I was dumb enough to spend an hour collecting gingko fruit back in Fall 2010, as everyone knows the nuts are really good for grilling with Korean BBQ. Although they're literally everywhere in Seoul, the thousands of them that line the city streets are the property of the city and cannot be harvested. I found a nicely forested apartment complex that had just drop the fruit, and was able to get several dozen into a cup to take home.
Problem. The fruit is a supercharged blast of butric acid (er...stomach acid flavor), and the less than pleasant odor emanated out of my backpack quite easily. Got the fruit off and washed the nuts at least 7-8 times. STILL SMELLED HORRIBLY PUKEY.
De-shelled them and was finally able to enjoy the harvest with some steak when some friends came over. Really cool how the oil comes out while grilled, revealing a buttery, chewy green nut that tastes great, but the whole ordeal was
NOT WORTH IT.
