Bucheckern Healthy and tasty

Bucheckern: Nutty aroma for the autumn kitchen
Autumn time is collection time. Now the aromatic beechnuts of the beech enrich the menu. Freshly roasted fruits are not only a tasty snack in between, but also taste great as a topping for the salad, in pesto or in a spread. In baking recipes they can replace whale or hazelnuts. A treat is bread or pastry, which is prepared with fine Bucheckernmehl. The nutlets have a fat content of about 40 percent and are rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In addition, they contain valuable protein, minerals and trace elements such as zinc and iron.

Bucheckern: Nutty and full-bodied taste. Picture: msl33-fotolia

The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is widespread in Germany and France and forms beechnuts only from the age of 40 years. The fruits are ripe when the fruit capsules open. The fruit contains two Bucheckern, which are dreikantig in outline. However, not all seed envelopes found on the forest floor are filled. With a trick you can sort out the empty shells: To do this, fill the collected corner pieces in a large bowl with water and fish off the top floating fruit. The coveted full beechnuts sink to the ground and are poured over a sieve. They are also easier to peel wet. With a knife, the tip of the shell is snapped off and pulled off one of the three side shells. Then the nut falls out and only needs to be freed from her fine fluff.

Beech horns should be heated before consumption. Because they contain the slightly toxic substance "Fagin" (trimethylamine), which is named after the scientific name of the beech. It can cause abdominal pain in larger quantities but is heat instable and therefore reducible. It is best to pour hot water over the corners or roast them for a few minutes in the pan, which is also beneficial for the aroma. In addition, beechnuts - as well as spinach and rhubarb - contain oxalic acid. People who suffer or have kidney stones should generally limit the intake of oxalic acid. Heike Kreutz, bzfe