Saturday, April 2, 2011

eye of a buck

the lucky buckeye I keep in my handbag
Oh where, tell me where was your buckeye cabin made?
Twas built among the merry boys who wield the plough and spade,
Where the log cabins stand, in the bonnie buckeye shade.

Oh what, tell me what is to be your cabin’s fate?
We’ll wheel it to the capital and place it there elate,
for a token and a sign of the bonnie Buckeye state.

--William Henry Harrison's campaign song

Yesterday, when talking about the contents of my handbag, I was surprised some gentle readers did not know what a "buckeye" was. I took it for granted, living in Ohio, that everyone was familiar with the buckeye, the state tree of Ohio. My Hoosier great-grandfather, Glenn Hanna, first introduced me to the buckeye as a little girl, when he gave me one and told me to keep it tucked in my coat pocket for luck.

The common name “buckeye” was derived from the Native Americans who noticed that the glossy, chestnut-brown seeds with the lighter circular center looked like the eye of a buck deer. Native Americans roasted, peeled and mashed the buckeye nut, which they called “Hetuck,” into a nutritional meal. (Okay, my Cherokee  DNA might be begging for a sample, but I'm a bit reluctant.)

Early explorers carried the rare and curious buckeye to the east and reported the Aesculus glabra’s prized medicinal properties and talismanic attribute of wisdom. The extracts from the inner bark of the nut has been used in cerebro-spinal treatments. Some believe that the buckeye relieves rheumatism pain and provides good fortune when carried in pockets or worn as an amulet around the neck. The mysterious nut was used as a general cure-all for generations.

Buckeye, as used as the nickname of The Ohio State University sports teams, was adopted officially by the school as its nickname in 1950, and came to be applied to any graduate of the university. The buckeye nuts can also be dried and strung onto necklaces, particularly popular among Ohio State fans.

Candy Buckeyes

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
4 Tablespoons butter
melted chocolate for dipping

Combine powdered sugar with
peanut butter and butter.
Mix together well.

Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and insert a tooth pick for dunking into melted chocolate. Set chocolate coated balls on wax paper to set. By not having the candy completely covered in chocolate, makes end result looks like a buckeye nut.



Speaking of local candy, I won a box of heavenly maple sugar leaves made by Putnam's Sugarhouse in Charlestown, NH, on Suki's lovely blog, Paint, Poems and Ponderings. Thank you, Suki!













buckeye candy photo borrowed from Google images

55 comments:

  1. I wonder what the difference is between a Buckeye and a Horse Chestnut. Maybe none, except Buckeye sounds better.

    Delightful post.

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  2. My mother was born in Ohio, so I learned about buckeyes early on.

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  3. Kass, I just checked. The Eurasian species are known as horse chestnuts while the North American species are called buckeyes.

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  4. Thank you for this most informative and interesting post! I confess to actually knowing what a buckeye is, but I still learned a lot and I love your photos!

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  5. In England we call these conkers. I carry one in my handbag too. I also carry an acorn, which for any Dutch readers here, is not a squirrel, but the seed of an oak tree :-)
    Your recipe looks interesting.

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  6. yum, peanut butter and chocolate! and maple is my all time favorite flavor!!

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  7. Star, I've never heard of "conkers", so of course I had to look it up. I had no idea it's from the British children's game played with the dried nuts of the tree.

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  8. I confess, as a 'bloody foreigner' I had never heard of Buckeyes, or if I had heard, I most certainly did not know what they were supposed to be. Chestnuts is another story. We called them Maroni and bought them roasted hot inside cone shaped paper bags during winter when they would warm our bodies and souls.

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  9. It's a conker! I see Star has beaten me to this startling fact.

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  10. Here in California, the buckeyes are among the earliest to leaf out and flower -- I've always thought they were beautiful.

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  11. I remember having a collection of buckeyes when I was young, but haven't seen one in ages.
    Those maples leves look beautiful AND yummy!

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  12. Love the name buckeyes! I grew up with 'conkers', zi just love the way they feel in your hand, so smooth and shiny. I was told if you place them in the corners of a room they keep the spiders away! Yikes!

    My daughter-in-law is a fabulous baker and she makes those candies every Christmas...they are delicious.

