North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lucky.Pittman" <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>]

>===== Original Message From nafex@lists.ibiblio.org =====
>About 20 years ago I visited Bill MacKently at St. Lawrence Nursery near
>Potsdam in New York state just north of the Adirondack mountains (colder
>than Ottawa). Bill gave me a few acorns of the Ashworth bur oak, one of
>which I ate. It was perfectly bland. I don't remember anything about the
>size, so probably it was not remarkable.
>
>I have spoken to a Missourian who used Ashworth bur oak flour in cooking
>with success.

I have an "Ashworth" seedling in my plantings, but it has only been in the 
ground here for about 4 years, and has not fruited yet.
>From my minimal experience in the matter, I'm not convinced that genetics 
alone are responsible for 'sweet' acorns.  Yes, members of the white oak 
group 
inherently have less tannins than members of the red/black group, but I think 
environmental conditions, such as rainfall amounts, growing degree days, 
extended drought conditions, etc. impact the 'sweetness' of acorns from year 
to year.

Don Cobb sent me some acorns from several of his low-tannin selections(1 
Q.alba, 3 Q.bicolor )in the 1999 crop year. All were relatively low in 
tannins, with one of the Q.bicolors totally non-bitter - tasted sort of like 
a 
very bland chestnut - not really 'sweet', just not bitter.  He indicated that 
the 2000/2001 crops from these same trees were not noticeably any less bitter 
than those from any other Q.bicolor.
Along about that same time, he also had a chance to visit Bill McKentley, and 
collect acorns from both the original Ashworth oak and a large fruiting 
(presumed) seedling of it, located nearby.  In that crop year, the acorns 
from 
the 'seedling' were less bitter than those of the 'mother' tree.

Lucky