Why don't people eat acorns?!
Why don't people eat acorns?
Answers: Acorns are bitter but can be ground into a meal & cooked with. I know some Native American Recipes with them. So do back to Eathers like mother Earth News etc.
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/recipes/squ...
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/acorn%20...
Slainté (to your health) They don't taste good! i think you should see for yourself. We're not squirrels. because they are bitter Some do but some are poisonous to humans. Have you ever eaten one? o.o I think they'd be pretty hard to chew lol Coz der poisinous to humans what do you mean they dont???
I do.
No, i dont, i dont have any recipes. I always was told they were poisonous... They're poisonous unless you leach them like the Native Americans. Most acorns are very high in tannins. Tannins are bitter, and you need to wash ground acorns many times to remove them. Many Native American tribes ate acorns, but this was because they didn't have many alternatives. Now that we have corn, and rice, and wheat, etc. it's just not worth the effort!
Edit> Yes, yes, they had access to all kinds of other forage. But oaks were a stable source of food, they were common, and they produced in abundance. And most California native tribes didn't practice any form of agriculture, so corn and squash were out. As far as staple foods went, acorns were pretty much it. People do eat acorns. You can make a fake 'coffee' drink by roasting them, and you can turn them into acorn meal to bake with.
However, unless you wash out the tannins, they'll taste mouth puckeringly bitter.
Edit: As for what Adam said, that's incorrect. The First Nations didn't eat them because they didn't have any alternatives - they had access to hazelnuts, black walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, as well as their usual roster of domesticates - lamb's quarters, corn, squash, beans, turkey, as well as gathered fruit and plants. They're nutritious - a good source of potassium and plant fats. i dont know i bet they are FULL of vitamins and nutreents i think i ate one when i was a little girl (3 or 4 yr old)
DO THEY TASTE GOOD? because people don't want to eat squirrel food ........... just joking you could roast one and eat it because God made them for squrrels to eat :P I prefer to save them for the squirrels! LOL! I picked up a bunch, one time. I thought to myself... we roast and eat all kinds of tree nuts.... why not acorns?
So... I cleaned them, cracked them open and put them on a cookie sheet. I baked them at 350 degrees until they turned a nice brown color. Oh! The smell! It was heavenly! So sweet!
Then.... I bit into one. OMG..... I thought I was going to die.! It was the most bitter... most vile thing I had ever tried. I dumped the entire contents of the cookie sheet into the garbage can. I told my husband, "Next time I get a totally weird, stupid idea like that, smack me upside the head!" because i like to throw them at idiots instead. People do eat acorns.
Some American Indians did and some still do.
They sell acorn flour at the Korean market that is a few blocks from my house.
PS - I said "American Indians" because it is the position of most tribe nations that anyone that is born here is "native American" and they don't belive that this land is not only theirs(as it has always been). they are fed to pigs instead. too bitter. I never have, but I've seen a recipe for a stuffing (for turkey) that uses acorns.