    Thanks for the memories...I think this fall I will lok for one to keep one in my purse too.

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  13. Victoria, they are a joy to hold in hand, so smooth and dark. They just feel lucky.

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  14. I am quite fond of Buckeyes and knew about them having gone ot college in Ohio. I too had a lucky one at one point and now not sure where it is. Oh my I wish I had known about those candies when my friend Mort was alive. Ohio born he would have loved them.

    Once on a trip to Cape Cod he pointed out to me that we had a Buckeye tree too!!

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  15. William Henry Harrison, an ancestor of mine, on my Father's Mother's side. We all need a little luck, perhaps everyone needs a buckeye, or a little sweet?

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  16. From the photos here, your Buckeye is the same as our chestnut. There's a tree next to the street on the back of our block.

    I find myself marveling over their color and shiny shell. Not to mention the spiky outer protection!

    I had NO idea they were called Buckeyes--though I've heard of Buckeyes all my life.

    Thank you for sharing!

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  17. Beth the Ohio buckeye is a bit different from the horse-chestnut or American chestnut tree.

    Here's the link that explains if you're interested:

    http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h401chestnuts.html

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  18. Annell, you know I'm all about genealogy. So fascinating that William Henry Harrison is an ancestor of yours! Then you must have connections to Ohio?

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  19. Annell, after looking again at Harrison's image, I think perhaps you have his dark eyes?

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  20. Candy buckeyes are one of my favorites :-)

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  21. There goes the diet! Love the folklore. May you always have the luck of a Buckeye!

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  22. So, how lucky has your purse been?

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  23. My lucky buckeye is right here.

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  24. We've got a dozen lucky buckeyes I picked up the other year on Marblehead Peninsula (Lake Erie). We keep them in the little sweetgrass basket we bought from one of the ladies who make and sell them in Charleston, SC. The union of north and south, the blend of Native American and African, and the reminder of two lovely vacations pleases me very much :-)

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  25. If it helps arthritis at all send me a truckload.

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  26. oh dear heavens! would love to comment, but i'm all out of powdered sugar!!! so have to run - but LOVED the recipe! and buckeye story!

    thank you SO VERY MUCH for all your tech help, dear lady!!! thank you!!!

    ;)

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  27. Bill, I wouldn't consider myself a lucky person. Whatever I get, I usually have to work hard for; it doesn't just land in my lap. So, I need all the extra luck I can get. My purse? Let's just say the buckeye helps it break even.

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  28. Dr. L, your buckeyes in the sweetgrass basket sound lovely. Wonderful symbolism. Picture, please!

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  29. Gypsy, you're very welcome. Hope it helped. I'm SO not techie.

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  30. I too had no idea what a buckeye was/is, but I can probably be forgiven being many miles away from Ohio on the other side of the world.
    Your buckeye looks a bit like the horse-chestnut.

    Thanks for explaining.

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  31. I found some buckeyes last summer and have them for luck. It was something I looked for in the Georgia woods when I walked there with my father over 50 years ago.

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  32. I have an entire basket of buckeyes that my children gathered in the early 1970's when we lived in Lexington, Ohio. Those are such fond memories.. watching them gather them on our walk home from their school.
    I just hope the basket still has the buckeyes in them as it is in the basement and has been for years...now that I think about it..mice could have eaten our memories..Aughh

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  33. My grandfather always carried one in his pocket to ward off arthritis.

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  34. Being an ex-champion Conker player (aged 10), I was pleased to hear confirmed what I'd suspected; that a Buckeye and a Conker are the same thing.

    The Horse Chestnut tree always grew in a Blacksmith's yard. There are markings on the bark that look exactly like a horseshoe with nail holes.

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  35. Cro, I wonder if the horseshoe marks on the bark are why it's called a horse chestnut?

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  36. Having lived for a number of early years on a dairy farm west of Cincinnati
    (in Ohio--grin!) i knew buckeyes. But the BEST are those you showed, the peanut butter/chocolate covered 'food'.

    It's a holiday staple in southern Ohio. Believe it should have its own food group...

    Maybe tomorrow's cleaning...go from purses to ATTIC or basement? Since we have neither in FL, I can just sit back and comment with aloofness! But DON'T START ON GARAGES, PULEEZE!

