Whether you’re wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland or simply struggling to make ends meet the ability to supplement your diet with what is essentially a free resource that can be found almost anywhere in most of North America. Forests, suburbs and even the inner city contain large numbers of nut bearing oaks and no one seems to mind you harvesting those nuts. Acorns can be ground into a flour, added to other dishes whole or simply eaten like any other nut. This versatile foodstuff can also be stored over the winter in the right conditions.
Lots of people think acorns are poisonous because of the tannic acid within, but frankly it’s used in wine and beer production and was once used to treat mushroom and strychnine poisoning. Acorns should be leeched of tannic acid for taste and ease of digestion, but you’d need to eat an ungodly amount of acorns to actually risk poisoning yourself.
Via Suburban Survivalist we have this excellent .pdf first published in the early 90s by the California Oak Foundation on harvesting and eating acorns. It includes some recipes.
Suburban Survivalist posted this great video of a woman harvesting acorns. If you’re visual learner like me this will help you conceptualize the process:
The best YouTube channel on wild edibles is Eat the Weeds run by the legendary Green Deane. Here’s his video on acorn harvesting:
Get out there and try it.