Anyone harvest Acorns...? (I did - pics added)

[AJMD429]

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This looks interesting...

https://youtu.be/qLo3UWh-BN4

Gonna try it.

IMG_20221030_184613918.jpg

[Ray]

Once upon a time there was a remote spot at the southernmost end of the appalachians that had so many deer there was a browse line so complete that the deer were hungry. There were plenty of those large acorns but they only ate them in the absence of other fare. A bunch of us mobbed together to catch and gather the more nourishing tiny willow and water acorns using tarps, ground cloths and painter's drop cloths. A leaf blower was muffled so just enough volume of air would displace the fallen leaves without losing the nuts. Then we hauled the nuts uphill and turned them out. We raised grey squirrels to the size of fox squirrels and fox squirrels to the size of groundhogs but killed few deer. The locals..... meth labbers, moonshiners and pot growers hunted them year round so that those surviving to gun season were completely nocturnal and extremely hyper shy of human smell.

So I know how to harvest acorns.....I remember reading this when just a wee lad.....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Side_of_the_Mountain the protagonist tried acorns but found them too bitter.

[44shooter]

eww I think I will stick to pecans and leave the acorns to feed critters and make baby oaks.

[JimT]

We used to harvest Mesquite beans since there ain't no Oak Trees in the desert. This is where the native Indian ladies used to grind the Mesquite beans to make flour. Near Cave Creek, Arizona.

IMG_2790.JPG

[Grizz]

we ate piñon nuts from turkey pouches, craws, a time or two . . .

[Oldncrusty]

we ate piñon nuts from turkey pouches, craws, a time or two . . .

Interesting. I grow Turkey Craw beans, the original seed of which supposedly came from a wild turkey.

[Grizz]

we ate piñon nuts from turkey pouches, craws, a time or two . . .

Interesting. I grow Turkey Craw beans, the original seed of which supposedly came from a wild turkey.

what kind of beans are those? i don't know anything about growing things, except that i can get a fresh start next year . . ,

[Oldncrusty]

we ate piñon nuts from turkey pouches, craws, a time or two . . .

Interesting. I grow Turkey Craw beans, the original seed of which supposedly came from a wild turkey.

what kind of beans are those? i don't know anything about growing things, except that i can get a fresh start next year . . ,

It's a pole bean from Appalachia.

https://trueloveseeds.com/products/turkey-craw-bean

[Ji in Hawaii]

We don't have acorns here in Hawai'i, but we have a lot of Koreans, and they to process acorn to create acorn jelly (dodorimuk), which I love to eat with a spicy dipping sauce.

[crs]

We have only a couple of oak trees and the squirrels harvest those acorns except for the few that our Welsh Ponies eat.
We do have several pecan trees, and tried harvesting the pecans the first couple years we lived here, but soon tired of the work and the fact no ones wanted to buy them.

[Oldncrusty]

Bought about 15 lb. of hickory nuts at the flea yesterday

[44shooter]

We have only a couple of oak trees and the squirrels harvest those acorns except for the few that our Welsh Ponies eat.
We do have several pecan trees, and tried harvesting the pecans the first couple years we lived here, but soon tired of the work and the fact no ones wanted to buy them.

There are in high demand for Thanksgiving and Christmas in my area. People with good trees sell shelled ones in zip lock bag by the pound.

[765x53]

We have only a couple of oak trees and the squirrels harvest those acorns except for the few that our Welsh Ponies eat.
We do have several pecan trees, and tried harvesting the pecans the first couple years we lived here, but soon tired of the work and the fact no ones wanted to buy them.

There are in high demand for Thanksgiving and Christmas in my area. People with good trees sell shelled ones in zip lock bag by the pound.

When I was a kid everyone earned extra money and Christmas money picking up pecans on shares. Now, all of the growers have mechanical harvesters. One less way for a kid to earn honest money.

[piller]

Squirrels get all the pecans from my tree. I live in town. Can't shoot the squirrels.

[Rockrat]

My dog used to get most of the pecans at Grandads house. He would hear one hit the ground and off he was, before Grandad could pick it up. He would run into the bushes and you could hear him crack it and eat the insides. He put on weight during pecan season.

The extention agent had no idea what variety of papershell pecan it was. If one would fall and hit the driveway, it would almost shell itself. Loved his native pecan tree, but man, those were a pain to get the meat out of.

