# Are maple seeds edible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maple-seeds-edible/247444>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 28, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maple-seeds-edible/247444 "2004-05-28T00:07:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![quelquechose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6f9a4e/32.png) [@quelquechose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quelquechose)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maple-seeds-edible/247444/1 "2004-05-28T00:07:38Z")

</div>

There are several large silver maples in my yard, and right now they are dropping thousands of seeds. I was wondering if the seeds are edible. If so, what do they taste like? Can they be roasted like pumpkin seeds?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maple-seeds-edible/247444/2 "2004-05-28T00:59:38Z")

</div>

According to [this site](http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/SeaScouts/plants.html), with all its highly annoying pop-ups, the 3 varieties of maple native to British Columbia have seeds which are edible raw or roasted.

However, this is the only reference I could find in several pages of hits on search terms, and I frankly would have to be very very hungry before I would risk it, even if chipmunks, squirrels, and other animals eat the seeds just fine.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maple-seeds-edible/247444/3 "2004-05-28T01:32:02Z")

</div>

This search: [edible “Acer saccharinum”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&as_qdr=all&q=edible+%22Acer+saccharinum%22&btnG=Search) turns up a number of hits that suggest that the cooked seeds are edible, and just as importantly, NO indication that the seeds might be toxic, except possibly to horses.  
Having a Silver maple out back, I figured the quickest way to find out how the seeds taste was to eat a few. I collected six seeds from dried pods. Ate three raw, and three after cooking 1 minute in the microwave. The raw seeds had a bit of a split-pea planty flavor, not so good. The cooked and crunchy seeds had a slightly sweet, nutty (surprise!) flavor. They were quite tasty.  
Without serious confirmation on the lack of toxicity of the seeds, that’s as far as I’m willing to go.  
**Mangetout** will likely be along with a reference to a book called “edible seeds of the middle latitudes” or some such. Barring that, a trip to the local universities horticultural library might be in order.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maple-seeds-edible/247444/4 "2004-05-28T08:18:11Z")

</div>

> [@Squink](#):
>
> Without serious confirmation on the lack of toxicity of the seeds, that’s as far as I’m willing to go.  
> **Mangetout** will likely be along with a reference to a book called “edible seeds of the middle latitudes” or some such. Barring that, a trip to the local universities horticultural library might be in order.

Heh. I don’t recall anything in my books, but I’ll check tonight. I have wondered about this before; my _gut feeling_ is that they will turn out to be edible, or _‘not inedible’_ (I mean, it’s not as if we’re talking about a randomly-picked member of _Leguminosae_ or anything here, which would make me exceptionally cautious) - other parts of maple plants are edible, but it may be that undesirable concentrations of something or other exist in the seeds as a defence mechanism.

I’ll post back tonight with any information I can glean.

Quick addendum: [this](http://mnmn.essortment.com/survivalfoods_rcnq.htm) site says they are edible raw or cooked, but you shouldn’t necessarily believe everything you see on the net.