw a video with the title,"why there's no dirt in Antartica".As much as I hate the cold, I didn't even watch it.I can't imagine living on ice.I have friends in Alaska always inviting me. I won't dare,even in summer. You should hear the stories,how hard to get there,the insane prices of food, outhouses because pipes freeze no matter what.Especially my friend in Barrow,talking about polar bear attacks. What a horrific place to live. or visit.
@@pattiannepascual lots of people visit Alaska and say it’s beautiful I’ve never been but it does depend on what part of Alaska it is I wouldn’t want to live there but I’d love to visit and some stories are exaggerated most of them actually. But still I’d never go in the winter that would be awful!
The basswood tree that you mentioned is also known as the lindon tree. Linseed oil is extracted from its seeds. The wood is in great demand by wood carvers because it is very light.
They also had a cecum that was much longer than we do today. Our cecum today is approximately 3" and we can't actually break down plant matter like we used to. A little fruit seasonal and regional is ok but humans were designed to eat mainly meat. Plants just root in the colon while meat starts breaking down immediately. Don't believe me? Go ask someone to see what's inside their colostomy bag. Go follow Dr Anthony Chaffee, Dr Shawn Baker, Dr Ken Berry.
As kids growing up in rural Nebraska we knew all about hackberrys, and often carried pockets full of them, to chew on as a ready snack, or making tea with them around the campfire. To collect the fruity skin we'd roll a bunch of them between two wood boards, and then scrape off the mushy residue with our pocket knives and eat it, or mix with water to make a fruity drink. Then the seeds could be boiled in water to make a good tea and chew up the softened seeds. We had no idea about cavemen doing it, we were just country kids doing what country kids do. By the way, elderberries were a lot more delicious.
I grew Sambucus nigra but the taste was less sweet and flavorful than a tomato. I guess I didn't know which type to grow or how to make them taste good. Any tips?
@@stevenmuti3570 Were those the berries that stained the concrete and cars when they fell?
@@llprice2000 do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?
We eat evergreen huckleberries down here in southeast Texas piney woods
I suspect those cavemen were also just country kids doing as country kids do. The more I learn about anthropology, the more I enjoy the revelation that humans really have been humans for at least as long as there's been humans
I worked a season as a chimney sweep, and hackberry is the absolute worst tree for firewood. In fact, you should never use it in a fireplace as it will line the chimneys flue tiles with creosote very quickly, and it will catch fire and burn down your house. When you see an ad for "free firewood "must pick up" it's almost always a hackberry someone cut down and can't get rid of. It's great for bonfires, though.
Good to know, thank you
Good to know! And WOO on the bonfires! Some woods are definitely better for big outdoor fires, and sometimes that can be hard to find out!
Luckily once people learn you have a wood stove the entire town contacts you everytime a tree falls so long as you do a good job of cleaning up, spoiled for choice!
@@flameofthephoenix8395free additional taste of smoke in baked goods too. Creosote is a tasty smoke note flavor.
put it in a smokeless wood stove, may eliminate that problem with secondary combustion.
Had a giant hackberry tree that produced TONS of seeds. All those years living at my old house and never knew that they were edible. I remember seeing squirrels eating the seeds making me wonder if they were edible. I remember trying to identify it back then but never could. Until now. The tree is still standing to this day too.
They grow almost literally everywhere in the U.S.
@@mrspogadaeus funny enough both versions he mentions dont grow in my area. to be fair it is a very wet area.
@@mrspogadaeusI’ve never seen them in highland co Ohio where I grew up nor in brown co Ohio? Wish I did I want to try them now
Go back and get back your old house
Nature's amazing.
Copicing hackberry makes a yard friendly bush that keeps the berries in reach and makes tarp gathering much easier. It will produce more berries in less space.,
Good idea to coppice
Great tip! Thanks
What’s copicing?
@@jacobshelt01 Stumping a Tree so it grows like a bush
@@AlcorSalvador thanks 🙏 can we do that to peach 🍑 trees? I have a few
Native americans ate Pemmican, which was often hack berry and animal fat. It was a survival food that could keep you alive a very long time.
and dried buffalo meat, I believe, Townsends rulez ;)
no, that's Chokecherry
@bubu567 - - I wonder how they processed the berry? They did not have all the fancy kitchen gadgets that we have today - - Perhaps just cook the berry in the fat and maybe the cooking process separates out the seed???
aww I fucking love Pemmican. you can make that into stew too.
