Around 20 years ago, my father began planting nut trees. He knew that it would take more than a decade (sometimes two) before they would begin producing fruit. He planted a row of 4 and then added more over the years. Now there are about a dozen of them.
The two largest ones are gorgeous, dark green, broadleaved chestnut trees. Their fruit look like rambutan or lychee. I have yet to taste the fruit, but I look forward to picking them off the ground over then next month. I gathered the first three today.
I have yet to determine what kind of chestnut, but they are likely northern chestnuts.
The most prolific nuts currently are the heartnuts – a type of Japanese walnut – pictured at centre. They are really mild and easy to open once the husk has been removed and the nut has been dried/cured for a few months. I found a few cured unopened nuts on the ground and one of them was not rotten, so we enjoyed that today. An amuse-bouche.
I’m guessing based on my recollections of what my father told me and from Google Lens that this is black walnut. I haven’t tried one yet, but there are quite a few in the trees.
What hasn’t produced yet are the northern pecans, but the trees look young. On the contrary, the wild hazelnuts have produced a lot of fruit, but the squirrels have sequestered every single one.