Plant · P-060

Kentucky Coffeetree

Gymnocladus dioicus

Kentucky Coffeetree gets its name from the roasted seed, which brews as a caffeine-free coffee substitute, and its sweet caramel-flavoured pod pulp is edible raw or cooked - but raw seed and raw pod are poisonous, and the seed needs at least three hours' roasting at 150 C to destroy the hydrocyanic acid, which is why the food yield ranks secondary rather than primary. It does not fix nitrogen despite belonging to the pea family. It is dioecious: a male tree drops no pods and makes a safe, clean shade tree, while only a female yields the food, the coffee substitute, and the saponin-rich fruit used as soap.