The Ultimate Overlooked Survival Food

[@CityPrepping]

Visit cityprepping.com/acorns for the recipe. Join our City Prepping community: cityprepping.tv/3sc9Beq

[@higoten1993]

You know there is a research paper about using vodka and acorns to get the tannins out of them

[@villerantavalli9395]

Try European beech, it was so important to stone-age Europeans as a food source that they even planted it to Great Britain and has way less tannin than oak acorns i.e doesn't require soaking just roasting over fire. Oak acorns were used to cure leather back in the day.

[@Dallyn372]

As a native American me and my grandparents go out and collect acorns every year we sort it out crack it open amd we can eat it like sunflower seeds or we grind it up into a powder to put in our soups its like gold so weve done this before and its actually traditional for us

[@debbiecurtis4021]

Do you have a KZbin channel? I'd like to see this process.

[@debbiecurtis4021]

Can you use the leeched water on the garden?

[@customer5032]

Do they taste good raw? Thanks for sharing...

[@carolgold-boyd9287]

It isn't until you process foraged/wild foods like acorns that you appreciate just how much work used to go into preparing food, and just how easy our modern foods are to process and consume.

[@danielaramburo7648]

Squirrels: who took all the acorns!!!!

[@norsefalconer]

😂 Truth is, if people are having to eat acorns, the squirrels (and deer) have bigger problems. 🎯

[@danielaramburo7648]

@ squirrel tacos…. Might taste good.

[@backyardpc1656]

@@norsefalconer. I suppose you have never had an old oak tree anywhere around you. My mother had a tree that dropped so many acorns, it covered the ground completely. It really is a mess to pick up if you don’t do anything with them. This shocks me that they are edible to humans.

[@kimgordon3695]

FUN FACT: Squirrels in high end neighborhoods have a white chest

[@rangerrex7063]

The Nutbeast has struck again

[@Hangar1790]

I like this type of content over the doom and gloom of other prepping channels. Thank you and happy new year!

[@ilovemichigan-1111]

This is seriously your best video you've ever put out! This is the type of information that people absolutely need! It would be Heaven sent if you did one on dandelions and broadleaf plantain. Come to think of it even White pine would be a great one for everybody to learn about. God really does provide. Knowledge is power 💜✝️🙏🙌💪

[@FreedomTooBe]

Yes, please, dandelions and plantain.

[@FreedomTooBe]

If plantain is related to amarinth, can you find out if the seeds are edible?

[@CityPrepping]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@lunarminx]

Happy New Year everyone, stay safe and prepped.

[@SirChronDonIII]

I've been looking for a good video on how to process these things. I learned about acorns as a child after reading My Side of the Mountain. There's a surprising amount of survival info in that book.

[@customer5032]

Love that book! Hatchet is great too...

[@cyn4rest]

Just ordered the book. Thank you

[@myberryownhomestead764]

Every fall I wonder what I can do with all the acorns in my yard!!! Maybe next fall I’ll try this!! Thanks, great video!

[@practicallyprepared9389]

I’m so glad to see this! I made acorn flour this summer and made an excellent zucchini with it.

[@mr.normalguy69]

Love this channel for making videos like this. Straight to the point, easy to follow steps and are quite educational.

[@campsiteministries]

The tannin water leached out of the Acorns, as well as the acorn shells can be saved and used to tan leather. Diluted tannin water can be used medicinally as a mouth rinse. Acorn nut flour is absolutely delicious when processed. The bread, cookies, ect. that are made from it have a sweet taste similar to roasted chestnuts. It's also very filling.

[@meljordan220]

We made acorn flour in elementary school. Brings back memories!

[@Mh556-f3w]

I’ll definitely be trying this. I’ve always heard of eating acorns. But I never knew what I could do with them. I’ll be adding this to my local foraging list

[@grannyfisher3863]

In our area (Southeast U.S.) the white oak has the best tasting acorns, having less tannin. Also, I found out that sometimes there is a really heavy crop of acorns, and other years hardly any.

[@donnabrown1518]

That’s what I was going to share too. We have a white oak in our yard and unlike other oak varieties, white oak produces acorns every year. Red oaks only produce every other year

[@tthappyrock368]

I'm glad to learn how to process acorns and have another alternative to wheat flour!

