Uses
The nuts are edible with an excellent flavor, and are a popular food among people and squirrels alike. They are unsuitable to commercial or orchard production: Shagbark hickories can grow to enormous sizes but are unreliable bearers. The nuts can be used as a good substitute for their more southerly relative, the pecan and have nearly the same application in baking.
Shagbark hickory wood is used for smoking meat and for making the bows of Native Americans of the northern area.
"Hickory" is derived from pawcohiccora, an Algonquian Indian word for the tree's oily nutmeat. The nuts were a food source for Native Americans.
The wood of the shagbark hickory has been used in a number of ways. The lumber is heavy, hard, tough and has been employed for implements and tools that require strength. These include: axles, axe handles, ploughs, and skis.
The bark of the shagbark hickory is also used to flavor a bitter maple syrup-style syrup.
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