Hey all-
In my recent strolls I have found some Quercus macrocarpa trees and acorns are plentiful right now,
Im definitely going to plant a few of these on my properties, they seem like a good staple food and the season is right after pecans (at least in Texas) which gives another good nut to forage into the fall
from
https://temperate.theferns.info/plant/Quercus+macrocarpaSeed - cooked. The light brown or grayish, ovoid-ellipsoid or oblong seed can be 15 - 50mm long and 10 - 40mm wide. The seed can be ground into a powder and used in making bread, dumplings etc and as a thickener in soups. The seed of this species is considered to be one of the most palatable of all the oaks. Many trees have sweet seeds with little tannin and the seed can be eaten raw or cooked.
In some species, especially many of those classified as 'white oaks', the seeds are low in tannins and have a more or less sweet and agreeable flavour. The seed of most species, however, have a very bitter flavour, due especially to the presence of tannins. In these species there are various processes that can remove or at least reduce the amount of these bitter substances (although other water-soluble substances, including some minerals, will also be removed).
Tannins are water-soluble and therefore the easiest way to remove or reduce tannin levels is by soaking in water. A few different methods are listed:-
A traditional method of preparing the seed was to bury it in boggy ground overwinter and allow the wet soil to gradually leach the tannins. The germinating seed was dug up in the spring when it would have lost most of its astringency and bitterness.
Another method was to wrap the seeds in a cloth bag and place them in a stream for several weeks.
Drying the seed and grinding it to a powder before soaking speeds up the process. The fastest method is to use hot water, by cooking the powder and changing the water several times until the cooking water is no longer bitter. Alternatively, you can use cold water (which is reported to produce the best quality flour). In this case, you soak the powdered seed in cold water for 12 - 24 hours then discard the water. Repeat this process for a number of times until the soak water is no longer bitter.
$10 for 4 acorns plus shipping, I'll float test them before I ship them to make sure they are viable also-
Here is a pic next to some "regular" acorns
Topic: Any Interest in Quercus macrocarpa Acorns? (Read 541 times)