Acorns?

flufff

acorns are the bain of my life every year they crucify my back lawn as weve a tree that hangs over our back garden.......
by summer it cuts out light by winter it kills everything dropping its leaves twigs and acorns

Chipps

The only creatures I have heard of that eat acorns are pigs.....

so...

I guess you could get a pig & use the acorns to make some very nice bacon...........

LOL

Jolaaled

I've collected a bagful of acorns, having chatted to a fellow-forager who was telling me how nutritious they are (protein, i think).

But he also said that the tannin needs to be removed first, or the acorns will taste really bitter.
Has anyone any experience on the best way to remove the tannin?..and any recipes??

thanks all

Penelope_Penguin

Jolaaled wrote: »

But he also said that the tannin needs to be removed first, or the acorns will taste really bitter.
Has anyone any experience on the best way to remove the tannin?..and any recipes??

I've never tried this, but there are plenty of sites on google - this one for instance

Let us know how you get on.

elf06

Oh I'm gutted now - Ds and I collected loads a few weeks ago and when I g00gled it the first site said that they shouldnt be eaten and could be poisinous so we chucked them all away. Maybe I shouldnt believe everything I read!!


ETA please ignore all of that it wasnt acorns we collected

Primrose

I believe during the last war lots of people of rural areas of Poland and other German occupied countries made flour from acorns because food was in such short supply. I don't know exactly how the acorn flour was made, but once spoke to an old Polish lady who told me that the acorns had to be roasted first, then ground and the mixture soaked in cold water to remove the tannin. It sounded a very laborious process and unless done for the experience of knowing how to do it, I doubt whether most people would want the hassle of making this a regular feature on their menus.

Chloris

I read about preparing acorns on the bushcraftuk website. They have a Lovely Grub subforum with lots of info for foragers! HTH

Farway

I would be very careful about the preparation of acorns

As young lad I ate some right off the tree and was sick as a dog, one lesson quickly learnt

ceridwen

Farway wrote: »

I would be very careful about the preparation of acorns

As young lad I ate some right off the tree and was sick as a dog, one lesson quickly learnt

The main one being I guess that one is supposed to work your way up very cautiously through trying a new foraged food in stages.

From memory:
1. Just a lick of it or rub against inside of lip. Wait an hour to see if theres any reaction.

2. Try a very small amount - eg a dessertspoon. Wait again to see if theres any reaction.

3. Have a small portion.

Personally - I ignore that rule - because I've never yet reacted adversely to any food ever (cross fingers - long may that continue) and I very rarely have an adverse reaction to anything else either. But - I've had that rule repeated to me numerous times and numerous places - and I think it makes sense (judging by just how high a proportion of people DO have adverse reactions to some foods and/or other things).

emiff6

Didn't Ray Mears prepare acorns in his Wild Food in Britain series? Can't remember which episode though, but you can watch them all on the net.