Hedge apples (Osage Orange, Maclura pomifera). This is a tree with orange wood that was imported here to the South, to use as hedgerows around the cotton plantations. The hedgerows allowed hogs and cows to graze freely around the place with no worry that the animals would escape. The trees were strung with hand made "hog wire" fixed with hand made nails. The trees themselves have 1 inch thorns so they are great for keeping animals in. (I know about this because there is a row of them growing along my driveway from the 1840s. The original nails and pieces of the orginal wire) are still imbedded in the trees.
I never thought the hedge apples were good for anything. A local woman said her family used them to deter roaches. We mostly used them as decorations at the community Christmas parties. So I was surprised to run across this web site that has recipes for the Osage Orange hedge apples:
http://www.mullinslogcabin.net...
Here's what they look like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
