Acorns - edible?
Oct 10th 2017, 9:39 pm
#1
Heading for Poppyland
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,568
Acorns - edible?
We have a pretty heavy acorn crop this year. Chipmunks are doing their best, but there'll be plenty for everyone. I had a quick look on the web, there are recipes for acorn "coffee," roasted and salted acorns (nuts), and grinding for acorn flour. (Among many other uses.)
Anyone ever tried eating them?
Anyone ever tried eating them?
Oct 11th 2017, 12:28 am
#2
Deep in the woods of CT
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 7,005
Re: Acorns - edible?
We have a pretty heavy acorn crop this year. Chipmunks are doing their best, but there'll be plenty for everyone. I had a quick look on the web, there are recipes for acorn "coffee," roasted and salted acorns (nuts), and grinding for acorn flour. (Among many other uses.)
Anyone ever tried eating them?
Anyone ever tried eating them?
Oct 11th 2017, 1:20 am
#3
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,463
Re: Acorns - edible?
If they were good to eat I think I would have known about it. Pecans taste great, and make for a wonderful pie, one of my all-time favourites, but acorns, no, I don't think so.
Oct 11th 2017, 11:45 am
#4
Under blue skies
Joined: Mar 2011
Location: East Anglia->New England
Posts: 3,624
Re: Acorns - edible?
We have a pretty heavy acorn crop this year. Chipmunks are doing their best, but there'll be plenty for everyone. I had a quick look on the web, there are recipes for acorn "coffee," roasted and salted acorns (nuts), and grinding for acorn flour. (Among many other uses.)
Anyone ever tried eating them?
Anyone ever tried eating them?
I looked into this years ago, & it seems that the bitter tannins in most species of acorn make them unpalatable, so they have to be leached (soaked/boiled) in many changes of water to be decently edible.
https://honest-food.net/how-to-eat-acorns/
Oct 11th 2017, 12:50 pm
#5
Heading for Poppyland
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,568
Re: Acorns - edible?
American Indians did. Wasn't acorn flour an ingredient of "pemmican"?
I looked into this years ago, & it seems that the bitter tannins in most species of acorn make them unpalatable, so they have to be leached (soaked/boiled) in many changes of water to be decently edible.
https://honest-food.net/how-to-eat-acorns/
I looked into this years ago, & it seems that the bitter tannins in most species of acorn make them unpalatable, so they have to be leached (soaked/boiled) in many changes of water to be decently edible.
https://honest-food.net/how-to-eat-acorns/
The flour sounds very good, for baking cakes, like an almond flour. But the lengthy pre soaking process to get out the tannins puts me off. (Too much trouble.) Processing them for oil sounds interesting too...
Oct 11th 2017, 7:43 pm
#6
I have a comma problem
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: Acorns - edible?
Oh ho, look at Mr Nutek over here ... 
A million times yes. Actually my favourite pie at Thanksgiving. Everyone else is going for the pumpkin pie (which is OK but sometimes a bit meh) and meanwhile I'm shoving half the pecan pie in my face like it's about to disappear.
A million times yes. Actually my favourite pie at Thanksgiving. Everyone else is going for the pumpkin pie (which is OK but sometimes a bit meh) and meanwhile I'm shoving half the pecan pie in my face like it's about to disappear.
Oct 11th 2017, 10:56 pm
#7
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Portlandia Metro
Posts: 7,427
Re: Acorns - edible?
Can't you just use an intermediary? Feed the squirrel acorns, then eat the squirrel.
Oct 13th 2017, 12:11 am
#9
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Portlandia Metro
Posts: 7,427
Re: Acorns - edible?
You could always make an acorn gun.
Last edited by mrken30; Oct 13th 2017 at 12:14 am.
Oct 13th 2017, 2:08 am
#13
Under blue skies
Joined: Mar 2011
Location: East Anglia->New England
Posts: 3,624
Re: Acorns - edible?
Pemmican was invented by North American Indians originally. This site has a recipe.
http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to...last-50-years/
http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to...last-50-years/
Packed with calories and nutrition and able to be stored for long periods, pemmican is often called the ultimate survival food.
Created by Native Americans and adopted by European explorers of the New World, pemmican is a concentrated blend of fat and protein from lean, dried meat. The word “pemmican” is derived from the Cree root word “pimi” for “fat” or “grease.” Traditionally, the meats used in pemmican included bison, moose, deer and elk. Beef can be used as well.
Created by Native Americans and adopted by European explorers of the New World, pemmican is a concentrated blend of fat and protein from lean, dried meat. The word “pemmican” is derived from the Cree root word “pimi” for “fat” or “grease.” Traditionally, the meats used in pemmican included bison, moose, deer and elk. Beef can be used as well.
Oct 13th 2017, 7:11 am
#15
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 0
Re: Acorns - edible?
Sometimes used in the war to make ersatz coffee.