Which tribe?
I find it inspiring that your videos are constantly being updated with new information found in the comment section from viewers. This is what RUclips is all about.
So true. I use the comment section as well for more info. Lots of smart critters out there.
I have a hackberry tree, they almost have a little bit of a ginger bread flavor to me, with maybe molasses and dates well. I like to eat the nut , the texture of chewing the shell feels like chewing glass, but in a good way some how. It easily completely disintegrates, satisfying and unique to me anyway.
I agree with you on the dates flavor! But mine have a shell that is too hard for my teeth to break. I wish I had one like yours.
is it a tree that gets troubles with heavy metals in the ground easily? the chart here at 1:06 tells of lead (Pb) and Bromine (Br)
Are these chemically inert presences? if so, what the HECK is the LEAD in?
Be careful not to harm your teeth chewing the nut.
@@20greeneyes20 sounds like this stuff would be perfect for juicing and freezing.
@MrGaleanon Yes probably. I wish I had trees nearby. Maybe I will have to look a little harder for them when I go hiking and gather them.
Kids in Turkey like to eat them. My neighbor in Istanbul was an archaeologist and in the very old settlement she was excavating they found tons of hackberry seeds.
Great story
Wow, that's so cool! Turkey has a TON of archaeological sites that we REALLY haven't explored enough! One of the MANY places I'd like to visit some day!
as a Turkish I was looking at okay we ate those but what are they called in my language? :D I thought it was mürver but nope that's elderberry, I def know this one and ate while playing make believe with my plastic kitchen supplies :D There is one more species that was dangerous tho those 3 looks very similar before they ripen but the dangerous one had a disgusting smell and strong bitter taste.
@ Çitlembik. :-)
@@sazji ??
I like that you give the season they are found ripe in rather than the months. As I live in the southern hemisphere and so often have to convert months in the north to ours. Season is so much easier to parse.
Thank you.
As kids growing up in the Texas Hill Country, hackberries were just part of life. The trees grew everywhere, and their little orange fruits were perfect for grabbing on the go. We’d fill our pockets with them, chewing on the sweet skins and spitting out the seeds as we ran around. Sometimes, we’d get creative. We’d crush a bunch of hackberries between two flat rocks, scraping up the sticky pulp with our pocket knives. We’d eat it straight or mix it with water in an old coffee can to make a kind of fruity, gritty drink. If we had time, we’d boil the seeds in a tin can over a fire. The water turned into a nutty tea, and the softened seeds were great for chewing. We didn’t think about cavemen or history-we just did what kids do, messing around and trying stuff. Hackberries weren’t the best-tasting thing, but they were always there. Of course, when the wild grapes came in, those were the real treat, hands down.
In 2017 I spent 2 months in the Arizona desert in the Tonto National Forest doing an extreme wilderness survival camp. All we had to eat were raw ingredients such as flour and some vegetables and dried fruits. In Arizona grows the Desert Hackberry tree. Little orange berries similar to these European ones. We would make little pastries with these using crude bread making a type of hot pocket with these inside. They are delicious.
The Desert Hackberry fruit tastes similar to an apricot mixed with a white grape. But the flavor is much lighter and has no acidity. They’re very good.
If you live in Arizona or get the chance to travel there and see one of these trees give the berries a try. They’re very good.
Jesse, you are one of my favourite woodland creatures! I love the way you talk about those beautiful trees with reverence and respect, like they are our brothers.
Selenium ~164% DV / 100g seems possibly prone for Selenium Toxicity if you aren’t careful. Though not as high concentration as Brazil nuts, just would be good to be aware of Selenium intake via all of one’s daily food. Mentioning this hoping others may be aware
RDA or DV is the minimum to keep you alive, NOT the amount to keep you healthy. A map of areas with low Selenium in the soil matches a map higher heart attack rates.
Based on my calculations, hackberries have approximately 1/18th the level of selenium as Brazil nuts. You can eat approximately two Brazil nuts a day without overdosing on Selenium. Assuming that hackberries are approximately the same density as Brazil nuts, that's a rather large volume of hackberries per day, perhaps a double handful. So long as you don't go crazy for hackberries, you should be fine. The level of selenium in hackberries probably varies according to where they are grown.
@@gewgulkansuhckitt9086you'd hit it if you were using them to sustain yourself, the "never go hungry" part.
