[Terrapreta] if yer not forest...

[code suidae]

On 10/22/07, Harmon Seaver <hseaver at gmail.com> wrote:
> David Yarrow wrote:
> > one of my future projects is to develop a market for acorns -- oak nuts.
> >
> IIRC from anthropology class, only a few of the oak species had
> truly edible acorns. Some tribes in what is now California were blessed
> with very abundant and tasty acorns, but most oaks have pretty acrid
> tasting acorns. They can be shelled and soaked in several changes of
> water to remove the tannins, but that also removes much of the nutrients
> as well.

"Acorns and Eat 'Em" documents acorn preparation and consumption:

<http://www.californiaoaks.org/ExtAssets/acorns_and_eatem.pdf>

Including the oaks that the tribes in California cultivated for food.
They all evidently require leeching to remove the tannins, but no
mention is made of lost nutrients. No doubt some are lost, but clearly
the nuts still have sufficient dietary value.

Dave K
-- 
"Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know." -
M. King Hubbert