RE: Malodorous plants
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: RE: Malodorous plants
- From: "* T* <n*@lehmann.mobot.org>
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 10:08:07 CST6CDT
- Priority: normal
> > I understnd the the female Gingko tree rewards us with an
> >evil-smelling fruit if there is a male nearby.
> I've never had that pleasure, but the smell comes from butyric acid that
> the seeds produce when they rot. Some people say it smells like vomit,
> while others like rancid butter (which by the way, butyric acid is what
> gives rancid butter its odor). However if you can get past the smell,
> the seeds are a delicacy. You just wash off the rotting outer layer and
> get to the greenish yellow inner parts. I think the japanese make a type
> of pudding from the seeds.
There is a row of female ginkgos by the street not far from my office. I
picked up one of the seed-bearing structures last autumn and it's still
sitting on my desk as I write this. This is a double one, with two seeds
on a slender stalk. The seeds are covered in a fleshy coat that looks a
bit like a small yellow plum when they are ripe (about an inch long and
egg-shaped). Now they are dried out but not totally dry, i.e., wrinkled
and very much like a date. They still have the smell, if you rub and
sniff; yes, it's like rancid butter, or a smelly cheese. There's a Asian
food store here in St. Louis that sells (cleaned) ginkgo nuts in bulk.
The inner seed coat is a bit like a pistacio shell, with the nut inside.
The ones I tried had an odd, rather bitter taste, but that may have been
because they were not fresh.
Nick.