[@CityPrepping]

Happy to help!

[@oaksparoakspar3144]

Oak trees will vary greatly (even within a single species due to soil conditions and age) in how "sweet" (low tannin) the nuts are. Finding a "sweet oak" tree is something that acorn eating populations have always treasured. You can tell just by putting some raw nut on your tongue and seeing how bitter it is. Compare a few trees and you will figure out which ones will need more or less leeching. Saving leeching time and effort also saves you a lot of water - which in a survival situation can be important. Other than that, look for the largest acorns you can find to reduce the labor in shelling and, if large enough, take advantage of pecan harvesters. Also, realize that acorns are incredibly inconsistent in production. Trees tend to alternate high and low nut years, but will also coordinate into "mast years" where the production per tree can explode 5 to 10 times what a normal year would produce as a natural attempt to overwhelm consumers (similar to cicada swarm emergences). If you notice one year you are drowning in acorns, it is a great year to try out your local fare without starving the wildlife or working yourself to death on collection. It also means that if you are using them as a survival strategy, you need to take advantage of the mast years to stock up for low yield years. If you want to plant for acorns, it is a long term commitment - but one that will pay off with good lumber, fine hunting (deer, squirrel, turkey, and hogs love them), and a lovely environment long before you see much in the return for nuts.

[@larrymessier2196]

Thank you,,, I really enjoyed this video,,,

[@coffeefirstthenspeak6467]

This was a great video !!! Thank you 🙏. Happy new year to you and your family !!

[@CityPrepping]

Thanks. It doesn't have hordes of viewers, but I like it too. Any time we get to rediscover the traditional methods is a great time.

[@earlshaner4441]

Good afternoon from Syracuse NY Chris and Happy New Year everyone

[@Wildmark82]

Good and useful information 👍🏻

[@aidanschauer1581]

Yes! These are the kinds of updates to the challenge I’ve been loving!

[@OneMound1]

White Oaks have far fewer tannins. The Bur Oak is easy to identify and so are it’s acorns.

[@gardenofshrubs5970]

So informative and I appreciate your including of the visual steps, thank you!!

[@derek5463]

You can always leave the acorns on the ground and when the deer come to eat them you can harvest the deer.

[@anchorageprepper9008]

The cookies look and sound yummy 🤤 thanks for sharing that recipe

[@CityPrepping]

My pleasure 😊

[@SonyaBayham]

As a young girl scout, we made acorn flour cookies.😊

[@brianniegemann4788]

The Indians would weave baskets to collect the acorns in. The baskets would be set in a stream and weighted down. The bad acorns would float to the top, and the water helps dissolve the bitter tannic husk.

[@cyn4rest]

Very interesting. Look forward to experimenting with this. Thanks

[@larrykapp3409]

Thanks & happy new year

[@richardH20958]

Great video! Hope you will consider investigating black walnuts in a future video! Thanks for your time!

[@alschmidt9268]

Wonderful video. I would suggest that people should map out where food producing trees/plants are and when things should be harvested.

[@Gigicares7]

Great vid. I've processed Bay Nuts using a hand crank mill. I hv not tried acorns though. Writing down the recipe for my prep collection. Appreciate the content.

[@madmoicano]

We used to make coffee and bread here in Portugal. Nowadays most only use it to feed pigs. But it's tastefull option, and coffee made in a moka brewer or just decanted is just awsome.

[@bartwhisenhunt]

Acorns also attract squirrels and deer 🦌

[@cats14600]

Amazing! I have sooo many acorns in my yard and have been researching what to do with them. This is a great video! 🌰

[@CityPrepping]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@starwoan5970]

Many Thxs Kris for this valuable information! ❤What I’d like to see you do is set up a field trip for Community a.k.a. City Prep Community to go and gather acorns with you as the tour guide! I am only about 35 to 40 minutes away from your headquarters. 😮😊

[@christopherleubner6633]

A practical prepping video that is a nice break from doon and gloom. ❤ Thanks ♥️

[@gnome2024]

A lot of people are going to look this one over, but its an excellent video. Ive got 80+ oak trees across my 2 acres and this will come in very handy. Thank you!

