They are only edible (I mean literally edible by humans) after prolonged soaking. I remember reading about the process in "Stalking the Wild Asparagus." Some Native American tribes used them for food.

Okay Mr. Rogers......if you start eating acorns I am going to think you are nuts! But I bet you would find a delightful way to plate them! LOL

lots of acorns here, too. falling day and night.
They are very, very small... which I guess is something to be thankful for... if they were the size they are most years I think they'd come right through the roof. Guess the gutter cleaners will have a bonus year.

kay

I had no idea Oak trees did that! The only thing I've done with acorns was make ink with them when I was a kid...

We fed them to the pigs, they loved rooting around and finding them, but as mentioned, they are only fit for human consumption after long soaking and they aren't really good for pigs either in any large quantity. They can be shelled, dried, ground to flour, but there is a long soak and multiple rinsing process before it's edible. Keep rinsing until it doesn't taste bitter any more.

Ashley's girl scout troop actually did this and made pancakes with the flour. It's deinitely not worth the time and trouble.

Annie

I have eaten acorns. The astringency, which is from tannin, varies greatly from species to species and even from tree to tree. One large oak tree I found had acorns which could be eaten out of hand with no processing. Acorns from some trees were so full of tannin they were unusable, even with processing. Taste your acorns. If you are lucky you have a tree with good tasting ones.

Back in the day, I taught wild food courses, spring and fall, using Stalking the Wild Asparagus as a text. Naturally, the courses concluded with a "wild party". The fall season wild party included acorn muffins with wild fruit jellies, all made from foraged foods. If you are familiar with Euell Gibbons' writing, you know that his idea of eating wild foods had nothing to do with hardship. He wanted to eat well and everything he advocated was good.

Jim

tried to make wreaths for the door one year they were particularly large. Even epoxy wouldn't hold 'em in place. Squirrels really like 'em, though -- each a few, bury a few and drop the rest on the cats.

Kay

I have eaten Hopi stew....made with acorns...not horrible....but once was enough...not something I carve!
Lucky me....this is not a mast year for my oaks...

I swear I always learn something new here! We must have some masting oaks around my town 'cause we have a major fall of acorns in my neighborhood and at the office where I work. I even found a couple *inside* my car! Now how did that happen?

Teresa

good think there are so many acorns, teresa. Otherwise the squirrels might have chewed their way in.

Thanks dcarch for giving me the ''official'' name of the bane of my existence. OH MY. We have a huge oak tree that does that every few years, and I completely relate to needing a hard-hat or helmet when outside. Some years its so bad I don't venture out onto my deck, as the acorns are an accident waiting to happen. It's beginning now. (I simply refuse to look UP, because I may just see how bad it's going to be this year.) It sounds like hail on the roof, and goes on for the entire season.

I don't have a recipe, but I did know someone who used to make Acorn Bread in the fall. (After she described making it, I thought she didn't have enough to do.) Of course I haven't made this myself, but I did find a recipe with explanation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ancient Acorn Pan Bread recipe

A crazy nutty idea just came to me! [ Well, you know me by now :-) ]

Collect all the acorns you can in a bucket, later I will show you what I do with them .

dcarch

don't let those acorns sit around in a bucket too long. One year I collected acorns from my parent's farm to feed the squirrels at my condo. Left them in a shopping bag and was gone on an international flight for 8 days. The bag was crawling with maggots when I returned.

So good to know that this has a name. We are in the middle of a 100+ year old oak park and those baby's are coming down hard this year. I recall a few years ago there were so many that it sounded like you had a flat tire when running over the billions that were lining the streets and driveways.

My neighbor had a new car and the roof and hoods were covered with dings from the acorns. The manufacturer finally fixed the car for him gratis when he complained that if the car didn't survive acorns what would it do in a crash.

We have lots of old homes with slate roofs here, and the noise is incredible.

s

i'm interested in word derivations. Does anyone know why it's called masting?

kay

No, but that would be interesting to know.

Collect them in a bucket? Uh...One year we had FIVE 50 lb. bags of little acorns! When I have to start raking, I don't want to know anymore how many pounds there are.

I always heard that was a "sign" of a bad winter coming.

Glad to learn about the masting.

It's masting in my yard, too. It sounds like gun shots when the acorns hit the roof or the deck... But I haven't been tempted to eat them :-)

Katyskats... my online etymology dictionary had this entry:
mast (2)
"fallen nuts; food for swine," O.E. maest, from P.Gmc. *mastaz (cf. Du., Ger. mast "mast," O.E. verb maesten "to fatten, feed"), perhaps from PIE *mazdo-/*maddo- "to be fat, to flow" (cf. Skt. meda "fat," Goth. mats "food," see meat).

I also found this on a google search

Mast is a noun of Anglo-Saxon origin (maest) that refers to the accumulation of various kinds of nuts on the forest floor that serve as food for hogs and other animals.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Masting Behavior of Trees

"Posted by kayskats -------------good think there are so many acorns, teresa. Otherwise the squirrels might have chewed their way in. "

Good thing: good thing this year there are so many acorns, Otherwise the squirrels might have chewed their way in.

Not too good thing: So many acorn now the squirrels are going to get fat and healthy and raise large extended families, with lots of relatives and friends. Next year, it is the masting strategy that trees will produce very few acorns to starve the critters. Guess what's gonna to happen?

dcarch

Last year was our first year in this house and the noise made by the acorns was unbelievably loud. I hope it was a masting year because I can't imagine it any louder.

I'm posting a link to our famous Avenue of the Oaks. I have three of these behemoths in my yard.

Here is a link that might be useful: Avenue of the Oaks

when I was growing up in Georgia, we lived in the remnants of a pecan orchard which had been subdivided. We didn't have a tree in our yard, but my DAD 'rescued' a widow lady's 20 or so trees (he could make anything grow and produce) and gathered and sold the pecans, which produced heavy one years and took time off the next.
would that be 'masting'
kay

Here is the crazy idea I promised:

Mast Blast! - A Nutty Cannon.

>A Nutty Cannon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYq8EoeC7ss

Materials needed: A length of 3/4" copper pipe, a 100-lb air compressor (you can rent a portable one), a laser pointer (Optional).

I am going to invite kids from the block to play. They will clean up my yard in no time. :-).

The other big benefit, when the acorns hit the stone wall, they all cracked and the meat came out of the shell. I can just scoop them up to try out a few recipes.

dcarch

Here are instructions for making acorn flour. I wish mine would mast - I haven't had any acorns in three years from my oak tree. I may have to import them for the squirrels.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acorn flour