Gingko Fruit Harvesting

Ginkgo tress have always fascinated me with its beautifully unique fan shaped leaves and the unmatched golden color. It's becoming more popular in the western world in recent years. The health benefits of ginkgo have helped the Chinese civilization for thousands of years.

Now, the ginkgo tress have many medicinal properties and have a variety of uses for the traditional Chinese medicine doctors and herbalists but for us normal folks we just throw some into soup and eat them like beans. According to the O'wise one of my house, it's good for kidney health and regulation. If you pee more often than all your friends and co-workers, it's time for you to head to the local Chinese market and procure some beans. Please note, the recommended dosage for your average human is 5 beans a day. Otherwise, it could potentially be poisonous. Consider yourself warned!

TODAY, I went with some friends to harvest "ginkgo fruits". The flesh of the gingko fruit is actually not edible, it's sticky and can cause dermatitis, it also smells like age old cheese. That smell.... it can throw you for a loop. What we harvested was actually the seed inside of the flesh. The seed has a hard shell that is to be cracked opened, blanched, and the heart of hearts is poisonous which has to be removed. THEN it can be eaten.

While mom and friends gathered seeds, I gathered some beautiful golden leaves. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet but I'd be happy just looking at them.