Cooking removes and destroys some of it though.
Not that many other mono-diets of foraged things weren't problematic of course.
Official guidelines set a healthy upper limit of selenium consumption at 255 mcg per day, or 464%(!) of the daily recommended amount.
Bottom line: you can probably slam 100g of hackberries a day and be fine (maybe not more than that, since other foods throughout the day have selenium, too).
This guy wants $108 a year for this information!? 7:01
These are called Ber or Bora in Bharat(India). They and there nutrition is well established here since thousands of years. The raw green ones are also edible. Lot of vitamin C when raw. They taste sour and amazing with salt.
They are called “chanya-manya borax” here in India Maharashtra state. Very sweet sour and pick up the mood. We love them
Bro you gotta check out how cannabis seed makers separate their seed diy style. Literally there’s machines built for this job and also a leaf blower, a five gallon bucket and some patience learning the techniques work very well. It’s basically winnowing! I’m serious though the right angle in a five gallon bucket with a leaf blower on low is super useful!
Hackberries are a fence species courtesy of birds. The main identification points are their leaves with that little droop at the end (the leaves have a characteristic look throughout), "warty" bark without spines/needles like Tickle Tongue ("Hercules Club"). Those also grow in fence lines (barbed wire fence mostly), but the leaves are different and the tree never gets nearly as tall. Hackberries usually have a light grey to grey bark color as well. Their tree form is usually consistent as well. They are easy to identify once you can.
I'm in Australia and Celtis sinensis Chinese hackberry is common in creeks here on the east coast especially in Queensland. Smaller fruit but they taste like a date m&m. I just crunch through the seed. Delicious and it fruits 3-4 times a year in Brisbane with the warm climate
The chocolate covered energy ball looks like the pill Miracle Max made to bring Westley back to life in The Princess Bride. What a great video, thanks!
My daughter kept bringing me these back in the fall! Never figured out where in our yard she was getting them. Now I'm gonna have to go on a hunt lol
Hackberry has three names in Turkey " Çitlenbik, Bıttım and Menengiç ". How we use it ?
We consume the fruit directly, as well as making soap (Bıttım Soap), coffee (Menengiç Coffee) and tea (Çitlenbik Tea). Also, what will be a surprise for everyone is that we domesticate them by grafting. What will be the result of this? Pistachios are grown. Hackberry is the wild pistachio.
Neat😊
How interesting!
great thanks alot. what do you graft them with to get pistachio? very cool
The fact that they are found all over the world must mean that they were popular with wildlife and people, so the seeds got scattered everywhere.
I love the step by step walk through format. Incredibly helpful and encouraging. Thank you❤
I once knew an old rancher in South Texas. I asked him what kind of tree he was having cut down in one of his pastures. He said it was a hackberry. I asked him why cut it down? He said it was a water hog & was worthless for anything except firewood. I told him that I heard that the berries were edible. He said that they were & that they tasted pretty good, but that they weren't worth the effort to gather them. I asked why he didn’t keep it for the cattle to browse on & rest in the tree's shade. He said it again: that tree is a water hog, almost as bad as cedars... In Texas, what they call cedars are actually junipers, mostly Ashe's junipers. Most ranchers try to eradicate all junipers because they compete with other plants for water in areas that have frequent droughts.
There's also juniper eradication I've seen being done in northeasern California, Oregon for some decades now. I'm not sure if they do it in Nevada, but it's likely. They do it for the same reasons you mentioned, and it's considered invasive in places that were historically grassland areas. It started growing more heavily due to fire suppression and stuff like that.
More recent research shows that Texas juniper is actually not the water hog they were thought to be. They have been found to be a pioneer species that supports the establishment of other species.
One thing about Texas hackberries is they are a big source of food for birds and wildlife. They tend to reseed themselves all over , one of the real reason people don't like them.
The irony is they make terrible firewood.
Another thing is that cedar trees are extremely flammable. They have coniferous leaves and they produce a sort of sap that makes them ideal kindling. Not great in such a drought stricken state. Many times people will gather them into huge pyres and ignite them in large bonfires. Also a lot of people, myself included, have really bad allergic reactions to cedar trees and their sap. Winter is prime cedar fever season when cedar related allergies kick into overdrive. That’s the main reason why I tend to get very sick in the winter.
I'm 79 years old and have been eating hackberries most of my life! It's one of those things you can starve to death by eating them! It takes more energy to eat them than you get out of them! The meat between the seed and shell is very thin, but the flavor is delicious!
