Looks like Hickory nuts.

Here're the pictures

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Thanks for the close-ups, flora_uk. :)

Hickory nuts, huh, esh_ga? Thanks. Can you eat these straight from the shells, or do you have to cook them first?

Carya ovata: Shagbark hickory. Don't eat them. They won't harm you but they taste awful.

Dax

Thanks, Dax. I tried some before I saw your post, and their taste wasn't very sexy. ;)

Actually, I just read some articles about the shagbark hickory, and many of them say that the nuts taste sweet. So now I'm even more confused. ;)

If they are edible come over here and I'll serve you a feast- those things are two inches deep in portions of my back yard.
Ugh!

The nuts are sweet to animals. That was probably what you read.

Dax

Hmmm? Folks gather shagbark nuts around here, presumably to eat. I've never had the pleasure.

+oM

OK, thanks, everyone, for the additional info. :)

Definitely NOT shagbark - the smaller ones are pignut - C.glabra; larger one might be mockernut, C.tomentosa - but may just be a larger pignut. The non-dehiscent husk is a giveaway.
Sorry, Dax, but you're off your rocker. Shagbark hickory nuts are THE BEST! Great flavor, heavy production in 'on' years. Tougher to crack than pecans, but some better selections have relatively thin shells, and yield mostly intact halves/quarters.

I've never bothered much with pignut hickories, as the shell tends to be thick and internal shell structure usually precludes obtaining much more than tiny little nutmeat fragments - but there have been a few 'improved' pignut and mockernut selections that have been discovered through the years - but they still take a distant backseat to even an average shagbark or shellbark hickory.
I will say, however, that mockernut has a very good flavor - fairly strong, approaching that of black walnut, though a bit sweeter, and more appealing, IMO.

I agree with lucky: ovata's nuts are absolutely delicious. I am looking forward to find some kingnuts to have!

Always ate shagbark nuts as a kid. They were great. We have a 70 foot tree back at the homestead.

tj

Dax,
I'm thinking you're confused - and thinking of bitternut hickory, C.cordiformis. Agree that they are nasty - astringent, on the order of a green persimmon - but they have perhaps the thinnest shell of any hickory this side of pecans. Even the squirrels regard them only as 'famine' food.
But - our buddy GS has recounted a tale of trying trick a nephew by pretending to eat them - and the kid was unfazed - with Guy sampling the nuts to find that it was a 'sweet' bitternut, with no astringency.

lcadem - good crop on the shagbarks, shellbarks and pecans here this year

One of the dastardly difficult things in gathering nuts is when shellbarks and shagbarks intermingle with bitternuts. Makes a close inspection of your nuts a necessity!

+oM

Yeah google wasn't very good to me for a taste description. The shape of the nut looked ovata to me, I don't know what else to say.

Dax

Thanks for the extra info, lucky_p. Yeah, the nutmeats were pretty tiny. :)