How to harvest acorns for FOOD

Acorns, my gateway drug to foraging. Here we have one of the most abundant sources of wild food on the planet! The only catch is, we can't eat them straight off the ground, they require some processing. In this series, we're going to go through every step of the journey of turning acorns into bread!

Part 1 shows us the fastest way to harvest acorns without any special equipment. We also learn different methods to sort our harvest, leaving behind only the good acorns, and last we'll dry them for long-term storage.

We are so excited that you're joining us on this journey!

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:40 - Before you begin
01:02 - Harvesting
01:14 - Sorting Acorns
02:44 - Testing Water Separation
04:12 - Drying
04:50 - How long to dry?
05:54 - Long Term Storage
06:22 - Final Thoughts

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[RICDirector]

Tip...if you plan to gather more acorns in the same area later on, don't pitch your bad ones back on the same area. :) Bag them or discard in a known 'bad nut' area.

[FeralForaging]

I've found this to be the fastest way to harvest acorns without special equipment. What's your method of harvesting or drying acorns? Let me know!

[lokeyacolyte]

This is fabulous, you are really good at explaining things and structuring the video so it is easy to follow!

[sonofabear]

I've always meant to process acorns, but I never set aside enough time! I'll have to make it a priority next fall. Can't wait for the rest of the videos in the series!

[kristenkrueger]

Just found your channel!! Loving it My deep gratitude for your hard work.. thank you for sharing this wonderful knowledge ❤

[BonBonWasHere]

Do they have to be completely dry if you are going to soak them right after to remove tannins? I know this is for storage. Wondering because I didn’t see this video before I blended them and soaked them already. Lol. I started with part 3

[AnkurShah]

Super cool video and quite informative on each step and the techniques which worked or didn’t. Keep it up!

[lilafeldman]

This is so neat! I read a book by author Connie LaPallo called "Dark Enough to see the stars in a Jamestown Sky." She talked about how the early colonists survived off of acorns.

[dorothyczygmunt]

Great video thank you 😊 I was wondering if after dehydrating the acorns for long term storage could you shell and vacuum pack them vs putting in the basket? Appreciate your input have a great day and keep foraging 🍁🍂🌻✌

[mollywithakay]

Is it possible to skip the initial drying stage, and just put more effort into shelling them same day and go right into the leaching stage? I am in a dorm so the dehydrators I can afford have proved impractical/too loud, but I don’t mind putting extra effort in or processing right away

[cindyh]

Thanks for this hreat series! Hope you are still monitoring comments.
I gathered a bunch of acorns & discarded those that had cracks/holes/caps. But when i floated them, almost half float! I cracked open several of the floaters and they look fine inside. As long as inner nut is white/yellow are they ok?

[hey-its-me-bobby-D]

Can I pick them off the tree? Do they need to have turned brown first?, or are green ones okay?

[naturewatcher]

Collected acorns and tried to dry them on newspapers. Didn't work - they all got moldy. Will use dehydrator next time as in your video.

[Andersitoy]

Holaa. Saludos desde España. Aquí en España tenemos bellotas de encinas. También sirven? Es decir sirven todas las bellotas de la familia Quercus?

[themagnificentsans]

Could you dry them in a basket that hangs in an herb drying room? Or do they have to be dried in a single layer?

[bagofgrain]

I found a 5 gallon bucke FULL of acorns in thd house i live in. Ive been here for 6 yrs already, so would it still be usable?

[ckricat]

i have an airfryer with a dehydrating setting, will that work?

[thephenom]

@Feral Foraging So what method would you use to determine good nuts from the bad ones? Would you crack and shell them first and then let them dry?

[catinreno]

If making bread, with no plans to store acorns, would it be feasible to shell them before drying, blanch them to remove the papery covering (don't remember what that is called), and then dry them? Or even before drying, grind, leach, and then dry? Just looking for the most efficient way to do this. Mom's don't have a lot of extra time. Lol.

[oswaldcobblebot]

will European Oak acorns work the same?