Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - RE: [NAFEX] acorns

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lucky.Pittman" <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: RE: [NAFEX] acorns
  • Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2002 08:48:46 -0500

>===== 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





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page