# I'm making Buckeyes... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 26, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701 "2008-12-26T03:30:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/41 "2008-12-28T15:06:57Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I am not Endora, dear. If I write “what’s-his-name,” it’s because I can’t recall the name of the person I’m referring. It’s all that middle-age decreptitude. 🙂 Oh, dear. I didn’t think you meant Dirkwood, I mean Dagwood, I mean Dum—. I just got an image in my mind of Wilfred Brimley and his glucometer commercials when I read your post… I think I’ll make Eyes of the Buck today. It’s either that or clean up after Christmas. We can’t have that… **dale42** –I have you beat. I’ve been enjoying Eyes of the Buck (but not the Doe) since at least 1975, if not earlier. And I’m not even a native Ohioan! ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/42 "2008-12-29T03:42:55Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > It’s a candy made to look like . . . are you ready for this? A buckeye. > > A buckeye is the nut from the buckeye tree. They are a dark chocolat color with lighter ends. They are also supposed to be poison. Not entirely true. With enough multiple boilings and leaching of the poisons. It can stand in as a comparable starch to poi or cassava. [http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/264644](http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/264644) > [@](#): > > The nuts contain high concentrations of a saponin-class toxin called aesculin, which is toxic to many animals including humans because it causes hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells). The saponin can be eliminated by leaching the pulverized nuts in multiple changes of boiling water, to yield a wholesome starchy porridge once important to some Native American peoples. Some animals, notably deer and squirrels, are resistant to the toxins and can eat the nuts directly. An interesting side-note is that aesculin is a natural pH indicator which, when extracted turns from colorless to fluorescent blue under UV light in an acidic pH range. Do NOT TRY AT HOME! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/43 "2008-12-29T09:49:32Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Wilfred Brimley? [Wilford Brimley](http://www.mkesports.com/wilford_brimley-diabeetus.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/44 "2008-12-29T16:58:30Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Wilford Brimley](http://www.mkesports.com/wilford_brimley-diabeetus.jpg) Good God–he looks demonic! But he makes me crave oatmeal for some reason… ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/45 "2008-12-29T19:02:18Z")
My dad is from Missouri, not Ohio, but always had buckeyes. He carried them in a back pocket, supposedly to prevent backache. Maybe there was some type of joke there, about not sitting on them or something. He’s 90, in a nursing home now, but those buckeyes (don’t know if they were always the same ones or if he replaced them from time to time) are still on the bureau. Was this just some weird backwoods hillbilly thing, or has anyone else ever heard of that? Sorry - the PC term would be ‘inbred Americans’. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/46 "2008-12-29T19:09:34Z")
> [@MsJinx](#): > > My dad is from Missouri, not Ohio, but always had buckeyes. He carried them in a back pocket, supposedly to prevent backache. Maybe there was some type of joke there, about not sitting on them or something. He’s 90, in a nursing home now, but those buckeyes (don’t know if they were always the same ones or if he replaced them from time to time) are still on the bureau. > > Was this just some weird backwoods hillbilly thing, or has anyone else ever heard of that? Sorry - the PC term would be ‘inbred Americans’. depending on the pocket placement, could be a low-tech anti-slouch device - if you’re sitting on some buckeyes, sit up straighter maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701/47 "2008-12-29T21:24:01Z")
We make buckeyes every year. They’re so much easier now that we have stand mixer to make the peanut butter mixture. Goes so much faster and we no longer break spoons trying to get all the sugar in. Looks like we use the same recipe as **PunditLisa** Our taijitsu teacher was incredibly excited when he got a plate full of candy, including buckeyes - he was raised in Ohio and apparently hasn’t had any since he left. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-making-buckeyes/478701.md?page=2)