A link to a short book detailing the "State of the Art" of breeding oak trees for human-quality, edible acorns recently showed up in my email.
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| Juniper/Pinyon/scrub regions of interior Southwest |
Here in the United States we have vast tracts of arid areas where it gets too cold in the winter for olive trees but otherwise might be able to produce human-quality food if the right species or hybrids could be found. For instance, most olive trees start going Tango-Uniform at +20F while some selections of Sweet Spanish Oak are (supposedly) capable of sustaining -4F.
So of the varieties discussed in the short book might be worth trying in those areas if competing brush (juniper, less desirable oaks, sagebrush) is suppressed so the more desirable specimens can "mine" more soil moisture.
A couple buddies and I cooked up and ate some acorns long ago. I decided to leave them for the squirrels after that.--ken
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that much of that area is not only cold in the winter, but also very dry. Pinion and Juniper species seem better able to use the available moisture than other species.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this study done in Portugal, Quercus rotundifolia transpired 200mm of moisture per year per unit ground area over a two year period. 200mm is about 8" a year.
DeleteFrom the human side of the equation, we could contour the land to minimize run-off (swales) and we can reduce competition from other species.
I seem to remember a book about acorns could be ground into flour.
ReplyDeleteBeetles did a job on many of the pinon in the SW over the last decade or two do to weather (low rainfall - I'm not going to call it a drought - it is just the weather here.) The pinon prices have been insane ever since. We are on boundary between oak and olive wx/elevations - success with olives (knocking on wood) for last 20+ years. Picking and canning up now. Have to go up a bit higher for reliable and big acorns. Locals (injuns, mexican and old-time families, etc.) know to soak the acorns to remove the tannins before trying to eat/roast them. Luckily I married one. Snagging the oak book now.
ReplyDeletePS - amazing calorie content in olives. In S. America, many of the more remote people survived basically on olives and bread for centuries - not real big or healthy people, but they survived. They cured with sea water (salt) changing periodically. We are using lye soak, couple of rinses, then salt water successfully. Now I'm craving some....
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