Seeds, seeds, the magical fruit...

[JT in Japan]

My first-ever seed-collecting excursion was a success. I found a small coterie of Butia (someone please correct me if I'm wrong; sometimes I'm very wrong) near the oceanside community of Go-ishi no Hama ("The Beach of Go Stones"). They were small of stature but stout around the base (my shoe for scale).

With the help of a Japanese saw and some western clippers, I cut down a bunch and then some. To my eye, these were the ripest of the lot (rest were all still very green and hard).

[JT in Japan]

With said clippers, I started removing the seeds from stem. I think there are over a thousand in total (got up to 156 then gave up counting). I split one seed open to see the integrity of the,... I forget the word, um, seed?

At this point, I've run out of actual knowledge related to how-to-proceed. I ask my cat; he tells me he's hungry.

So I experiment: one group I just start drying, as is, in the baking-hot Shimoda sun. The second group I spend 3 hours with, scoring the fruit several times each with a paring knife. My logic is this: if the fruit is scored, that'll help it dry out quicker, and when it dries out, the fruit sections will likely have shrunk or curled abit, allowing for easier peeling. So I score the second batch then put them out in the sun as well. The third group I submerge in water, with the logic that the water will swell them up into a fruity, pulpy mass that will allow for easy peeling (ha!).

[JT in Japan]

Now this next part is where I may or may not have gone really wrong. The weekend came to an end and we had to get back to the city. So I bundled up all the seeds, took them home with me, put the drying ones on the picnic table out back and the soaking ones back into water, and left everything for 5 days (changing the water twice though after work).

The weekend came again. I went shopping for implements to mechanize the tasks still ahead. I bought a grinder wheel that I'd seen used in some Palmtalk snaps, a badass wire brush, and a new bucket. Along with some home-grown implements, these are what I proceeded to "try" to peel my seeds with. First, the grinder wheel. It spun really nicely, and with the drill extension, I was able to get right into my new blue bucket. Unfortunately, the fruit of Butia seeds, I've just learned, are wrapped tight like the leather around a fastball. And a week of soaking didn't do much but change their colour. This method must work well with seeds the consistency of over-ripe peaches, but not Butia fresh off the tree.

Then the wire brush. I thought I was being smart getting the strongest bristle available. These seeds are the "just drying" and you can see, after a week, are starting to mold. Unfortunately, the bristle groupings are wide enough apart that the seeds just slip between them and get stuck. No go here as well.

Then I turn to my tickle trunk and pull out a plastering trowel, thinking I can crush the fruit, thus loosening the fibrous skin and remove easily. Not a chance! Dismal failure #3.

Finally I use a seed-skinner's equivalent to the carpenter's famous fix-all: get a bigger hammer; I got a cinder block. Here's where some rubber finally met some road. Although this pic shows me trying to crush the dried seeds in a nursery tray (didn't work worth shite), when I took the soaking seeds and the cinder block down to the road and put seeds between concrete and concrete, then finally, I was able to scrape them around enough to loosen the skin.

[JT in Japan]

Now we come to Sunday morning. It looks like I still have to peel them one by one (what else could I possibly fill my day with?!), but at least I'm on my way. Here are the results of about 10 hours of manual labour. There are about 200 seeds here. 800 or 1,000 to go.

Now if it's not painfully obvious, I actually don't know what I'm doing. What may not be obvious though, is that I'm loving it. Griping, especially to the wife, but loving the experience. How better to learn!

(that being said, If anyone has any tips, tricks or techniques that will save me today, I'd love to hear from you.)

Cheers,

JT

[KennyRE317]

With fresh seeds that still have fruit I have found that by soaking the seeds in water for 2 days help in cleaning all the fruit off. After soaking all you have to do is rub all the seeds together by hand or you can use that wire brush contraption and the fruit should come right off. I think by drying it actually makes it harder to clean since the shrinking of the fruit kind of bonds to the seed

[JT in Japan]

Hi Kenny. Thanks for your reply.

I wasn't very clear in the final "successful" method, but here it is:

1. seeds fresh off the tree

2. soak for 7 days (changing water several times, though not enough to avoid the smell of rotting fruit)

3. crush between cinder block and road

4. manually peel off fibrous fruit (still takes about a minute per seed, and my finger tips are raw from the torture; haven't lost a nail yet though, yay!)

5. done.

Like I said, with this particular seed, wow, the fruit is on there like the skin of a fastball.

[sarasota alex]

Definitely Butia, but what kind? Red fruit that is slightly ovoid. Swollen trunk base. Seed looks like a regular B. odorata though. Maybe some rare form?

[KennyRE317]

What are you going to do with all those seeds?

[JT in Japan]

Definitely Butia, but what kind? Red fruit that is slightly ovoid. Swollen trunk base. Seed looks like a regular B. odorata though. Maybe some rare form?

My assumption is garden-variety odorata, Alex.

[JT in Japan]

What are you going to do with all those seeds?

The wife is asking the same question, Kenny. Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of my Japan nursery. I figure I've got a year before they're all sprouted and gaining size before I have to make a decision.

JT

[JT in Japan]

I was able to refine my process somewhat by the end of the day. Here's the setup that worked fastest for me (though I'm still not done). I use two cinder blocks as a mortar and pestle. Place 2 to 3 (no more) seeds in between them and crush, grind, nash, and flex for about 5 seconds. I'm left with the fruit somewhat scraped off, and rarely, very luckily, the seed will just pop right out. I brush the whole lot, seed and fiber alike, into a tray for drying, then tomorrow or next week, I'll come back to it and somehow remove the last of the skin.

Whew.