Free Food
 

It amazes me the gifts that nature gives us. For the past month or so the oak tree in my yard has been the host of an entire neighborhood of squirrels. Every day I see them gorging themselves on acorns- this year has been a bumper crop. A couple days ago I ate one for the first time. Not too shabby I thought. I was supprised to find that acorns were a Native American staple- to this day also in places like Korea. The Indians would store them for up to two years- works great mixed with corn meal, and healthy.

Anyone do any cooking with acorns on here? Think I might go pick some tomorrow and start leaching the tannins out of them.

Re: Free Food
 

do not forget the gravy with your squirrel an fried potatoes

Re: Free Food
 

Hehehe. I thought you meant that you had eaten a squirrel. Not that uncommon either. We're probably not quite there yet, though.

Re: Free Food
 

Squirrel stew is GREEEAT! I meant the acorns though :s9:

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Squirrel is a fine meal for sure.

Re: Free Food
 

I've eaten both, and squirrel beats acorns hands down. The amount of tannic acid in acorns varies greatly (read Gun, Germs and Steel) which is why they were never a horticultural species.

Re: Free Food
 

Took both my children squirrel hunting for the first time this year. It was a right of passage and both learned valuable lessons useful later for hunting and harvesting larger game.

Re: Free Food
 

You might also look at dandelions. A very nutritious plant.

http://plant-species.suite101.com/article.cfm/dandelion

Now you have an excuse for not keeping a nice looking lawn.

Re: Free Food
 

You still have acorns on the tree? All of mine fell of months ago! Now the squirrels only come by because my daughter likes to throw peanuts at them!

But yes, I've eaten a few acorns and they're not bad, but I also pick pine needles off the pine tree to make tea, and my wife thinks I'm crazy.

Re: Free Food
 

some acorns have more tannin than others for the ones here at the house
i boil 3 times then roast, edible right then as a fairly flavorless nut
or after they are roasted they can be ground into flour
to make rising bread they are normally mixed with wheat flour at about
50/50 ratio.

Re: Free Food
 

Yep, still going. It's been a hot winter down here in hell, err, I mean Florida:bear_tongue:. There are still green ones on the tree. I don't know too much about oaks, but last winter the tree lost all it's leaves and didn't produce much for acorns, so I am guessing that this year is likely the major crop. Damn things are everywhere in my yard and driveway. As far as bitterness goes, these ones are not too bad. Been eating a few raw here and there. Too lazy to leach the tannins out, but if things get bad enough who knows.