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Thread: Eating Acorns...NPR, 11/02/2014

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Eating Acorns...NPR, 11/02/2014

    National Public Radio just did an interesting story on eating acorns. Have any of you ever done it? What was your experience?

    Here's a link to the NPR story:

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...content=202502


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    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
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    I tried an acorn once as a nut. It was gross. Never cared to spend the time to process one into something else after that.
    ”There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.” ~Johnny Rotten

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    Senior Member MrFixIt's Avatar
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    My grandmother once made some type of "hoecakes" from the meal she processed, was pretty tasty with sorghum syrup...at least I thought so as a kid...
    When all else fails, read the directions, and beware the Chihuahuacabra!

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    Senior Member Graf's Avatar
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    After flushing the tannins out 3 times, letting them dry,crushing them and making patties of them, alot of work but tasted okay. As a survival food if thats all you have then okay to go. I will warn not to over cook them they can get hard as rock. I want to try them added to bannock at some point.
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    Senior Member Winnie's Avatar
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    I recalled reading how during the Civil War Acorns were processed to make a Coffee substitute.

    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...t=acorn+coffee
    Recession; A period when you go without something your Grandparents never heard of.

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    There is an article on acorn coffee in a backwoodsman magazine I have.
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    So basically to make acorn coffee you take two handfuls for several servings and boil them she'll included. After boiling, peel them from the shell. The boiling reduces bitterness and difficulty peeling. Then, peel the outer skin and split. Let them dry for 2 days then grind them up. After that you roast in oven for 30 minutes on 350. They are ready now! (Place 3 tbsp Ina cup of boiling water like you would with instant coffee.)
    A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind...
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    Woodsman Adventure Wolf's Avatar
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    I have never done it, but I think I will try now.

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    I've never done it either but I went back to the magazine so I could post instructions if anyone wanted to try
    A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind...
    -Thomas Jefferson

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    Senior Member Graf's Avatar
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    Thought all might enjoy this info, looks like you will have to click on the last 2 recipes

    Acorn Hide Tanning 1 of 2.jpgAcorn Hide Tanning 2 of 2.jpgAcorn Recipes 2.docAcorn Recipes.doc
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  11. #11

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    I've eaten acorns before.
    Back about 30 years ago myself and two friends had were on an extended camping trip in the Las Padres Natl Forest, Piru Creek. We stayed on a section of higher ground, ironically at an old Native site that had mortar holes in the huge boulders (and several large oak trees). It was fall and during the stay a storm brought in high water on the river- which prevented us leaving on our scheduled pick-up date.
    For two further weeks we were marooned there (the high mtn slope behind us blocked an alternative exit route)

    We didn't have enough food to last us much longer so we gathered what supplies we did have and worked out a way of stretching it using acorns.
    We put acorns in pancake mix, snacked on roasted acorn nuts during the day, made fried acorn patties for dinner... acorns, acorns, acorns. Never ending gathering & leaching. I was the designated cook so I remember it well.
    Luckily we had cooking utensils, and left over cooking oil, butter, flour, salt & spices, plus some canned items... we also had plastic 5 gallon buckets.

    On the first day we all sat in the big, screened mess-hall tent (where I slept & cooked, and also where a mortar hole-in-rock was located) shucking hulls from acorns we gathered. We quartered them and tossed them in buckets, next brought the buckets to the edge of the river to sit under water for leaching- This turned into a comedy of errors, suffice to say we quickly decided boiling the acorns might be the better option. What I did was to take river water in the 4-quart pot and boil half full of acorns for 20 mins (acorns hulled and quartered), dump water, refill, boil again for 20 mins. This removed enough tannic acid for us to eat them with other foods but it wasn't perfect, some batches I boiled a third time for 5 of 10 mins or so (for the nuts we ate plain salted & roasted).

    It was an interesting experience. I don't think I ever ate acorns again after that but only because I never found the occasion, the memory of the taste still lingers a bit on my tongue, or in the pit of my stomach- I should have boiled all the batches 3 times.
    But it wasn't bad. We walked out of there two weeks later perfectly healthy and happy.

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    That survival show on The Weather Channel had on episode were the guys were trained to soak them in a Creek by Mr Creek.
    Similar to effort to consume "smilax" (green briar) tuber/roots. How about "pig nuts" from hickory tree. If you are very hungry and have time.
    Edit: As a young kid I first read about eating acorns in the book "My Side of the Mountain". So I tried it and decided I would always pack at least one extra days worth of food.
    Last edited by TXyakr; 11-12-2014 at 07:45 PM.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Let the squirrels eat the nuts, shoot the and eat the squirrels.

    Have tried the grind, soak and grind some more.......and yeah it's OK, and I am aware how and tried it....

    Lately have been avoiding nuts because of gout.

    When hunting, I watched a squirrel stash hickory nuts in a burrow....after a while I went all over and found a maybe 100 nuts....so I was gonna steal them.
    Squirrel up in the tree chattering at me........"Hey azzhat,.... thems are mine, go find your own"....so I left them.
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    Default Similar oak and other nuts and use for other protein.

    I am definitely not an expert on wild nuts but there is a big variation in oak (Quercus) and Carya (hickory, pecan) and others closely related in Juglandaceae genera such as Walnut (similar leaf, flower, nut appearance). So with a bit of careful experimentation if you are certain of no allergies you can determine that some are not as bitter as others. Also if you are very desperate the green nuts might be gathered and used to stun fish in a small netted off stream for easy hand fishing. Obviously illegal unless you are truly starving to death and have no other options. Not something anyone should ever do just for fun. In Peru some indigenous people my mother worked with used Barbasco for this purpose for hundreds of years.

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    Default See if Mikey likes it

    I have been guilty of trying something finding it bitter and writing it all off, Hickory nuts for example, until this Thread I assumed they were all very bitter (Tannic). Then I looked it up, WOW! multiple websites say some are not. I'll need to try them out again. Same with White Oak Acorns. Most difficult part is that so many seem to have weevils in them.

    http://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Hickory-Nuts

    http://www.food-skills-for-self-suff...kory-nuts.html

    Now my Dad always told me grubs taste just like bacon. Tried one, it was extremely bitter. Probably should have removed the black guts in it first. OH Well, so this is how we learn.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    How do you "gut a grub"?
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    Along with more tannins, red acorns have a lot more fat than white acorns. Squirrels will generally eat white acorns and store red ones. The white ones taste better but the red ones and their higher fat content is needed in winter when food supplies are limited. If they find a wormy red acorn they will eat the top containing the worm then store the rest. Their mommas didn't raise any fools.

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    no mikey don,t like acorns let the turkeys and squirrels have em.

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    Hey! Who you callin' a turkey? Oh...you meant.....never mind.

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