[Bob Hatfield]

We had a Chickapin oak that beared acorns for the first time since we built the house 8 years ago. My back porch was littered with them. The wife decided she would gather them up and save them for the squirrels and deer this winter. She put them in a bucket in the garage. A month later they had worms coming out of them, so we chucked them over the hill and down in the woods.

Bob

[Bob Hatfield]

A doctor stopped at the local bar each day after work to get him a Walnut Daquiri. The bartender's name was "Dick". One day Dick ran out of walnuts, so he used Hickory nuts. When the Doc came in an ordered a Walnut Daquiri, Dick handed him one made with Hickory nuts without telling him the nuts were changed. The Doc tasted it and spoke "Is this a Walnut Daquiri Dick?" The bartender said, "No it's a Hickory Daquiri Doc".

[AJMD429]

A doctor stopped at the local bar each day after work to get him a Walnut Daquiri. The bartender's name was "Dick". One day Dick ran out of walnuts, so he used Hickory nuts. When the Doc came in an ordered a Walnut Daquiri, Dick handed him one made with Hickory nuts without telling him the nuts were changed. The Doc tasted it and spoke "Is this a Walnut Daquiri Dick?" The bartender said, "No it's a Hickory Daquiri Doc".

Almost as funny, although for a different reason, one of the first years we lived in our country Homestead, I was young and energetic and decided to tap four maple trees. I had hiked the hills as a kid then left for college (13 years of it) then moved back when I was about 31, so I knew the terrain pretty well. We got enough sap to make quite a bit of syrup (you get about a pint for every 5 gallons of sap). It was really good, but only later the next year did I realize I had tapped three sugar maple trees plus a shellbark hickory. I guess basically you can tap just about any kind of tree and make sugar out of it, but the maple family taste good and is among the most concentrated in the ‘hard maple’ species.

[Eddie Southgate]

Once upon a time there was a remote spot at the southernmost end of the appalachians that had so many deer there was a browse line so complete that the deer were hungry. There were plenty of those large acorns but they only ate them in the absence of other fare. A bunch of us mobbed together to catch and gather the more nourishing tiny willow and water acorns using tarps, ground cloths and painter's drop cloths. A leaf blower was muffled so just enough volume of air would displace the fallen leaves without losing the nuts. Then we hauled the nuts uphill and turned them out. We raised grey squirrels to the size of fox squirrels and fox squirrels to the size of groundhogs but killed few deer. The locals..... meth labbers, moonshiners and pot growers hunted them year round so that those surviving to gun season were completely nocturnal and extremely hyper shy of human smell.

So I know how to harvest acorns.....I remember reading this when just a wee lad.....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Side_of_the_Mountain the protagonist tried acorns but found them too bitter.

Sounds like ya'll need to open a season on meth labbers, moonshiners and pot growers.

[AJMD429]

Well....almost done. Looks like about a five gallon bucket full of the finally-cracked nuts yielded about 9 or 10 quarts of finished coarse flour-additive/substitute (I think more 'additive' - but I'm not a creative cook). It tastes sort of like a hard ground wheat with molasses overtones, to me.

I'll post a bunch of pictures of the stages, and try to add coherent and/or useful comments later on:

Raw (upper right), Nuts (upper left), acraps (below).jpg

Cracking - Arc-Joint Pliers to clip off tip.jpg

Cracking - Tip Clipped.jpg

Cracking - Just Needs Hull Slipped Off.jpg

Cracking - Split Nut into half or third for drying.jpg

Cracking - Nice Clean End Results.jpg

Cracking - End Result is Half and Third Nuts.jpg

Drying - Float the Paper Shells off before Soaking.jpg

Soaking - Warming on Wood Stove.jpg

Soaking - Brown Film on Acorns.jpg

[AJMD429]

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more pics

Soaking - Rinsing Film Away.jpg

Soaking - Some Brown Some Not - depends on rinsing method.jpg

Soaking - Brown Film Risen Off.jpg

Soaking - Nuts Without Coating.jpg

Soaking - Some with Film and Some Without.jpg

Grinding.jpg

[AJMD429]

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still more pics

Drying - Spread on Dehydrator Tray.jpg

Canning - Preheating Jars on Wood Furnace.jpg

Canning - From Plate to Jar.jpg

Canning - Showing Texture.jpg

Canning - In Jars.jpg

Drying - Showint Texture Close Up.jpg