THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Hickory

Lisa Karen Miller

          His marriage was bigamous, because his wife had not yet obtained a divorce from her jealous husband. He later killed in a duel a man who had openly besmirched his wife’s honor. He speculated widely in land, including some reserved by treaty for the Cherokee and Chickasaw. He built the first general store in Gallatin, Tennessee, and was one of three who founded Memphis in 1819.

          Who was he? Our seventh president, Andrew Jackson, also known as Old Hickory.

          He was given this nickname by the Tennessee Volunteers he had led to New Orleans to defend it against British and Native American attacks.  Ordered to halt at Natchez and dismiss his troops there, he instead marched them back to the safety of Nashville, paying for their provisions himself.

          Hickory wood is strong and tough, just like Jackson.  If you’ve ever tried to crack a hickory nut, you’ll know why they aren’t much grown commercially.  The shell is so hard that by the time you’ve opened it, the meat inside usually has been smashed. Still, it has a nice flavor.

          The Creek would pound the nuts, then put them into boiling water.  After straining, this hickory milk “is as sweet and rich as fresh cream, and is an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially hominy and corn cakes.”

          The Iroquois used the shagbark hickory’s sap as a sweetener. The Ojibway used its young shoots and leaves to relieve headaches, while the Potawatomi boiled the bark and applied it to joints afflicted with arthritis.

          The hickory takes 30 to 40 years to produce nuts, so it embodies patience. The wood is not only strong, but also flexible.  It is prized for tools, bows, and furniture. The hickory’s leaves turn a uniform gold in the autumn – stunning against an azure sky.

          Hickory has long been used to smoke meat; it imparts an earthy flavor to anything that is slow-cooked over it. Hickory-smoked ham and bacon are signature delicacies of the South. Genuine hickory-barbequed beef or pork is the best; you just can’t replicate that flavor in a bottle.

          A consumer note:  if a bag of briquettes says “charcoal with hickory,” it has about 1% hickory and the rest is God knows what.  Producing 100% hickory charcoal is expensive for manufacturers.  If you’re lucky enough to have access to hickory wood, you can make your own, with the help of YouTube.

          Plan a trip to Andrew and Rachel’s mansion in Hermitage, Tennessee. Go to thehermitage.com to learn more about Old Hickory.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller