Eat Maple Seeds

If you have a maple tree, you probably get an overflow of their seeds once a year. The good news is, these are edible. When cooked, they taste like a cross between peas and hominy. They can also be eaten raw or dried, and thrown in a salad. Follow these steps for the best flavor.

Steps

 * 1) [[Image:Maple_930.jpg|thumb|Maple seeds in April]]Harvest the seeds. They should be gathered when they're full but still green in the spring; run your hands down the branch to gather a bunch in your hands. All maple seeds are good to eat, but some are more bitter than others (a good rule of thumb is: small and sweet, big and bitter). Later, when their shells are brown, they are a little more bitter, but still good.
 * 2) Hull the seeds. Peel off the outer skin (the "whirlygig" part). Cut the end with your thumbnail. Squeeze out the seed; it looks like a pea or bean.
 * 3) Rinse out the tannins. Taste a few seeds raw. If they are bitter, you'll need to boil them in water, dump out the water, and repeat until the bitterness is gone.
 * 4) Cook the seeds. If you boiled them already, just season with butter, salt, and pepper and enjoy. If they weren't boiled, here are a few more options:
 * 5) *Roasting - Place the seeds on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 - 10 minutes.
 * 6) *Drying - Put them in a dry, sunny spot or in a food dehydrator until they are crunchy. They can then be pounded or ground into a flour, if you want.

Tips

 * Always try to harvest fruit, seeds or any other food produce from young plants. Generally, the older the plant the more bitter the taste of any part of it.
 * If you're keen to broaden your knowledge of edible wild plants, why not try bracken/fern root (roast them) or nettles (simply wilt over a fire or boil), and check your local library for books on identifying edible plants (though be very careful with wild fungi as many are poisonous and some are lethal).

Warnings

 * Check for a food allergy. The first time you eat maple seeds, just eat a few and wait several hours. If there are no ill effects, eat some more!

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Test if a Plant Is Edible
 * How to Find Wild Edible Plants
 * How to Make Acorn Flour
 * How to Eat Yucca
 * How to How to Eat Prickly Pear Cactus
 * How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds