Can you eat acorns picked from the street?
The streets and parks where I live in New York City are littered with acorns. Can I pick them up and cook them?
Is it safe? Are they any good? (Taste-wise, nutrition-wise.)
Best Answer
Acorns from which tree? Acorns from California live oak for instance are edible, but only after a painstaking process of grinding and soaking, without which they can kill you. European oaks have acorns that are more amenable to eating, but they really can't be eaten raw. And even the French don't as a rule eat them, which tells me they can't be that tasty :-)
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Quick Answer about "Can you eat acorns picked from the street?"
Raw acorns contain tannins which can be toxic to humans and cause an unpleasant bitter taste. They are also poisonous to horses, cattle and dogs. But by leaching acorns to remove the tannin, they can be made safe for human consumption.Can you eat acorns from outside?
They can be eaten whole, ground up into acorn meal or flour, or made into mush to have their oil extracted. Once you've safely leached the tannins from your raw acorns, you can roast them for 15 to 20 minutes and sprinkle them with salt for a snack.Can you eat acorns straight off the tree?
Raw acorns are considered unsafe due to their tannins, which are toxic if consumed in high amounts. However, you can remove the tannins by boiling or soaking. Properly prepared acorns are perfectly edible and full of nutrients like iron and manganese. Delicious roasted, they can also be ground into flour.Which acorns are edible?
Let me say loud and clear that you can eat acorns and all acorns are edible, at least all species of acorns are. We'll get into details in a bit. Basically there are three ways to eat acorns: Eating them as nuts (they are a lot like chestnuts), making acorn flour, or cooking in acorn oil.Do you have to cook acorns to eat them?
Acorns contain bitter-tasting tannins, so you must prepare, treat and cook the nuts before you eat them. It sounds like a pain but it's really not that difficult. Start two pots of water boiling.How to eat acorns
More answers regarding can you eat acorns picked from the street?
Answer 2
I was going to just post this as a comment, but I do think it's a valid concern…
Maybe if I lived out in the country… but I'm not thinking New York is going to have any less of a traffic pollution issue than London, where I am… & I'd be as inclined to eat a dead pigeon I found in the street as an acorn.
Answer 3
I did this some years back. I have no idea if it’s safe or not. All I know is that I didn’t get sick. Raw it was pretty hard to eat and was bitter and dried out my mouth. Roasted it was still bitter but a little easier to chew.
Answer 4
Licor de bellota
Quercus Ilex acorns are used to make "Licor de bellota" (acorn liqueur) in Extremadura region of Spain.
Acorn flour
In times of famine, it was produced flour to make bread (gluten free). There are some companies that are introducing acorn flour for artisan breads.
But mostly they are left on the ground for pig feeding.
These acorns are sweet, but most other acorns tend to be bitter and astringent.
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