They are a favorite food for racoons! They just eat them whole and poop out the seeds. I'm not sure if that would be a good method for humans, though!
hahah i bet it would work
Regarding winnowing the berries - - I have found that putting the brass metal shells from the gun range, into a deep bucket and judicial, careful use of a leaf blower and gently stirring, what is in the bucket, does a good job to blow out the trash, leaves, etc from the metal.... . This might work for you and the berries ...
brilliant
In the (American) West, we have Celtis reticulata, or netleaf hackberry. It's a smaller tree, with leaves that feel like sandpaper. The berries are basically the same, but the hard seed shell is thicker and harder.
I like to use hackberry milk as a base for curry instead of coconut milk. The flavor work very well for that.
say more please! how do you make the milk??
i typed the question moments before he gave the answer in the video 😂 but i’d love to know if you have any tips.
@@mamma_jamma You don't need to boil it. Just 1 part berries with 4 parts water, blend for a couple minutes and filter. I use exactly the same technique for almond milk or cashew milk.
@@mamma_jamma i just gather a handful, then stick them in a coffee grinder (it is a bit sticky so i have to put my finger in there and get it all out) and then put in a glass.. boil some water and pour into the cup with the ground berries... The tough shell part will settle to the bottom of the glass .. Its really good.. Tastes like fig newtons sorta ...
There is nothing cooler than watching young people being productive and enjoying nature. It gives me hope.
It depends on how old they are and how they're trying to be "productive!"
The nut roller is also used for picking up brass on a firing range, much smaller wire cage. Take a look at a gunshop or online, maybe Natchez or Brownells.
Yep, look for the ones made for 22s.
Ty for that!!! ❤ 😊
Been practicing and teaching survival self reliant decades this is excellent content thank you😊
If you use hardware cloth with a 1/2 inch grid you can make frame to sift the loose berries. Any berries left in the frame you can brush them through the screen or manually pull them off.
UUUGGGHHH. I have a tree right off my deck that I HATE. I’ve been begging my husband to let me cut it down for years because it makes a horrible mess and stepping on its berries when barefoot is like stepping on a Lego. It’s a hackberry 🤦🏻♀️😩
Now if have to keep it. Thanks 🤨😂
😄 😅 👍
❤
Now that the tree has purpose, that you can use it, it has been redeemed, become an asset instead of an annoyance.
The many critters that depend on it won't go hungry when there's nothing left.
All of the little snow birds say thank you.
Replant a cutting or 2 somewhere else in the yard, then after 2 years when you know they are established, cut down the big one for free firewood
lol I used to live ginkgo til I lived in DC & met the plant itself. Every autumn, pukeberry mess & odor everywhere all over the streets. I was so mad when I found out they were an extremely useful plant!
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Oh, hackberry. They're famous in Finland for blooming on the end of the cold spring and the warm eaves of summer, immortalized in songs celebrating the end of the school semester and the beginning of summer vacation. I remember the beautiful white flowers of the hackberry trees, and at the same time very heady smell of the sewer emitted by the trees' bark and young berries.
I got so curious that I actually started feeling like I'd want to try making a liqueur of local hackberries come autumn. From thereon it would be interesting to move on to a greater variety of foods and drinks.
1:05 It should be noted that selenium should be consumed with care, as too much can result in toxicity.
90 micrograms of selenium per 100 grams of fruit is OK, supplements often have 200 mcg. The lead (Pb) level looks like 700 parts per billion, well over the 10-20 ppb limits for children's foods set by the FDA.
We love hackberry. They're a snack when working out in the garden and a nice, thorny trees.
Hackberry wood is beautiful. One of my favorite wild lumbers
Here in Phoenix I've had the orange desert hackberry before (Celtis pallida) it has a crunchy small seed and is very tasty kinda like a combo of fig and apricot and is relatively high in beta carotene, really wanna try the other variety of hackberry at some point soon too 👍
I’ve never heard of this and I have foraged for several years now just in the neighborhood here in wichita Ks. This is great! My body really needs copper and I have been concerned about how I can get it easily . I need to try this as soon as possible
Head over to the white mountains or Flagstaff maybe. Canyon hackberry is also good.
I like your attitude, you've got a good go-getter attitude and you're bound and determined to make use of this food.
you've really stepped up your videos since i last watched, keep up the good work!
