He said that the seeds can have different bitterness depending on the tree, but he usually eats them straight from the branch.
Maple tree seeds, or samaras, are edible, although the outer covering should be peeled away. People have eaten samaras for many centuries, and several recipes for their preparation exist in order to make them more palatable. Normally, samaras have a bitter taste but are not toxic.
People wishing to try this can also soak the seeds in water to remove some of the bitterness before eating. The seeds can be eaten raw, but I recommend leaching them first to reduce the bitterness.
Those on the ground are fine if they meet these requirements, but it is best to harvest them from tree branches. All maple seeds are edible, but some can be more bitter than others. Flavor and acidity levels can vary from tree to tree and between species, and bitter seeds can be boiled to leach out the pungency. I have heard of this type of tree and when the seeds are harvested it can affect the bitterness.
Maple Tree Seeds Need Preparation
Try some seeds, if they are not bitter, they can be eaten raw, or roasted, or even boiled. If they are bitter – depending on the type and time of collection – you’ll need to leaching them like acorns, soaking them in multiple changes of cold water or boiling them in boiling water. Just like acorns, they vary from tree to tree, so if they don’t taste good, try a different one.
The inner bark, the cambium, is next on the maple’s list of nutrients and is the same bark that produces the sap. Toasted or dried seeds can be ground into flour. I think it’s more of a final food, but the inner bark, called the cambium, is also edible. You can peel off the outer layer and eat the tiny seeds inside, raw or roasted. However, if you need to ensure that maple seeds are not fully ripe when they turn from their natural green to brown, you can harvest them from the ground instead of the tree.
If you find that you love maple seeds, you need to collect them before squirrels and other wild animals get to them, as they love them too. While squirrels can eat a wide variety of plants, they generally prefer seeds, especially woody ones. The seeds are quite small and take time to clean, but given that one acre of maple forest can yield a million seeds and one maple tree can live up to 400 years, maples provide an incredibly abundant treat for squirrels.
Why People Eat Maple Seeds
Maple seeds are usually eaten as a survival food in winter; maple seeds can be eaten at any stage, from green to brown, however, when they are green they are more difficult to peel and depending on the type of tree they are picked from, they can affect Their taste, more specifically their bitterness. Maples are among the trees that have the phenomenon of “variable fruiting”, which means that seeds can be harvested one year but not the next because of the stressful growing conditions of the tree.
Maple seeds are edible, high in protein and can be used as a survival food in winter, but like many wild foods, they are best enjoyed in the spring. They tend to take on a hint of bitterness over the years, and when winter comes, the rest wilt and become somewhat bitter; but make no mistake, they’re still edible.
When the seeds dry, they move away from the tree, covering everything around in search of soil. The shape and design of the seeds are very aerodynamic, with the seed pod at one end and the rest of the structure like a “wing” so the seeds can spin in the wind and fly far away from the parent tree. The plant surrounds the seed with a protective shell, in this case a pod, similar to what plants do with edible fruit, and the pod opens to release the seed. Baptisia, also known as Wild Indigo, produces seeds in pods that form after flowering.
Maple Seeds Are Helicopter Seeds
The seeds are often called helicopter seeds because of the way they fall from the tree. The seeds are called samaras, maple springs, helicopters or whirlpools. While other trees like ash and elm produce their own samaras, their seeds are just a wing.
When dropped, the helicopter seeds can scatter and fly away a decent distance from the wind compared to other single-winged samaras. Seeds that use wind to move away from the parent plant, called wind dispersal, include helicopters and floating seeds. Maple choppers and cottonwood fluff are some of the more prominent seeds of this type. Animal dispersal involves the use of nuts and fruits produced by plants and trees to transport seeds to a suitable destination.
The sticky seeds don’t help the animal because they don’t eat it and it prevents the animals from looking for food on the plant. For Tumbleweed, the wind pushes the entire top of the plant to shed its seeds. Maples flood the environment with helicopter seeds with one to four years between harvests in much of Wisconsin. Sugar maples start seeding around age 30, reaching maximum seed production by age 60.
How to Manage the Helicopter Seeds
Some tree species are more prone to shallow roots than others, especially silver maple, poplar and willow. An overlooked maple root system can damage concrete, and trees too close to buildings can flake off paint, siding, or shingles as they grow. Complete and safe removal of the tree and root system of maple and maple seedlings with the help of a professional will help you avoid damage to the surrounding landscape or your property when removing maple and roots.
Using a rake is the best way to clear your lawn and flower beds of helicopter seeds as they fall in such large numbers. Maple seeds fill lawns and flower beds like little green party umbrellas, cracks in sidewalks, and clog drains and downspouts. However, it turns out that if you have maple trees in your yard or neighborhood, you have no doubt noticed seed pods on the ground every spring. They are more playable as they contain a pod with edible seeds inside.
Helicopters, also called whirlwinds but technically known as samaras, are the outer covering that must be removed when consuming maple seeds. Next on the list of edible maple plants in terms of nutritional value are winged seeds, actually from Samara. It turns out that these seeds are edible, rich in protein and carbohydrates, and quite tasty.
As with any nut and seed processing, it’s a little boring, but for a fun seasonal treat (full of vitamins, minerals, and good oils), husking maple seeds is worthwhile. Some people eat the seed pods as a snack, but many like to fry or boil them.