[@CityPrepping]

You could be the first in the country to implement large scale production and bring this rich food source back.

[@gnome2024]

@@CityPrepping Kris I know I give you a hard time now and again but thanks so much for all your info. I was without power for 3.5 days since I'm east of the Eaton Fire... last year I had built a 1.2kw solar system thanks to your videos and took my garage off grid... I was able to power the essentials thanks to that system!

[@kevinpasion5281]

Happy new years!

[@maggiek]

My growing zone has recently been reclassified from a 2b to a 3a. Im trying to grow some Oak tree here now and I'm hopeing they take and survive the winter 🤞🏻🤞🏻 Wish me luck!!

[@stephensuter7242]

Great to know! Thanks!

[@dsmith004]

I learned about acorns for food reading by reading "My Side of The Mountain." That's when I got the bug for being independent and prepared.

[@customer5032]

Love that book! Hatchet is another really good one...

[@robert-yv2yj]

Informative article. Thanks.

[@justnana2256]

I have one white oak in my yard. Some years it produces hundreds of big acorns and the next year only a few slightly smaller ones. The squirrels get most of them and plant them in the flower beds. Next year I'm going to try the coffee substitute.

[@nstubbs]

Excellent, very informative!

[@alaskangrandma2566]

Loved this video!!

[@RebeccaTreeseed]

I hung my acorns in the rain on my clothes line. Since I moved, my oak trees are not setting seed yet. Gambel oaks, one of the white oaks with less tannin. I powdered all of it and liked it in everything. I don't drink coffee and didn't try that. I think it is a yummy food source. I am at 7000' and hope to have fewer bugs. No complaints, I have plenty of pinyons while awaiting oaks. I am part Apache and learned to forage from my dad. I call it my Free Food Diet.

[@charleslower2994]

This was a great video. Thank you.

[@lysandraawilliams]

Really appreciate this video

[@MontanaJim419]

Thanks for the information.

[@bayouflats5054]

I just happened upon this. Thanks! I may attempt this. Your direction of using baking soda caused me to burp a long lost puzzle. I never understood the why behind baking powder or soda. I have always much preferred German pastries/ cookies over the American. I had no clue what made the texture experience more desirable to me. Here, I’m thankful that I have a smart phone to make up for my lack of. I found upon a search, that German pastries much more depend on use of baking powder then baking soda! Wham!! Thanks dude.

[@mscatnipper2359]

I tried to process acorns years ago, and it was a massive time-wasted process. They were almost all infected with acorn weevils. Thanks for the tip to go to a higher elevation. I was living at about 300' elevation at the time.

[@Kristy.G.135]

Good to know

[@kazbones]

This was an informative video. I am intrigued. I now want to taste acorn coffee! And those cookies looked amazing!

[@CityPrepping]

I'm a big fan of ginger, molasses, hermit-type cookies. If you are, I can honestly say these were some of the best I've ever had, and totally gluten free. Of course, you put a cup and a half of butter in most things and they're probably delicious. ;)

[@guadalupeskitchen3734]

Awesome

[@davidlittle6621]

Cool episode.

[@arnoldreiter435]

great video......i wish oak trees grew where i live. i have never seen a wild oak tree in 60+ years living here. the one or two i am aware of were planted as decoration and on private property.

[@lorriewatson7423]

Awesome info! I'm looking forward to trying this; I have a bunch of oak trees. Thank you!

[@CityPrepping]

Good luck!

[@dustinstober9647]

This was a great video! Wish I had a freeze drier 😢

[@cheristump9404]

It reminds me gathering chestnuts. They have larvae in them. I left some sitting to long and found new “friends” all over the basket.

[@larryberry2436]

Thank you. Projects for the upcoming col snap.

[@Hatz82]

That’s cool. Thanks

[@arnsnicklefritz9634]

We prep for the unseen, but I didn't see a video about acorns in your horizon. C is for cookie, n cookie is good for me.

[@et1bas751]

The altimate food is bean sprouts. All we need is a jar with a screen lid, water, warmth & seeds, beans & nuts.

