Osage Orange
Maclura pomifera: The Edible Inedible
Sometimes everybody is almost wrong.
If you google “Osage Orange” or “Maclura pomifera” (mak-LOOR-uh pom-EE-fer-uh) you’ll get some 50,000 hits. Approximately 49,997 of those sites will tell you the Osage Orange is not edible. Two of three remaining sites, here and the one below, will say it is edible. The third one reports we say it is edible but we must be wrong.
Osage Orange Seeds
In all fairness, not all of the fruit is edible. Only the seeds are. In fact, the Osage Orange it is closely related to the Mulberries, which we do eat, and the Paper Mulberry which also has an edible fruit. But, 99.999999% of the Internet sites says it is not edible. Why? Two reasons. Somebody a long time ago said the fruit was not edible, and the Internet is mostly cut and paste wrong. I have truly become disgusted with Wikipedia regarding the inaccurate information about plants.
Fruit is not edible
Jim Mason, a naturalist with the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita Kansas, says the seeds taste somewhat like raw sunflower seeds. Not bad for an inedible fruit though he does say it takes a lot of work to get the seeds. His web page is here: http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm. The Osage Orange grows here in Florida — I know where there is one in Ocala. However, it grows in abundance in the mid-west, being part of the 1930’s reclamation process. It is, or was, the most intentionally planted tree in the United States. Its native range is a swath running from east Texas up into Oklahoma and parts of western Arkansas. It grows in 39 states and Washington DC, excluding the coldest and or driest areas, such as the high plain states and upper New England. Also found in Canada, it’s “invasive” in Italy and approaching invasive in Spain.
To separate the edible seeds from mature fruit put the fruit in a bucket of water and wait until the fruit is soft, then separate the seeds out. This will be an aroma-filled process and not pleasant. Let’s just say starving would help.
William Maclure, 1763-1840
Also called Hedgeapples, the Osage Orange got some of its reputation from killing livestock. But careful investigation shows the animals usually suffocated on the large fruit. One livestock feeding study found no significant chemical problems with the Osage Orange. As for the seeds, birds and small mammals have enjoyed them for a long time.
While the edibility of the Osage Orange has been maligned for decades, its usefulness as a tree has not. It was and still is esteemed for making bows. In fact, some bow makers think the Osage Orange’s wood for bows is superior to the Yew Tree, which is usually held up to be the classic standard. The bark also furnishes a yellow dye and tannins.
Botanically, the Osage Orange, Maclura pomifera, was named for a Scottish-born semi-American geologist named William Maclure (1763-1840.) He moved around a lot so calling him an American is a bit iffy. Pomifera means bearing apples.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
IDENTIFICATION: Tree to 40 feet and 20 inches diameter, often with a short thick trunk and numerous low branches. Bark gray to yellow-brown, thick, divided into narrow forking ridges, usually with hard sharp spines to one inch at leaf base. Sap thick, white, sticky. Leaves alternate, ovate, 2 to five inches long, one to three inches wide. Fruit large yellow-green knobby balls to five inches in diameter.
TIME OF YEAR: Fruit, smelling faintly of orange, in late summer, fall.
ENVIRONMENT: Bottom lands that are often inundated with water, mixed with other hardwoods, and interspersed with prairie, and grow where moderately dry as well.
METHOD OF PREPARATION: Seeds raw or roasted
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
These trees were used largely on farms to produce hedgerows, thus hedge apple, and for fence posts. The wood is very dense and resists rot well. I have a friend who does wood working and is always trying to save me the hassle of picking up the fruits. I spoke to a nieghbor, one of his trees came down in a storm and I was getting the main trunk and large branches for my friend, and he told me his father used to have a wagon tongued with Osage Orange. I found out through some farmers at an auction that this in fact true. Some locals used to buy the largest trees to harvest to turn ox yokes and wagon tongues. I also heard of a few people using the dye though I think that practice is far gone.
This is actually the first time I have ever heard of the Osage Orange being edible. I will have to give it a go next year as our season is gone and the only ones I find are mushy and overly pungent.
Wow- on target about finding info on eating osage orange– spent over 2 hours and hundreds of searches before finding yours… including both the other 2 sites you referenced! I just knew there had to be an edible part of the fruit, and was disappointed that just the seeds can be eaten but that is better than nothing. I am very suprised it has not been referenced anywhere for use as a flavoring in any foods such as jams or jellys.
Where I used to live in Western Pennsylvania, the Amish sell the fruit as a spider repellent. We used to keep the fruit in paper bags in every room of the house and discard as soon as the fruit started leaking into the paper. Supposedly the fruit ripening gave off a gas that repels the little buggers. Saw very few spiders in the house.
I saw hedge apples for first some 30 years ago at the local botanic garden, and i really liked the trees with the big yellowish balls. Later it appeared that it is not only nice but one of the best wood for bow making. wow! The hunt for the seeds started and ended up with a stolen ball. ( i confess) For some some reason the messy frosty watery workup did not bring any seedlings at all. Eventually i found a place where i could get 30 cm “almost trees” from a nursery. Nice thorny stuff 25 of that. The osage conquered Hungary, Szeged. I’ll be back with its taste after the first harvest.
Did you buy yours from cold stream farm? I was considering doing so, how did they look? Thanks.
No, I did not.
I’ve been searching for the answer to the question of Osage Orange growing in Florida… and you have answered it for me! Thanks! Now I have another question. I live in Pensacola and have been trying to find a Osage Orange tree for some time. Do you know of any up here or what sort of areas should I be looking in for me to find one? Thank you for your help and great website.
-Jon
A few hundred miles north of you they are epidemic.
I love my Hedge Apple trees here in AR!! (Growing up in OK, we called them Horse Apples.) Yes, they are all over the place here. I try to protect the ones that I have. Besides me loving them and the fruit…I like a tree that’s strong! They provide snacks for the squirrels and deer that visit here plus some entertainment for my kids!
And I have tried frozen shavings of the hedge apple with no ill effects. It was were VERY mildly sweet in an earthy sort of way. That was daily for several weeks last fall and I’m still here!
These trees are also know as bois d’arc (pronounced like: boaw dark). this is French and the French explorers gave it this name; meaning bow wood. They had noticed that the Indians made their bows from it.
I now live in Kansas and everyone here calls it Osage orange but where I grew up in Oklahoma everyone called it bois d’arc — only they pronounced it bodark.
Question concerning the edibility of this plant. You indicate that the seed are the only edible portion of the fruit.
Is the rest of the fruit poisonous or simply bad tasting making it unpalatable for any type of consumption?
In your article you mentioned the amount of mis-information on the Internet and I do not trust what I have read so far. The reason I ask is that I was contemplating a jelly experiment, but not sure if it would be a poisonous experiment or not.
The rest of the fruit isn’t toxic per se. It just has a difficult texture. The comment about freezing it.
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