I have a huge hackberry about 10 feet outside my bedroom window at the corner of my front deck. I had no idea they were edible. To think I’ve been sweeping them off the deck to keep the dogs from eating them for years. No more! Now they are eating little vitamins. 😉
To be fair, they could still be pet toxic; might want to ask a veterinarian and a chemist.
Do NOT feed hackberry to your dogs. They are toxic to dogs!
Edit: Further research is giving mixed results! Do some research of your own but definetly make sure they are dog safe before giving them to your dogs though!
Love that you’re sharing this. Hackberry are seen as weeds in central Texas and they are EVERYWHERE here. The seeds are easy to gather and taste almost like apple. I really like them!
The fruit of a pin cherry can mimic a Hackberry, but its also edible so not a big deal if you mix them up. Pin cherry fruit similarly is mostly see with a thin fruit coating but they are quite sour.
EDIT: The seed of the pin cherry is NOT edible, only the fruit.
We have the sugarberry variety. Literally everywhere around us (North TX), especially near streams & drainage areas. Thanks for the harvesting & food prep tips. P.S. your wife is a genius!
Good reporting and commentary, very informational. I am now a subscriber.
I grow hackberry up here in Ontario, Canada, in my Zone 5b orchard! I planted them a couple of years ago! I am so looking forward to our first harvest of hackberries!
Perfect video with incredible detail,all your heart into it thanks 👍
Have these in the back yard. The outer “meat” tastes abit like sweet tea 🫡
I agree it tastes like date and tea
@@mattrupp8562 I keep seeing date brought up as a flavor note, which has me thinking I wouldn't like them. I detest dates.
@@amayasasaki2848 Do you also hate snickers? I make a candy bar with dates that tastes really similar to a snickers.
@@chere100 Put dates in chocolate and all I can taste is dates.
To clarify the evidence was so ancient these aren’t technically human remains but a common ancestor to humans
Pretty contentious topic these days erectus, denisedons/ potato ‘patato’ …nutrition for all right? now if we’re talking a lemur maybe I’ll raise an eyebrow 🤨
Common ancestor? Adam.
😂 in what way these are primate bones there is not one primate bone in the human body and there’s not one human bone in a primate body. How are we connected to these monkeys?
We are a created species. That’s why our DNA has spices in it. The modern human is too weak and frail to have ever survived in the world thousands of years ago. The average amount of fractures found throughout the bones of a Neanderthal is something like 600 and Neanderthals do have primate bones. They had bigger brains. They were bigger faster and smarter than us. If I had to guess I would say there was numerous species of Homo sapiens on this planet prior to the last Ice Age and we did not prosper as a species until those other ones had died off.
@@ericarnaud7983 Adam and Steve
@joedirt1965 you ever watch RUclips kids? What are you, abt 7 years old?
I learned about hackberry just last year and it is incredible! Me and my brother love to pick them and just snack on them, but I will absolutely try some of these recipes given that I have a hackberry at a local park with quite a few berries. I have been waiting for just such a video about hackberries for a while now, and Jesse certainly made the video I have been waiting for (not to mention in great detail)!
I built a treehouse in a hackberry as a child.
Well mostly my dad did.. and it was more of a few elevated tree platforms...
Anyway.. it never occured to me to eat them. They were always small, dark, and shriveled when I saw em.
As I got older, I became interested in forraging, but never though to look at this one for some reason.
I recently saw an ad about a nut collector that used circular stiff rubber discs spaced the thickness of the nuts you’re collecting.
Thanks; now they'll become the next "superfood" trend and they'll sell them for $25 per 10oz ziploc mini-pack. With all the plastic covered in post-consumer fibre, of course, so it looks sustainable. It is even called "hackberry", so the magazine articles about it being a "diet hack" are built right in.
well that doesnt matter if you can forage them lmao. only the fools will be fooled
I remember when poor people could afford chicken wings.
They are pretty expensive to buy online so I say happy harvesting.💕🙏
@@christienelson1437easy to forage.. Just don't overdo
@@christienelson1437 i have to get the tree first because it doesnt grow in europe. i wil get the chinese varietty, its even sweeter
I can't help it, I'm just smiling all the while you're trying the energy spheres. So good. Can't wait to try them.
Since they are low moisture they would be good to add to pemican.
You know? I bet that is what they used!
