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Hikers, hunters could find that stinky socks smell means delicious wild raisins, says St. Lawrence County Cooperative Extension forester

Posted 11/28/13

By PAUL HETZLER Hunters, hikers and others who traipse through the autumn woods have at one time or other probably all been accosted on a damp fall morning by a pungent odor akin to a rank locker …

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Hikers, hunters could find that stinky socks smell means delicious wild raisins, says St. Lawrence County Cooperative Extension forester

Posted

By PAUL HETZLER

Hunters, hikers and others who traipse through the autumn woods have at one time or other probably all been accosted on a damp fall morning by a pungent odor akin to a rank locker room or an overripe laundry basket. Oftentimes this happens in or near a wetland, and the smell is strongest when the sun first hits.

The culprit is one or more of the many native shrubs in the genus Viburnum such as wild raisin, arrow wood and nannyberry. These humble plants are found throughout in the North Country in fencerows, old pastures, forest edges, and especially in wetlands. They provide essential cover and nesting habitat for songbirds, and in late summer they bear sweet berries that are relished by birds and outdoor enthusiasts alike.

When viburnum leaves break down they give off butyric acid, a noxious chemical that in its pure, lab-made form is listed by the EPA as a toxic substance. Its smell has been likened to rancid milk, stinky feet and extreme body odor. Aside from a few industrial uses, butyric acid is added to some carp-fishing bait and has occasionally been found in homemade stink bombs deployed by pranksters and activists. Incidentally, it’s also an ingredient in rooting compounds used in the nursery trade to propagate woody plants like viburnums.

Some viburnums, most notably highbush cranberry, even have butyric acid in their fruit. The fruit of highbush cranberry, which is not a true cranberry, is an acquired taste, to put it mildly. Viburnums have no thorns, are not invasive and don’t cause rashes. Why these otherwise amiable shrubs add this chemical agent to their leaves is a mystery.

While I excel at making wild guesses, which are most always off the mark, I will refrain in this case. But wait—maybe butyric acid repels herbivores, or inhibits competing vegetation. What we need is for some college student to spend a season comparing browse damage and seed germination between viburnums whose fallen leaves have been raked clean, and an undisturbed control group. Or we just need someone with a better track record at guessing.

Of all viburnums, I think the leaves of wild raisin (V. cassinoides) are the most pungent. It’s easy to forgive its funk because it has the best fruit. From late August through the fall and even into December, you can find sweet, dark purple ‘raisins’ in wetlands and on the edges of ponds. Relative to the size of the fruit, the seed is rather large, but flavor and sweetness make up for it. Sometimes the stinky-sock smell is what alerts me to the presence of wild raisin, and I’ve sniffed out some good wild food that way.

I think everyone who spends much time outdoors should learn about wild raisins, which are a welcome snack on a cold fall day. Hunters and hikers have an additional incentive, as wild raisin’s butyric acid-laced leaves make the perfect cover story for one’s stinky socks back at deer camp or in a cramped tent.

Paul Hetzler is a forester and a horticulture and natural resources educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County.