Acorns Wild Edible Food
Ah acorns. We know deer and squirrels love them but what about you? Do you like the taste of acorns? Well I have eaten an acorn or two and I can tell you, they don't taste very good, at least not straight from the tree. But we can fix that!
Acorns as you might already know come from oak trees. There are many different species of oaks and it is beyond the scope of this article to go about teaching the dendrology lessons of learning all the different species of oaks. And good news is you don't need to know all the different species. It is enough to know how to break all the species of oaks down into two broad categories of oaks.
White Oak:As a group they have the best acorns for humans. The acorns from the white oak group of oaks have much less tannin than red oaks and it is this tannin that gives us trouble.
The leaves of the white oak group have a tendencyto have rounded lobed leaves and peelable bark.
Red Oak:Red oaks on the other hand have lobe tips that are spiky in nature and tight dense bark. Their acorns have high amounts of tannin and are less palatable to people. Removal of the tannin is essential if you are to consume significant amounts of these acorns.
And of course, since we want acorns from the white oak group. It of course follows that as a whole they will be not as readily available. But that just depends on where you are and what is growing around you. Red Oaks have other advantages though. For one they last much longer before going bad, in other words spoiling. This alone makes them a more favored acorn for many.
Collection
Acorns fall to the ground in the fall, September thru November as a rule of thumb. It is important when collecting acorns to not waste your time collecting bad ones. Not all acorns are created equal. It would be a shame to spend hours gathering acorns only to find most of them are already rotten.
Be sure to break open a few acorns when gathering them and you will soon be able to recognize which ones are healthy and full. It is best to move to a tree that has produced a healthy full crop instead of trying to weed out the bad acorns.
The bad acorns will be black, moldy and only half full sometimes. The meat of a healthy acorn has an orange or yellowish color consistently. After or during collection, discard any acorns that have any defects such as signs of mold, or a tiny hole because that indicates it contained a grub and now contains grub poop. The acorns should be firm between your fingers. Discard any that are soft. Don't worry you don't need a master's degree in forestry to figure this out. Break open a few and if they are bad you will immediately know it without any training at all.
Now onto the preparation for consumption part! How do I remove the tannin from acorns (either red or white)? The first step after collection is to put the acorns in water and discard the ones that float.
The next step is to dry your acorns using one of the following methods. This should be done even if you did not put the acorns in water to test for bad ones.
House drying
Drying allows the acorns to dry gradually inside your home at normal room temperatures. The acorns should not be stacked but spread out one layer thick on trays. This drying method takes between two to four weeks.
Sun Drying
Sun drying is placing the tray of acorns in direct sunlight for two to five consecutive days. More days of drying are needed if the temps are cold or if the days are not completely sunny. It is important to dry your acorns completely or they will very soon be covered in mold. Dry until the acorns turn brown.
Oven Drying
Oven drying is the fastest and surest way to dry your acorns. Place trays of acorns in a warm oven with a temperature of about 175F for about 20 minutes.
Do not make the mistake of trying to save questionable acorns. It isn't worth it.
IMPORTANT: If the acorns are not going to be used immediately inspect them again in a week and discard any acorns that have developed mold. Mold will spread quickly and trying to save an extra acorn can cause you to lose the entire batch.
Repeat the following week.
Now store the acorns in small airtight containers. Ziplock bags or jars work well. The dried acorns still in their original shell will remain edible for many months and can help you feed yourself into the winter months. The smaller the container the better! Why? Because if one acorn is bad it will spread throughout the container it is in. Multiple containers helps prevent the loss of the entire batch which is what would likely happen if you stored them all together for a couple of months.
Please note that storing acorns is not very reliable and the palatability of the acorns will continue to go down with storage. It is best to eat the acorns quickly; storage is only advisable because sometimes large quantities of acorns can be collected. So storage might extend the usefulness of the year's crop for a short period of time.
Freezing if available is a better way to store the acorns but freezers aren't likely to be around after the shtf. But just in case, you should shell out the meat of the acorn and freeze in ziplock bags. Acorn meat will last much longer this way.