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  37. One of the first words I learned after moving to Vienna was "conkers" - horse chestnuts (Austrians learn British English in school).

    I wonder how Buckeye flour tastes compared to what Tuscans use for their "castagnaccio", a rustic sweet sheet cake made from flour of the Spanish chestnut (Castanea sativa), the same the delicious candied chestnuts, Marron Glacés, are made of. The wild boars around Norcia, Umbia (Italy) are famous for feeding on Sweet Chestnuts.

    I have never heard of anyone cooking with horse chestnuts.

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  38. Better eye of buck than "eye of newt, and toe of frog."

    At least I think so. The second witch, maybe not.

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  39. Oh, there they are--the buckeyes I make! They're so good. We usually just make them at Christmas time any more. Probably just as well, since I'd eat a million.

    Love your shiny pocket buckeye!

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  40. Years ago a student gave me a buckeye and I kept it tucked in my coat pocket forever.

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  41. ahh willow~ the lovely buckeyes!
    funny some haven't heard of a buckeye. i find it endearing that you keep one in your purse. i make the candies at christmas, mine never look quite right but taste just as yummy. i also love those maple candies and haven't had one in years.

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  42. My... you're making me want to make these simple tasty buckeyes.
    Congrats on the candy win! Hope you are having a fun weekend! :)
    xx

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  43. As a Buckeye myself, I'd like to warn that buckeyes and horse chestnuts, lucky as they are, are not the same as edible chestnuts, and should not be eaten.

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  44. Thanks for the Buckeye history. It sounds sort of like Texas and their love of the five pointed star. Stars are everywhere you look there. I don't think we Alabamians have anything that compares.

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  45. This, for steviewren: information-grin!

    1. "Stars Fell on Alabama" is the title of a 1934 jazz standard composed by Frank Perkins with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.

    2. One of the earliest recordings was by the Guy Lombardo orchestra, on August 27, 1934, and issued by Decca Records as catalog number 104.

    3. It's been performed by over 100 famous Peeps

    4. In January 2002, "Stars Fell on Alabama" was added to Alabama's license plates

    5. There's a lot more info on Wikipedia....But the BIGGEST thing Alabama has going for it: It is the FIRST state on any list of states in alphabetical order. In Congress it is the FIRST in the roll call...EVERY time! (I love Alabama, played in the symphony in Birmingham around 1976-7-8

    PEACE! From Steve E (former steveroni)

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  46. Tess, Your roots travel back so far when I hear you talk of "greats." How fortunate you are to be part of such a long continuum of buckeyes. -- barbara

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  47. I have carried a buckeye (two, actually) in my pocketbook for over twenty years. My mom (who is from NC) told me about them.

    8-)

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  48. One learns something (especially from YOU) every day....although my Mum came from Eastern Ohio (Lansing)....I never was quite sute just what a "Buckeye" was....but..having seen your post - they're CONKERS! (Having lived in the UK for three years...who knows WHY I gained that knowledge...but I did!) Isn't Life curious? Ummmm..the Candied Conker (oops, Buckeye) receipe looks yummy!!!! I know Suki's Maple Candies are....I was the lucky recepient last year! Try dissolving part of one in hot, strong, coffee.......DEE-LICIOUS!

    Love,

    ♥ Robin ♥

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  49. Steviewren, it looks like Alabama does have something that compares! Thanks Steve!

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  50. Robin, I will try one of Suki's maples in a cup of strong coffee. Sounds divine!

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  51. I have my lucky buckeyes from Pere La Chaise in Paris. I also have a film for you to watch that I just posted about. I hadn't heard of it before, but was blown away by it. Jaw dropping good.

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  52. Being a Buckeye means I know quite a bit about the glossy nut, but it sure was fun to read your post. Finding buckeyes and shining them up was a fun autmn past time.

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  53. I gather buck eyes and keep them in an antique yellow bowl, just because I like the look and feel of them.
    Other than that, I hadn't a clue what to do with them, I guess I best pop one into my purse.

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  54. I love this post, as well as the treasure of a link you posted to your grandparents' story, which I had not read. Thank you!

    I do believe the Native Americans were onto something. Peanut butter is good, almond butter is great, Nutella is fabulous...how bad can Buckeye butter be?

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)