Ginkgo Nuts in South Korea 2024-2025
When fruit from the outside smells like puke or poo, it's hard to believe the inside can be better, but you'll never know without trying
Best time: October–December
Entire neighbourhoods may sink in unpleasant smell during ginkgo biloba harvest season. In October ripe fruit fall down, and when crushed, produce disgusting flavour that resembles puke, or poo, or some rubbish.
Luckily, that's only the outer layer, and the best part is inside. Be patient while peeling the fruit, at first you'll get to the hard shell, and then to the best part hidden under the husk – the soft to firm flesh. Even though the taste is still quite bitter, roasting helps to neutralise that bitterness, at least partially.
You might find roasted ginkgo nuts sold in the streets as a snack during autumn and winter months, mainly October through December. If you don't like the taste even after cooking, anyway it's worth trying once in a lifetime. At last, Koreans cherish it not for its taste, but rather for its health benefits.
People interested
