It's Time To Enjoy Tastes Of Fall! Have You Tried Ginkgo Nuts Picking?

Japanese say fall is "The Season of Good Appetite". Surely it is probably the biggest harvest season in Japan since the first rice of the year comes out in addition to various fall vegetables, and it's also the season for most nuts and mushrooms. 

Actually you can enjoy little harvest of fall even in town. When you see some people are roaming in parks and street-sides with plastic bags in this season, just like in the photos on the upper row, they may be doing ginkgo nuts picking. In Japan ginkgo trees are one of the very common kinds you can find at parks and street-sides. For example, in Hachioji City they are planted for 4.2 km (2.6 miles) along Koshu-kaido (Rd. 20), which is one of the oldest national roads, in Takao area. 

Although ginkgo has male trees and female trees and only female trees get nuts, you can check it easily in this season since ginkgo nuts growing in the blanches is quite visible as you can see in the upper right end photo. Also the smell of them is very easy to recognize. Frankly, it's really stinky. 

So, actually when you try ginkgo nuts picking, they looks like small brown fruits with wrinkles as shown in the lower left end photo. The nuts is still covered by the stinky pulp. Then you need to get rid of the stinky part from all the nuts and wash them before enjoying the taste. Well, it might sound too much trouble. Don't worry, of course supermarkets have ginkgo nuts which are already washed and they are not stinky at all. 

For those who love ginkgo nuts a lot, probably the work to get rid of the stinky pulp doesn't matter. In fact many people enjoy ginkgo nuts picking in this season. As you can see in the photos, now the ginkgo leaves are still in green but a little later it will turn into gorgeous yellow, then people can enjoy the beautiful view, too, when they pick ginkgo nuts.

As for the photos of ginkgo nuts dishes above, the lower center photo shows roasted ginkgo nuts, and the lower right end photo is "ginkgo nuts rice" which I introduced in my post last year. To check the recipe of  "ginkgo nuts rice", please click here!