Editing Beech (section)

== Uses ==
[[File:Eugène Atget - Beech Tree - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Beech Tree'' photographed by [[Eugène Atget]], ''circa'' 1910–1915]]

===Wood===
Beech wood is an excellent [[firewood]], easily split and burning for many hours with bright but calm flames. Slats of beech wood are washed in caustic soda to leach out any flavour or aroma characteristics and are spread around the bottom of fermentation tanks for [[Budweiser]] beer. This provides a complex surface on which the yeast can settle, so that it does not pile up, preventing yeast [[autolysis (biology)|autolysis]] which would contribute off-flavours to the beer.{{Citation needed|date= March 2018}} Beech logs are burned to dry the [[malt]] used in German [[smoked beer]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.schlenkerla.de/rauchbier/prozess/prozess.html |title=Der Brauprozeß von Schlenkerla Rauchbier |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2011 |website=Schlenkerla - die historische Rauchbierbrauerei |publisher=Schlenkerla |language=de |access-date=11 December 2020}}</ref> Beech is also used to smoke [[Westphalian ham]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/guidetoham.cfm |title=GermanFoods.org - Guide to German Sausages and German Hams |access-date=2012-05-17 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123232931/http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/guidetoham.cfm |archive-date=2012-11-23 }}</ref> traditional [[andouille]] (an offal sausage) from Normandy,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cookthink.com/reference/823/What_is_andouille |title=What is andouille? &#124; Cookthink |access-date=2012-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512015109/http://www.cookthink.com/reference/823/What_is_andouille |archive-date=2012-05-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and some cheeses.

Some drums are made from beech, which has a tone between those of [[maple]] and [[birch]], the two most popular drum woods.

The textile [[Modal (textile)|modal]] is a kind of [[rayon]] often made wholly from reconstituted [[cellulose]] of pulped beech wood.<ref>holistic-interior-designs.com, ''[http://www.holistic-interior-designs.com/modal-fabric.html Modal Fabric] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009010337/http://www.holistic-interior-designs.com/modal-fabric.html |date=2011-10-09 }}'', retrieved 9 October 2011</ref><ref>uniformreuse.co.uk, ''[http://www.uniformreuse.co.uk/fabric_modal.html?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=460&width=800 Modal data sheet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024015844/http://www.uniformreuse.co.uk/fabric_modal.html?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=460&width=800 |date=2011-10-24 }}'', retrieved 9 October 2011</ref><ref>fabricstockexchange.com, ''[http://www.fabricstockexchange.com/blog/resources/fiber-dictionary/ Modal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925102655/http://fabricstockexchange.com/blog/resources/fiber-dictionary/ |date=2011-09-25 }}'' (dictionary entry), retrieved 9 October 2011</ref>

The European species ''Fagus sylvatica'' yields a tough, utility timber. It weighs about 720&nbsp;kg per cubic metre and is widely used for furniture construction, flooring, and engineering purposes, in plywood and household items, but rarely as a decorative wood. The timber can be used to build chalets, houses, and log cabins.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Skarvelis | first1=Michalis | last2=Mantanis | first2=George I. | title=Physical and mechanical properties of beech wood harvested in the Greek public forests | journal=Wood Research | publisher=Pulp and Paper Research Institute | volume=58 | issue=1 | date=2012-12-29 | issn=1336-4561 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237840835 | access-date=2024-12-24 | pages=123–130}}</ref>

Beech wood is used for the stocks of military rifles when traditionally preferred woods such as [[Juglans#Wood|walnut]] are scarce or unavailable or as a lower-cost alternative.<ref name="Walter-2006">{{cite book |first=J. |last=Walter |title=Rifles of the World |publisher=Krause Publications |edition=3rd |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-89689-241-5 |pages= |url=}}</ref>

===Food===
The edible fruit of the beech tree,<ref name="Lyle-2010" /> known as beechnuts or mast, is found in small burrs that drop from the tree in autumn. They are small, roughly triangular, and edible, with a bitter, astringent, or in some cases, mild and nut-like taste. According to the Roman statesman [[Pliny the Elder]] in his work [[Natural History (Pliny)|''Natural History'']], beechnut was eaten by the people of [[Chios]] when the town was besieged, writing of the fruit: "that of the beech is the sweetest of all; so much so, that, according to Cornelius Alexander, the people of the city of Chios, when besieged, supported themselves wholly on mast".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://interestingearth.com/how_did_beech_mast_save_the_people_of_chios.html|title=How did beech mast save the people of Chios? - Interesting Earth|website=interestingearth.com|access-date=2019-10-07}}</ref> They can also be roasted and pulverized into an adequate [[coffee substitute]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/277203364 |title=The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |author=[[United States Department of the Army]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60239-692-0 |location=New York |pages=29 |language=en-US |oclc=277203364}}</ref> The leaves can be steeped in liquor to give a light green/yellow liqueur.

