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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Edible Acorns

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Edible Acorns
  • Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:20:34 -0500

At 02:33 PM 9/10/2007, Geoffrey wrote:
At the recent nafex conf. mention was made of the development of an edible
acorn. Does anyone have info. on this? My thought is to graft scion wood or
buds from this culitivar to local oak trees.
Geoffrey Stone
Black Mountain, NC

Geoff,
As Jerry indicated, Don Cobb is probably the most visible/vocal proponent of 'edible' acorns', as chairman of the NNGA Oaks committee. I got hooked up with Don a few years back, and he has shared acorns/scionwood from some of his white oak(bur, eastern white, swamp white, etc.) selections.
For example - in 2000 or 2001, he sent acorns of three Q.bicolor selections - Fall Creek #1 & #3 and Cobb Sweetie #2. CS#2 was non-bitter, sort of like eating a really bland chestnut. However, subsequent crops were not so 'sweet', so it may well be that weather conditions/precipitation during the growing season, etc., may have as much or more influence on 'sweetness'/tannin levels, etc., than does genetics alone.
At one point in time, I had grafts of all three of these selections growing, but think I've lost all but Fall Creek #3. I've also got one surviving graft of the 'Swiss Inn' Q.alba up at Abingdon VA, that Donna Hudson put me onto.
Members of the white oak group graft readily onto most other members of the white oak group, but peroxidase enzyme incompatibilities largely preclude successful grafting of red/black oaks.
I've had no personal experience with grinding & leaching acorns, but one of my mentors in veterinary school told me of his grandmother, who was Cherokee, sending him out to gather acorns in the fall, and she ground them to make acorn bread.
The western Indian tribes used Q.kelloggi and other red/black oaks extensively - the acorns would 'keep' longer than would those of the white oaks - they constructed granaries to store them for extended periods.
A couple of good books you might want to hunt up, if you're interested, are:
"It Will Live Forever, Traditional Yosemite Indian Acorn Preparation" by Bev Ortiz, with Julia Parker
and
"Acorns and Eat 'em" by Suellen Ocean.
Ken Asmus, at OIKOS Tree Crops( www.oikostreecrops.com ) offers seedlings of a number of low-tannin oak selections.
The International Oak Society ( http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rjensen/ios.html ) is also a good source of information, and members frequently participate in acorn swaps, especially at the annual meetings/symposia.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY




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