I’d also say the most iconic feature of hackberry trees is how they grow super tall and then fall down
👍🏆👍 i remember Hackberry & eating them in the 1960s as a kid! I think they fell out of fashion = commercial processed food & TV ads! As others forgotten about!
I had the pleasure of introducing paw paws to a 34yr old hiking buddy. Now he is paw paw crazy, plants seedlings in forests with no paw paws. Its great😊
They are really tasty, turns out every time I walk home from school I pass THREE hackberry trees, I started to gather some berries off of them and I've got to say, they are pretty darn good, I was a bit concerned at first and wasn't sure if they really were hackberry trees, but after looking it up a couple more times, I am now sure that they are. Great Video!
They're great in scones!
sounds yummy 👍🏻
I've grown up around these trees and this is the first time someone has told me that these berries are edible
Ditto
Love the super concentration of red on the map in North Texas. They are everywhere in Dallas
I’m in central Texas and they spread like weeds. Haven’t noticed a water problem but they fall over a lot. Dangerous.
I’m really glad I found your channel. The processing is what I really wanted to learn. I have read numerous books concerning edible plants, now maybe I can learn what to do with them after foraging. Thank you!😊
Hackberries are everywhere in Texas, and they taste amazing. Before I knew they were edible, I only knew them as the sticky berries that make a mess of my truck's paint job. Now I pick them for myself.
these are actually in the hemp family (under agp III classification, previously under elm)
What the hack! I've been eating hackberry since my early childhood. It also grows in our backyard 🌳
I've always wondered about these berries! I live near you (I've been subbed and in your Facebook group for years now) and these trees are everywhere.
Also I love that your channel has blown up the way it has. It's so awesome!
Your awesome man please keep teaching us about all these things.
Omg I have 2 of those growing in my backyard (and one pine tree about 6 stories tall for a total of 3 big trees in our backyard). They're both 4 stories tall, and have been my whole life. Me and my family always assumed the berries weren't edible because of the pit inside.
We have been missing out on it's potential all these years
(I'm 18 and my parents have lived in this house for over 30 years with those 3 big trees in the backyard)
I am glad I found this video. I will show it to my parents and we can take advantage of 2 of the large trees in our backyard for food, and use them in harsh times.
I got Hackberrys in my Garden in Berlin never knowing what they are good for. Growing in shape of a bush with long branches adorning the iron gate in the hedge. Locally known as Traubenkirsche, a word combination of grape and cherry.
Sounds lovely!
THANK YOU for this video. I discovered that the "annoying huge tree" at the edge of my property that I just could never identify is actually a Hackberry. I think a true Hackberry and not a sugar berry. I will wait till spring to find out for sure. I live in north central fl and I find it weird that it would be a true hackberry but that's what is looking more and more like. I tasted a couple berries I found on the ground and, oh wow, they are really good. Just like you said, a lot like dates infused with a little ginger. I can't wait till next fall! You saved that tree from being cut down, lol. ❤
This tree grows everywhere here in the DFW Texas area! My sister and i pick a few off the trees while we take walks. Thank for this video!
LOL, growing up we used to call these "Choke Cherries" becuase of the huge seed, and sometimes threw the green version in a fire and it would "explode" or pop.
And chokecherry trees are real too. You were close Lol! : )
The hatchet
3:37 no wait come back
I have 3 or 4 of these trees on one of my properties here in Enid OK. The outer bark is a dead giveaway. Next fall I'll come up with a plan to harvest the berries and try them out. Thanks young man !!
I like how you use the gold classifier to strain the berries😅
Thanks!
Thank *you*! :D
they make the same kind of roller but a lot finer for picking up firearm brass, it may still not be fine enough for these though
just a minor note when you were peeling the fruit off of the seed in the beginning middle of a video it would've been good to mention that the seat is edible too because when you get to the end and then you're sort of blending the seed with the fruit it was a surprise.
I felt like a 13 year old when you started on about twigs and berries😂
Thanks for sharing. Going to keep an eye out for these teees near me
Awesome educaational video. You are the best at explaining and getting your audience enthused.
Great video! I’m excited to see if I can source these
Lingonberry as well. And cranberry. And rowan berry. And forest bilberry. And bog bilberry. And bird cherry berry. And juniper berry. And crowberry. And wild blackcurrant.
i've been eating them for six or seven weeks now. haven't got sick once
You made me smile! Thank you! Peace Courage Wisdom
They do have mold and aphids in many locat
@@prof.crastinator yet they'll probably keep us both alive
@@kazparzyxzpenualt8111 fly Jefferson Airplane; gets you there on time
Never would have thought ancient humans ate fruits. Truly enlightened.
