Beech - [genus Fagus, various species]

Beech is a very common, often dominant, deciduous forest tree throughout the northern hemisphere. While beech nuts are edible, this tree is much better known for its hard wood and as a decorative. Aside from furniture, flooring and vernier, the wood is used for smoking some cheeses and smoking the malt for German smoked beers. Beech wood chips are also used to "fine" Anheuser Bush beers.

The nuts are triangular, about 1/2 inch long and have a somewhat sweet taste and high protein content. They also contain mild toxins which can make you sick if you eat more than around 40 of them. The nuts can be squeezed for cooking oil, but gathering them is so labor intensive it is only done in times of hardship. The toxins are not contained in the oil.

Southern hemisphere beeches were once though closely related to those of the northern hemisphere but are now separated into family Nothofagus.

Chestnut - [genus Castanea, various species]

This common nut is notable for being starchy rather than oily, so it's uses are quite different from other nuts. Most chestnuts sold in the U.S. are a Chinese variety that is much more resistant to chestnut blight than American or European varieties. The Chinese is the same size as the European and a bit bigger than the American but is not as sweet as the European.

Here in Southern California we get bins full of these Chinese chestnuts every winter, but so far I've found them impossible to peel by any of the published methods. If you can get the outer shell off, you'll find the inner skin impossible to remove. I'm sure there are commercial methods, perhaps a soak in boiling lye.

Peeled chestnuts put up in syrup are generally found in the European gourmet section of the market. In Asian markets they can be found peeled and dried, sold in plastic bags.

Chinquapin - [genus Castanopsis many species (East Asia) | genus Chrysolepis, Golden chinquapin, Giant chinquapin C. crysophylla (California, Oregon, Washington); Bush chinquapin, C. sempervirens (Oregon, California)]

Chinqapins were once more widely distributed, producing large coal deposits in Germany, but they are now confined to East and Southeast Asia and the U.S. West Coast. The trees produce edible nuts but chinquapins are used mainly for forestry or as decoratives. Note: some members of the chestnut genus are also called "chinquapin".

The nuts, once removed from their hard spiny chestnut-like cupule (husk), resemble pointy acorns. They are gathered locally but seldom sold commercially. They also serve as food for pigs, deer, rodents and other animals. In Japan the wood is important as the preferred substrate for growing shiitake mushrooms.   Photo by Hamachidori of Castanopsis sieboldii nuts distributed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.1 Japan.

Oak (Acorn) - [genus Quercus various species]

Acorns have always been an important food for American Indians, particularly in California, and are still consumed to some extent. They are also much used in Korea to make acorn jelly (dotorimuk) and acorn noodles (dotori gooksoo). They were once an important food in Europe but are now used there mainly to fatten pigs. Many varieties of acorn contain a large amount of bitter tannins which must be removed to make them palatable. This is generally done by chopping and leaching with water.

Another culinary use of great importance for oak is wine corks, made from the bark of the Cork Oak (Quercus suber). Without this bark Champaign would not have been possible and wine would be difficult to keep long enough for proper age.

Alder - [genus Alnus, various species]

Alder is a widespread tree important for cabinetry, electric guitars and charcoal production. Although the catkins are edible and high in protein, they are bitter so are used only as survival food. The main culinary use for alder is for smoking fish. It is almost the only wood used for smoking Pacific salmon.

The bark contains salicin which turns into salicylic acid when digested, a compound very close to the active ingredient in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, and has been used for similar purposes.

Birch - [genus Betula]
Birch are northern temperate medium size trees and shrubs with a wide distribution through Europe, Asia and North American. White birch is well known in North America for use of its easily peelable white bark in American Indian crafts, including the hulls of canoes. The bark is highly resistant to decay and was also used as writing material in northern Europe and Siberia. Twigs of silver birch are much used in Finland for self flagellation in the sauna.

Birch sap and juice are used in the Frozen North (North America through Siberia) to make beverages, many of which are at least mildly alcoholic. In Alaska and Russia birch trees are tapped, as are maples farther south, to make birch syrup. The syrup is used as maple syrup is, or fermented to alcohol and/or made into vinegar. Birch is also used as a flavoring, as in the excellent Ukrainian birch flavored vodka I have in my cabinet.

Note that the product from the Philippines called "Birch Flower" is not actually birch. It is from a member of the Mulberry family, Moraceae, specifically Broussonetia luzonica.

Hazelnut / Filbert - [genus Corylus, C. avellana (Common Hazel), C. maxima (Filbert)]

Hazelnut species are found throughout the northern hemisphere and all produce edible nuts but only the two listed above are in commercial production. Both are native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. What's the difference? The leafy cover of filberts is much longer than the nut and is reddish in color. The largest producer of hazelnuts by far is Turkey with Italy second. The largest U.S. producer is Oregon state, but recent large plantings in California are coming on-line.

The photo specimens show shelled nuts (front), nuts in shell (middle) and nuts still in the leafy husks (involucres). Those in the husks are a rather elongated variety compared to the other shelled specimens and were probably grown in California.

Persian Walnut - [English Walnut, Juglans regia]

Black Walnut - [American Walnut, Juglans nigra]

Butternut - [White Walnut, Juglans cinerea]

Native to eastern North America from Ontario to Alabama and west to Minnesota and Arkansas, this tree is now considered endangered in many areas due to a fungal disease. The oily nuts are used mainly in baking and candies. The wood is used for furniture and woodcarving, and the nut hulls were formerly used to dye cloth a color between light yellow and dark brown.

Shagbark Hickory - [ Carya ovata]

There are about 20 species of Hickory, most in North America but some in China and Indochina. The nuts of most hickory trees are too bitter for human consumption but many animals depend on them.

The nuts of the Shagbark, have excellent flavor and are much liked by those to whom they are available. These nuts are not produced commercially because the trees produce too seldom. The bark is also used to flavor a sugar syrup to make it more like maple syrup.   Photo by Pollinator distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic.

Pecan - [ Carya illinoinensis]
Native to North America from Illinois south through Texas and into Mexico, these nuts are most grown in Georgia, followed by Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. They did not become a commercial crop until the 1880s and few are yet grown outside the United States. Pecans are often eaten fresh but are also used in cooking, mostly for pies and sweet deserts. The shells are very thin, so the attractively shaped meats are fairly easy to remove without breaking, are often used decoratively.

Wingnut - [genus Pterocarya]
These nut trees are native from the Caucasus throughout temperate Asia. They are not of culinary importance and their main use is as decoratives. The term "wingnut" is now more commonly used to designate members of the "socially conservative" wing of the Republican Party. There's also a Wheel Wingnut (genus Cyclocarya) - we really should find some group to assign that to as a descriptive - perhaps socially conservative Republican CEOs.