===Books===
[[File:Venus with a Mirror (study).jpg|thumb|Painting on beech wood - 1511]]
In antiquity, the bark of the beech tree was used by [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European people]] for writing-related purposes, especially in a religious context.<ref>{{cite book |first= Saskia |last=Pronk-Tiethoff |title= The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0iWLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |date= 25 October 2013 |publisher= Rodopi |isbn= 978-94-012-0984-7 |pages= 81}}</ref> Beech wood tablets were a common [[writing material]] in Germanic societies before the development of paper. The Old English ''bōc''<ref>A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Second Edition (1916), [http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/html/oe_clarkhall/b0047.html Blōtan-Boldwela], [[John Richard Clark Hall]]</ref> has the primary sense of "beech" but also a secondary sense of "book", and it is from ''bōc'' that the modern word derives.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=book |title= Book |author= Douglas Harper |work= Online Etymological Dictionary |access-date= 2011-11-18}}</ref> In modern German, the word for "book" is ''Buch,'' with ''Buche'' meaning "beech tree". In modern Dutch, the word for "book" is ''boek,'' with ''beuk'' meaning "beech tree". In Swedish, these words are the same, ''bok'' meaning both "beech tree" and "book". There is a similar relationship in some Slavic languages. In Russian and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], the word for beech is [[:wikt:бук|бук]] (''buk''), while that for "letter" (as in a letter of the alphabet) is буква (''bukva''), while [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]] and [[Slovene language|Slovene]] use "[[:wikt:bukva|bukva]]" to refer to the tree.

===Other===
The pigment [[bistre]] was made from beech wood [[soot]]. Beech [[Plant litter|litter]] raking as a replacement for straw in [[animal husbandry]] was an old non-timber practice in forest management that once occurred in parts of [[Switzerland]] in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Three objectives of historical ecology: the case of litter collecting in Central European forests |author= Bürgi, M. |author2=Gimmi, U. |year= 2007 |doi= 10.1007/s10980-007-9128-0 |journal= Landscape Ecology |volume= 22 |issue= S1 |pages= 77–87|bibcode= 2007LaEco..22S..77B |hdl= 20.500.11850/58945 |s2cid= 21130814 |url= http://doc.rero.ch/record/316425/files/10980_2007_Article_9128.pdf |hdl-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title= Soil carbon pools in Swiss forests show legacy effects from historic forest litter raking |author= Gimmi, U. |author2= Poulter, B. |author3= Wolf, A. |author4= Portner, H. |author5= Weber, P. |author6= Bürgi, M. |year= 2013 |doi= 10.1007/s10980-012-9778-4 |journal= Landscape Ecology |volume= 28 |issue= 5 |pages= 385–846|bibcode= 2013LaEco..28..835G |hdl= 20.500.11850/66782 |s2cid= 16930894 |url= http://doc.rero.ch/record/315772/files/10980_2012_Article_9778.pdf |hdl-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title= Reconstructing European forest management from 1600 to 2010 |author= McGrath, M.J. |year= 2015 |doi= 10.5194/bg-12-4291-2015 |journal= Biogeosciences |volume= 12 |issue= 14 |pages= 4291–4316|display-authors=etal|bibcode= 2015BGeo...12.4291M |doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title= Consequence of litter removal on pedogenesis: A case study in Bachs and Irchel (Switzerland) |author= Scalenghe, R. |author2= Minoja, A.P. |author3= Zimmermann, S. |author4= Bertini, S. |year= 2016 |doi= 10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.02.024 |journal= Geoderma |volume= 271 |pages= 191–201|bibcode= 2016Geode.271..191S |url= https://zenodo.org/record/889561 }}</ref> Beech has been listed as one of the 38 plants whose flowers are used to prepare [[Bach flower remedies]].<ref name="Vohra-2004">{{cite book|author=D. S. Vohra|title=Bach Flower Remedies: A Comprehensive Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icG8onA0ys8C&pg=PR3|access-date=2 September 2013|date=1 June 2004|publisher=B. Jain Publishers|isbn=978-81-7021-271-3|page=3}}</ref>