We have something called hardhack. Never heard of hackberry described in the local indigenous lore -WA state here. According to the USDA site its native range in the US is the upper NE Midwest.
Btw pretty sure antartica lacks hackberry...
You never know - there might be some seeds underneath the ice from the last time Antarctica actually had vegetation. Haha
@BlueJadeU
I thought of that, but kind of unlikely. I'll take it as a "good point."
Never knew i could eat the Hackberries right off my trees! There are hundreds of Hackberry trees here.
2:55 it's just funny him showing this Pic of "all around the world". Truly, 🇺🇸🦅🦅moment
Please tell me you know that isn't a map of America
@@edwardgibb3981I don’t think they do. I think a neuron got crossed cause later they did mention the us and showed the same map but of just the us.
(Wiki Italy)
Celtis Australis jam
In the kitchen, a jam can be obtained from the berries: they must be placed in a founded pot and covered with cold water (at least three fingers above the berries); Half of the weight in sugar and the juice of a lemon is added. It brings to cooking in moderation; When the water is halved, it is chopped with an immersion blender and filters.
How about a shop vac
😅
I second that
I live in Portugal, and I've been eating those since I was a kid. The most common variety we have here is Celtis Australis
I wonder if they can be bred to have bigger fruit?
Genius comment. Good job!
hmmm… let’s bio engineer life 😼
well its a tree, so it would take a really long time to see results. and be very resource intensive to do but not impossible.
@@LokiOdinssnn thats what i was thinking.... but man... could be worth it for humanity sake
Fascinating. Unfortunately, these aren't native to the UK where I am, but they remind me a lot of haws (hawthorn berries). One thing I wonder is if you've checked out the constituents of the seeds carefully. Many small fruits like these have very nutritious flesh, but the seed often contains significant amounts of toxins such as cyanide and arsenic. A quick search suggests they're ok, but be careful if you eat large quantities of them. Amazing to think of our ancestors eating these hundreds of thousands of years ago.
I've always wanted to try these! They don't grow anywhere near me, though. Boo.
Are you sure? Did you see the map he showed?
I live in Illinois and planted 3 European hackberry trees about 20 years ago. They were about 10 inches tall when I planted them and are now about 15 feet tall. I pick them in the fall and eat them all year. I love them but they are hard. I wish someone would find a tree that had softer seeds and maybe thicker pulp and make it available. That or breed one for those qualities. About 6 years ago I cut some of the wood and made black tattoo ink out of it. It has lasted and still looks dark and great.
Nice video, I wonder if you could make pemmican with the fruit part of the berries?
Am edible wild food and medicinal wild plant forager for over 50 years. You go, kid!
They grow on every continent in the world? Where are the Hackberry trees in Antarctica?
Well obviously under the ice! Lol no really I thought the same thing.
i have no idea why but i read glanced at the title before watching and read it as tavernmen and i was like, good for them tavern fellas eatin berries and what not
They grow on every continent in the world
Antarctica:
🤣 I recently saw a video with the title,"why there's no dirt in Antartica".As much as I hate the cold, I didn't even watch it.I can't imagine living on ice.I have friends in Alaska always inviting me. I won't dare,even in summer. You should hear the stories,how hard to get there,the insane prices of food, outhouses because pipes freeze no matter what.Especially my friend in Barrow,talking about polar bear attacks. What a horrific place to live. or visit.
@@pattiannepascual lots of people visit Alaska and say it’s beautiful I’ve never been but it does depend on what part of Alaska it is I wouldn’t want to live there but I’d love to visit and some stories are exaggerated most of them actually. But still I’d never go in the winter that would be awful!
The basswood tree that you mentioned is also known as the lindon tree. Linseed oil is extracted from its seeds. The wood is in great demand by wood carvers because it is very light.
They also had a cecum that was much longer than we do today. Our cecum today is approximately 3" and we can't actually break down plant matter like we used to. A little fruit seasonal and regional is ok but humans were designed to eat mainly meat. Plants just root in the colon while meat starts breaking down immediately. Don't believe me? Go ask someone to see what's inside their colostomy bag. Go follow Dr Anthony Chaffee, Dr Shawn Baker, Dr Ken Berry.