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Are all acorns edible?

 
Posts: 49
Location: SW Ontario, Canada
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Hi I have included a pic of the leaves and acorns from a local Oak tree here. I was watching some videos on you tube of people processing acorns and such but the acorns they had were much bigger then the acorns I have found. I'm not even sure of what type of oak these acorns are from. Any help as to the species and if they are edible would be greatly appreciated!! thanks for your help!!
P.S. not sure if it matters but we are along the north shore of Lake Erie in Ontario
oak.jpg
[Thumbnail for oak.jpg]
here's a pic of the leaves and acorns
 
pollinator
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If you get the tannin out of them.

There are some tricks to doing that right. Sometimes hot water dissolves more tannin than cold water; sometimes using hot water just cooks the tannin into it. Check on the internet for how the local Native American tribe in your area processed acorns. If you can find that method, it is probably the tried and tested best way to turn your surplus of acorns into food.

P.S. And my guess on the species would be pin oak. (But what do I know?)
 
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From the cups and leaves I'm pretty sure it is Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), a member of the white oak group. Bur oaks acorns are generally considered to be one of the more edible of the acorns. I personally have not eaten them but hope to some day as I have planted hundreds of the on my land but they are not yet big enough to produce acorns.



 
pollinator
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Location: southern Illinois, USA
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I've been eating acorns in my daily diet twice a day for months and months now....part of my work in indigenizing myself and my diet to my new site in CA, where balanophagy (eating acorns) has been part of native lifeways for millenia. And, as said above, you probably have bur oak which is one of the mildest, probably comparable to the species I use (blue and valley oak) I usually clip the acorns into halves or quarters with pruning clippers....the peels are pliable on these. If they are hard, you crack them open. A lot of source say to grind then, or try to leach the whole pieces, but I take the shelled pieces and dry them, and then store these "chips" like any other grain. When I want to make a batch I grind these and leach. Leaching is easy when you get it set up. A piece of coarse cloth in a colander under a dripping water source....in the sink, or outside near a thirsty plant. After a few hours taste the gruel.....when it loses all it's bitterness or taste of tea, it's ready. Usually I mix half and half with flour or cornmeal and make it either boiled....like grits or polenta, or baked, like cornbread. Yum!
 
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Those are definitely bur oak. I've eaten them lots of times, they are one of the easiest acorns to leach (though tannin levels vary from tree to tree). You can shell them and boil them in one or two changes of water and taste to see if the bitterness is gone. They are pretty good by themselves as toasted nuts in my opinion.
 
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