Urban acorn leaching suspends the bag inside the toilet tank; they are ready when the flush water comes out clear.

Some say you should start hot water leaching with cool water to avoid temperature "shock" that "sets" the tannic acid making it harder to leach out. Once the first rinse water has come to a boil then later rinses can also be hot, according to this school of thought.

Acorn has a good but robust flavor and stands up well to other strong flavors like garlic, onion, bacon, etcetera.

"Acorn has a good but robust flavor and stands up well to other strong flavors like garlic, onion, bacon, etcetera."

Do you deliver?

Sue

Good God, I am fascinated by this thread and yet completely overwhelmed by the conversation. I am so outta my league on this one.

Time to study up. How long will it take to catch up? 5 years? ten years? Twenty?

"How long will it take to catch up? 5 years? ten years? Twenty?"

I've been into survival for 45 years, and am still learning stuff every day.

1. Dive in and do it.
2. Try as much as you can. Practice.
3. Everything you see or hear isn't true*. Try it yourself and find out.

* A guy who is selling survival info says you can start a fire using moonlight. Others are passing it on as gospel.

Sue

ha, you always have a way with writing Sue. I was talking specifically about wild edibles, though.

And HEY, I totally tried making a fire by the full moon last week. This guy swore the lens I bought from him would work with moon light! Funny...haven't seen that guy since then.

Everything you eat everyday is a cousin to the wild. You already know how to enjoy that stuff; it just takes a little stretch to re-connect with the wild cousins.

Look around for an edible plant walk or class in your area; ask here if you need some help hooking up with one. Many colleges, online schools, and some museums offer classes. There are even a few clubs around that offer at least beginner sessions.

Anybody know of edible plant walk or class in Alberta or Montana?
Likely too late for this year, we're well into winter.

I do not know either area or its resources, but I would check with the institutions of higher learning, museums, and the native plant society.

Yeah, probably too late for guided tours. And the saskatoons and hazelnuts have all been stripped off by birds and squirrels.

But there are still edibles that aren't hard to find (or misidentify). If I were walking along a wooded watercourse in Alberta at this time of year, I would watch for:

- rose hips: on wild rose bushes, found everywhere; can't miss 'em; eat the flesh off the outside, but not the seeds, which are barbed, meaning they will bite you ... later

- highbush cranberry; very tart but very refreshing after heavy frost; usual method of finding them is by noting the smell of "stinky socks" in the wind and following the scent; most people pop the berry on their tongue and then spit out the seed and skin

- cattail root; assuming the ground isn't deeply frozen, this is bland but effective survival food; try to get the whole root, which has little starchy nodules; roast or boil to get the caloric value of the starch and kill pathogens; beware of industrial or agricultural runoff, unless you have a taste for 2,4,D etc.

For other plants, I take DW along. She's the plant wizard around here. I only remember the stuff I can eat. Must be a guy thing.

Back to acorns.

Dweste's thread was timely, as I recently had some time to kill in town, where some oaks had dropped their acorns. One was an Oregon White Oak (native here) and the other was a Red Oak. I collected from both, keeping them separate. Then I needed to find out how to treat and use them.

I ran across this really good free online book (.pdf, 50 pages) called Acorns and Eat 'Em by Suellen Ocean. Varieties, collecting (sprouted and not), storing, freezing, leaching methods (modern), and cooking. It's the most detailed and comprehensive I've run across.

Tip: if you pull off the little circle at the top of the acorn after you split it, the meats come out more easily.

Thanks, Dweste, for bringing up this topic!

Sue