Hackberry grinder

Hi All,

We're lucky enough to live near hackberry trees.  The berries are delicious, and I'd like to try grinding them alongside their edible seeds to make a paste, but the seeds are hard as rock. Grinding with a stone mortar and pestle did something funny that required a chiropractor to sort out.  Is there such a thing as an inexpensive grinder that can take on hackberry seeds without earning me another chiropractic bill?

Thanks!

the first crack is the hardest! something like a davebilt nut cracker on its finest setting might do it. alternatively one of the simpler hand-cranked grain mills on a wide setting might do it. some are less good when there’s any wetness, but some should work. or something like a sausage-grinder.

A ninja/ nurtabullet type food processor might work.
What do the berries taste like?

I would think that the steel burr style of grain mill, rather than one with stones (whether natural or synthetic) would be a surer bet, though I have no experience with hackberries.

I discovered this spring that we have a hackberry growing on the edge of our yard, but it hasn't produced any berries, as far as I can see.  We are quite far north (above 45 degrees by a good bit), and I suspect we are a somewhat marginal here for hackberries.  It was very late leafing out (the tree surgeon asked in the middle of May if it was dead, because it had no leaves, but by the end of May it was beginning to show leaves).  This tree is very tall and slender, because it's in an overgrown row of trees along the lot line.  Most of the trees are in the vacant lot next door, so I don't mess with them unless they are dangling over our garden or laying on my truck (it's happened).  This tree has one lower branch that's now drooped down out of the canopy and over our clothes line.  Once it leafed out fully, I had thought it might be a walnut-like tree - perhaps one of the less common butternuts - because of the compound-looking leaves, but my sister's phone app promptly identified the leaves as a hackberry, and when I checked the tree book, it was a match.  My old timer retired farmer and engineer neighbor wasn't able to identify it, either, so I didn't feel so bad.  He does have a few black walnuts on his farm, but they are uncommon here.

Maybe berries next year.  Unless hackberries aren't self fertile, and require a nearby "friend".  I am unacquainted with their habits.

On edit: maybe a "pounder" - a heavy length of wood, with another pestle-like chunk of wood?  Something with closed grain, dense and hard (ironwood? maple?), I'd think.  Anyone know what was used by plains Indians for chokecherry pounders when making pemmican?  Maybe osage orange?

William Bronson wrote: A ninja/ nurtabullet type food processor might work.
What do the berries taste like?

The berry flesh alone tastes sugary and a little like dates.  Hackberry milk (made from cooking the tiny amount of pestle-crushed berries & seeds) tasted like butternut squash sweetened with dates.

Kevin Olson wrote:
Maybe berries next year.  Unless hackberries aren't self fertile, and require a nearby "friend".  I am unacquainted with their habits.

On edit: maybe a "pounder" - a heavy length of wood, with another pestle-like chunk of wood?  Something with closed grain, dense and hard (ironwood? maple?), I'd think.  Anyone know what was used by plains Indians for chokecherry pounders when making pemmican?  Maybe osage orange?

It looks like they're self-fertile, but need a good breeze for wind pollination and don't produce fruit early in life.  

Excellent question about pemmican!  Going to start asking around.