ACORNS--Is there any use for them??

Answer 1

They feed squirrels and other wildlife and reproduce other trees

Answer 2

Commercially, none that I know of. However, lots of animals depend on acorns to survive through the winter months; deer, squirrels, mice, many birds.

Acorns are edible. Mature acorns which have not spent time on the ground are used, as they are less likely to have worms inside. The meat is separated from the skin and cap, pounded into a fine pulp and washed to remove the tannic acid that makes acorns so bitter. Then it's dried on a mesh screen, and ground into a powder for flour. Without acorn flour, many early American settlers would have starved.

It is often said that if the acorn harvest is heavy, the winter will be cold and the snow deep.

Answer 3

Flower can be made by grinding the meat, then soaking it in water, draining and soaking several times to remove tannins. Next step is to allow the ground acorn paste dry. The final product is ready for culinary use.

Answer 4

Here is some information about eating acorns or rather acorn meal. The tannins have to be removed to avoid the bitterness. I don't know what your grandfather might have done to remove the tannins in whole acorns unless the type of acorn had less tannins to begin with and could have been removed by soaking the whole acorn.


ACORN PANCAKES from Sharon Hendricks

Break an egg into a bowl. Add:
1 teaspoon salad oil
1 teaspoon of honey or sugar
1/2 cup of ground and leached acorns
1/2 cup of corn meal
1/2 cup of whole wheat or white flour
2 teaspoons of double action baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of milk

Beak all together. If the batter is too thick to pour, thin it with milk. Pour pancakes into a hot, greased griddle and cook slowly until brown on both sides.

Serve with butter and syrup or wild blackberry jam. Delicious!!


PREPARATION OF GROUND ACORN MEAL

Pick up several cupfuls of acorns. All kinds of oaks have edible acorns. Some have more tannin than others, but leaching will remove the tannin from all of them.
Shell the acorns with a nutcracker, a hammer, or a rock.
Grind them. If you are in the woods, smash them, a few at a time on a hard boulder with a smaller stone, Indian style. Do this until all the acorns are ground into a crumbly paste. If you are at home, it's faster and easier to use your mom's blender. Put the shelled acorns in the blender, fill it up with water, and grind at high speed for a minute or two. You will get a thick, cream-colored goo. It looks yummy, but tastes terrible.
Leach (wash) them. Line a big sieve with a dish towel and pour in the ground acorns. Hold the sieve under a faucet and slowly pour water through, stirring with one hand, for about five minutes. A lot of creamy stuff will come out. This is the tannin. When the water runs clear, stop and taste a little. When the meal is not bitter, you have washed it enough.
Or, in camp, tie the meal up in a towel and swish it in several bucketfuls of clean drinking water, until it passes the taste test.

Squeeze out as much water as you can, with your hands.
Use the ground acorn mash right away, because it turns dark when it is left around. Or store in plastic for freezing if you want to make the pancakes later.
LET SOMETHING EAT THE ACORNS THEN EAT THE EATER!
Squirrels are cute little varmints which are not too particular whether they eat apples or pecans which you have spent a fortune trying to produce.

SQUIRRELS -- HOW TO HARVEST

Squirrels and fruit-nut crops don't mix! Squirrels are cute little varmints that have become lazy in the yard. The furry devils eat all of the yard-fruit - apples, pears and pecans - rather than the "wild nuts and berries" squirrels are supposed to eat. Squirrels don't want to search for their food in the wilds anymore. Why should they? We've grown it for them in convenient, easy-to-eat form. You can say the squirrels of the '90's are NOT what their parents were. These '90's squirrels want fast food, conveniently packaged.

Squirrels typically feed on tree fruits and nuts. Acorns and pecans are favorite foods but they have added apples, pears, peaches and tomatoes to their diet as well. These critters have probably been reading some health magazine and figure to lower their cholesterol with an improved diet. That's all we need, a longer living, healthier squirrel! Squirrels do have an overeating problem and would probably be terribly obese if a program of strenuous exercise coupled with a climbing regimen was not practiced daily. Squirrels can be responsible for phenomenal pecan losses (each squirrel can eat and hide more than 50 pounds of nuts per year). During population peaks when food is scarce, squirrels may even chew bark from a variety of trees.

What can be done about squirrels? Squirrel damage can be prevented by eliminating the presence of the squirrels. Easy? Not really! A variety of traps will catch squirrels. A good bait consists of slices of orange and apple, pecans removed from the shell or peanut butter. Crackers to go with the peanut butter is optional. Baiting can be used as a distraction rather than to catch the varmints. Some folks decide if you can't beat them, you may as well join them! People report that squirrel damage to desirable crops can be eliminated if the critters are fed. Putting out a bucket of dried dog food near the crop may solve the problem. This makes squirrels so fat they can't climb well or run as fast. Obesity of squirrels is the number one cause of their demise -- fat squirrels plus fast, hungry dogs and cats usually equals squirrel

Answer 5

From little acorns great Oaks grow

Answer 6

If you are a crafter you can find a small branch that has accorns on them and put them in a floral arrangement. You could use them to decorate with. Put some in a small clear glass dish with some popuri or something.

Answer 7

Just to the small animals that eat them and use them as lifting weights.

Answer 8

use them in an art project.. glue them in a pretty design

Answer 9

Ask a woodpecker.

Answer 10

yes