These will be slightly bland but good for making acorn flour. The other method is to grind them into a course meal and soak several days or weeks (depending on the species) in many changes of cold water until the water runs clear. The least common way is to bury them whole in a river bank for a year, which turns them black and sweet, good for roasting. There are three general ways to leach acorns. Soaking in cold water, minimal energy and the starch is not cooked During World War II Japanese school children collected over one million tons of acorns to help feed the nation as rice and flour supplies dwindled. A pound of shelled acorns provide 1,265 calories, a 100 grams (3.5 ounces) has 500 calories and 30 grams of oil.

For example, the nutritional breakdown of acorns from the Q. The more rain the more acorns.Īcorns are quite nutritious. How many acorns a tree produces is directly related to the amount of rain in the spring time of the year it is supposed to mast. “Wet” food was food fit for humans and pigs. That takes a bit of explaining: Ancient Greeks divided food into two large categories. Mast came from the Middle English word “mete” meaning meat, which at that time meant any food, and we still use it abstractly in that way, as in “Education became his meat and experience his drink.” Mete came from the Italian word madere which came from the Greek word, madaros, meaning to be wet.

It is tempting to say it is probably related to the word to “masticate” meaning to chew but it isn’t. The seed crop from an oak, the acorns, is called a “mast” which means “food” and putting on a crop of acorns is masting. When the mistake was found out Hollies kept the oak-genus name and the Oak genus was changed to Quercus.) (If you want to get confusingly technical “Ilex” - the genus name for Hollies - also means “oak.” Early botanists though the Hollies in North America were oaks so they called them Ilex, which was the name of an evergreen oak. Quercus (KWERK-kus ) was the Roman name for the tree and virginiana (ver-jin-ee-AY-nuh) means North America and usually where the species was first noticed, such as Virginia. Botanically the Live Oak is Quercus virginiana. In the white oak family, the Live Oak’s acorns are among the mildest one can collect. Just as 200 years ago, the trees were selected for their natural curves for the ship. It got 50 live oaks from Florida in 2002 of 160 that were cleared for a golf course near Tallahassee. Sold off long ago, the Navy began stockpiling Live Oak in 1992 for restoration of the USS Constitution. Navy once had its own Live Oak forest just for boat building. Its very long, graceful limbs were ready-made for boat keels and ribs. The Live Oak is the most prized, not only for food but particularly ship building. Some 30 species in the United States have been used for food and oil. The smaller the cap, the less tannic acidĪt least 450 species of oak populate world wide. Oaks have been a significant part of every culture around them. One variation of their word for oak was “dair, the fourth letter of the Celtic alphabet and part of the name of the city Kildare (which means “Church in the Oaks.”) Often associated with strength, the US military awards gold “oak leaf clusters” for exceptional bravery. The Celts preferred to knock on oak wood. Zeus is mangled through Dead Latin then into English.) Those faithful to ZEFF… ah… Zeus… gathered around oak trees. Greeks of old said “dryas.” Modern Greek say “dris.” It was the preferred tree of Zeus (whom the Greeks call ZEFF, rhymes with Jeff.

In German it was “eih” ending up “eiche.” The Dutch extended it to “eychen” or ” eychenboom.” (I went to school with a “Cossaboom” meaning cherry tree.) Oaks are also mentioned in ancient texts. The English word “oak” is some 1,260 years old. But, it does remind me of a general rule of thumb about acorns: The bigger the cap on the acorn, compared to the size of the nut, the more bitter the nut will be. I’d hate to meet the squirrel that can carry it away. Raleigh calls itself “The City of Oaks.” The “Big Acorn” is 10 feet tall and weights 1,250 pounds. Let’s start with that fact that the world’s biggest acorn is in Moore Square Park in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. I’ll try to say a few things that haven’t been said. As the bitterness twists your mouth into a pucker it reminds you that animals can eat a lot of things we can’t… unless we modify them.Ī lot has been said about acorns in foraging publications. The first time you eat an acorn it makes you wonder what the squirrels are going nuts about. World’s Largest Acorn Acorn: More than a survival food

Acorn flour yeast recipe