Continue reading on how to prepare acorns for meals!
Learn how to turn acorns into cooking oil!
Acorns as you might already know come from oak trees. There are many different species of oaks and it is beyond the scope of this article to go about teaching the dendrology lessons of learning all the different species of oaks. And good news is you don't need to know all the different species. It is enough to know how to break all the species of oaks down into two broad categories of oaks.
White Oak:As a group they have the best acorns for humans. The acorns from the white oak group of oaks have much less tannin than red oaks and it is this tannin that gives us trouble.
The leaves of the white oak group have a tendencyto have rounded lobed leaves and peelable bark.
Red Oak:Red oaks on the other hand have lobe tips that are spiky in nature and tight dense bark. Their acorns have high amounts of tannin and are less palatable to people. Removal of the tannin is essential if you are to consume significant amounts of these acorns.
And of course, since we want acorns from the white oak group. It of course follows that as a whole they will be not as readily available. But that just depends on where you are and what is growing around you. Red Oaks have other advantages though. For one they last much longer before going bad, in other words spoiling. This alone makes them a more favored acorn for many.
Collection
Acorns fall to the ground in the fall, September thru November as a rule of thumb. It is important when collecting acorns to not waste your time collecting bad ones. Not all acorns are created equal. It would be a shame to spend hours gathering acorns only to find most of them are already rotten.
Be sure to break open a few acorns when gathering them and you will soon be able to recognize which ones are healthy and full. It is best to move to a tree that has produced a healthy full crop instead of trying to weed out the bad acorns.
The bad acorns will be black, moldy and only half full sometimes. The meat of a healthy acorn has an orange or yellowish color consistently. After or during collection, discard any acorns that have any defects such as signs of mold, or a tiny hole because that indicates it contained a grub and now contains grub poop. The acorns should be firm between your fingers. Discard any that are soft. Don't worry you don't need a master's degree in forestry to figure this out. Break open a few and if they are bad you will immediately know it without any training at all.
Now onto the preparation for consumption part! How do I remove the tannin from acorns (either red or white)? The first step after collection is to put the acorns in water and discard the ones that float.
The next step is to dry your acorns using one of the following methods. This should be done even if you did not put the acorns in water to test for bad ones.
House drying
Drying allows the acorns to dry gradually inside your home at normal room temperatures. The acorns should not be stacked but spread out one layer thick on trays. This drying method takes between two to four weeks.
Sun Drying
Sun drying is placing the tray of acorns in direct sunlight for two to five consecutive days. More days of drying are needed if the temps are cold or if the days are not completely sunny. It is important to dry your acorns completely or they will very soon be covered in mold. Dry until the acorns turn brown.
Oven Drying
Oven drying is the fastest and surest way to dry your acorns. Place trays of acorns in a warm oven with a temperature of about 175F for about 20 minutes.
Do not make the mistake of trying to save questionable acorns. It isn't worth it.
IMPORTANT: If the acorns are not going to be used immediately inspect them again in a week and discard any acorns that have developed mold. Mold will spread quickly and trying to save an extra acorn can cause you to lose the entire batch.
Repeat the following week.
Now store the acorns in small airtight containers. Ziplock bags or jars work well. The dried acorns still in their original shell will remain edible for many months and can help you feed yourself into the winter months. The smaller the container the better! Why? Because if one acorn is bad it will spread throughout the container it is in. Multiple containers helps prevent the loss of the entire batch which is what would likely happen if you stored them all together for a couple of months.
Please note that storing acorns is not very reliable and the palatability of the acorns will continue to go down with storage. It is best to eat the acorns quickly; storage is only advisable because sometimes large quantities of acorns can be collected. So storage might extend the usefulness of the year's crop for a short period of time.
Freezing if available is a better way to store the acorns but freezers aren't likely to be around after the shtf. But just in case, you should shell out the meat of the acorn and freeze in ziplock bags. Acorn meat will last much longer this way.
Continue reading on how to prepare acorns for meals!
Learn how to turn acorns into cooking oil!
