Sweet Gum Tree Balls Edible

A chewing gum and a stabilizer for cakes etc is obtained from the resin.

Sweet gum tree balls edible. While they re not edible the balls can double as spiky mulch to keep animals away from young plants. The spines become even spinier and holes open up to reveal seeds inside the balls. By mid fall the balls are dead and seedless. Larger bird species with beaks too large to get to the seeds leave these to their smaller competitors.

The vicious seed pods have impaled many a forager and has done much to ruin the sweet gum s reputation. Most people want to know how to get rid of the tree from which they come how to prevent it from fruiting or if you can compost sweetgum balls. The sweet gum tree is the sand spur of the forest. Are sweetgum tree balls edible.

The infertile seeds of the sweet gum ball contain shikimic acid which is also contained in the same tree used to make tamiflu. Perhaps it is time for some rehabilitation. However the search is long overdue. Sweet gum tree balls aren t edible.

The finches nuthatches and chickadees will then begin pressing their small beaks into the sweet gum balls many chambers extracting the two edible seeds that each chamber contains. Anything just get rid of the darn things. On our typical route there are 3 trees that bear these weird little balls. We ve taken hundreds of walks in our neighborhood and have run into the same patches of spiky balls countless times.

A salve can even be made by burning those infernal sweetgum balls down to ash which is satisfying in its own right and mixing that ash with bear grease or lard. It forms in cavities of the bark and also exudes naturally. You painfully find them with your feet. Edible parts of sweet gum.

Sweet gum balls start out plump and green but they dry as they mature. The only edible part of the tree is the dried sap which makes a fragrant bitter chewing gum. The only difference is sweetgum balls drop all fall and winter. The aromatic resin storax is obtained from the trunk of this tree.

But perhaps the most interesting medicinal use of sweetgum is its use as a targeted influenza treatment that s on par with off the shelf medications because the ingredients are the same. It can also be chewed to sweeten the breath. Other uses of the herb. These seeds are food for about 25 species.

Just like leaves they must fall so the tree can prep for new growth. Yeah i giggled a little inside at the search terms. If you re up for some experimenting sweet gum balls can been used to make a tea from boiling the young green seeds. They are an extremely prickly fruit inedible by the way.

You can even get creative and use them to make holiday trinkets or decorative balls for bowls.