Yellowbud Hickory Harvest Event: Reading Public Museum

Rain date Friday October 23rd

Join the PA DCNR Bureau of Forestry and Keystone Tree Crops Cooperative to connect with tree nuts that offer great potential for our region.

Hear from Bureau of Forestry’s Agroforestry Specialist, Robbie Coville, about agroforestry and the potential of trees in our food system. Keystone Tree Crop Co-op’s Processing Manager, Erica Lavdanski, will introduce yellowbud hickories and how they can be an olive oil of northeast forests.

Connect with the local tree crops community and learn more about tree ID and harvesting quality nuts. There will be nuts in various stages from fresh-harvested to table-ready and various nutcrackers and value-added products to explore. Come crack and enjoy some black walnuts, taste hickory oil made in Berks County, or try your hand at gathering yellowbud hickory nuts.

Make sure to bring water for yourself, and extra buckets or bulb crates if you have them. We will also have supplies people can use.

RSVP is requested, but walk-ins are welcome. Children are also welcome, though this event is intended for adults. There is no fee to participate.

This event will take place at the tall hickory tree on Reading Public Museum’s corner of Parkside Drive North and Museum Road (here is a map link https://maps.app.goo.gl/ud2wga4jsAz7TEBL6, here are coordinates 40°19'39.6"N 75°56'59.7"W). You can park at the museum and walk over or get dropped off nearby on Parkside Drive North.  Street or museum parking is a short paved walk away. This is an outdoor event, please plan accordingly.

If you're interested in becoming a forager for KTCC, please check out our Yellowbud Hickory Harvester's Handbook. Also, check out ktcc.coop/harvest for other gathering events and our current prices offered for nuts.

Hickory oil is not a new invention. For thousands of years, Indigenous communities across eastern North America pressed and boiled hickory nuts for oil and nutmilk, and the word "hickory" itself comes from an Indigenous term for that preparation. KTCC gathers yellowbud hickory nuts (Carya cordiformis, also called bitternut) from wild trees across Pennsylvania and surrounding states, working with a growing network of harvesters. The nuts are bitter because of tannins, but tannins don't dissolve in fat. The pressed oil comes out mild, golden, and smooth, with a quality often compared to fine olive oil. It is about 70% monounsaturated fat, has a smoke point around 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and works for everything from high-heat cooking to finishing dishes. Cold-pressed from raw nuts it is clean and neutral. Pressed from lightly roasted nuts it turns warmer, with notes of pecan.

We are deeply inspired by these trees that are thriving and abundant in our landscape. Making the oil takes care at every step, but it requires no clearing, tilling, irrigating, or chemical inputs, and a well-sited yellowbud hickory can live two centuries or more. KTCC sees hickory oil as a step toward a regional food economy built on native perennial crops, shared infrastructure, and fair returns for everyone involved. It is still early days, with only a few commercial producers in North America pressing a few hundred gallons a year. We are building the supply chain alongside our members and the wider community, and we think now is the time to build a better relationship to land and to each other.

For more information check out ktcc.coop/hickory-oil