[@andrea48164]

It’s interesting that you find the acorns with bugs by seeing what ones float. I’m going to try this with hazel nuts next year. Last year we found a hazel nut tree but after struggling to shell the buggers I kept finding buggy ones. Seems if I can determine which nuts have bugs before shelling it won’t be as big a disappointment.

[@CityPrepping]

Please do use this trick and come back and let me know how it goes. The ingenuity of past practices is so vital that we not lose it.

[@bärenhaus]

Chris, is there a way how to make horse chestnuts = buckeyes eatable? We have colder climate and there are only a few chestnut trees here, but a lot of buckeyes / horse chestnut trees. Thank you so much for your video. I have learnt a lot from you over the years! I actually can't thank you enough. All the best to you and your family! Happy New Year to you and everybody here on the channel!

[@CityPrepping]

No. Horse Chestnuts/Buckeyes are toxic because of compounds they contain. I wouldn't think even large periods of leaching would remove these compounds. It's definitely in the "Do not try that at home" category.

[@billydodd8457]

Try this. Acorns from white oaks will be sweeter and less bitter than acorns for red oaks. much easier to work with.

[@billvance2573]

Thanks for the video. Good info

[@kmart010]

Thank you!

[@CityPrepping]

You're welcome!

[@عدنانرزوق-ك5ق]

Robert murray smith did video about letching tanins with alcohol ‏‪4:04‬‏

[@Oddsteader]

Your cutest most clickable thumbnail ever

[@stephaniehanuman-dale6279]

Squirrels eat all the acorns 🌰 Maybe squirrels are the ultimate survival food 🤣

[@CityPrepping]

LOL. I've heard that as well.

[@elliottscott6179]

@@CityPrepping There's a great squirrel and biscuit gravy recipie on youtube.

[@darthmelkor3099]

There’s literally thousands of acorns on trails behind my place every autumn

[@Alas-xj8cr]

Like a lot of uncommon "edibles" that can be foraged Acorns are toxic. Even after washing it contains some toxins. Could you eat acorn meal every day and have no side effects? The second question is could you process enough acorns, and still do all the other day to day survival chores, to provide enough acorn meal to live on? Where I live blackberries are common and they are good/ripe for about 2-1/2 months. They are so common I could pick a couple of gallons of them in an hour or so. They can be dried, canned, frozen or otherwise preserved. I would argue that Blackberries and include all berries, would be better in some ways than acorns.

[@joshuab8255]

Awesome video! @cityprepping Any idea what oak trees in the Socal region produce the highest volume of acorns?

[@lawandadunn-pelton347]

Interesting!

[@IsaacClayborne]

I’m very thankful for all of this knowledge, however, we will not have ovens and espresso, machines, and dehydrators and freeze dryers once SHTF. I will use this knowledge and look up other videos without the modern technology to aid us.

[@albanhabakuk53]

I gathered a lot of acorns this fall and brought them to a forest with very few oak trees. I spilled them there so that hopefully a jay would find and bury them all over the woods. Who knows, might help for future generations...

[@MichaelR58]

Good video, thanks for sharing, YAH bless !

[@kidvision564]

Good content very labor intensive- bu if SHTF i guess time is not an issue

[@GreyWalker-isme]

Warning: Florida acorns are overloaded with tannins and can be really tough to leach out. Especially quercus laurifolia and quercus virginica. I don't think we have any oaks from the white oak family here, not 100% certain. Ours are from the red/black oak family, known to have more tannins than the white family. Still edible just more/longer processing.

[@inkmetal1]

How about one of those fancy nut crackers? Now you have to show how to make tp with acorns

[@libertywatts7227]

This is awesome. Thank you. If the grid was down and you couldn’t freeze dry or dehydrate …. What would be the best way to dry the powder and how long would it store?

[@CityPrepping]

The best way to store the meat would be in the shell. I would think that given those conditions you'd have to dry it on a wide flat rock near a fire or on a wood burning stove.

[@libertywatts7227]

@ thank you!

[@seekingtheminimumlevel1830]

We have several oak trees in our yard. Will be trying this next fall if the squirrels don't get them all before me. Too many rodents and not enough natural predators in our little area of suburbia.

[@FreedomTooBe]

Try with maple syrup and adjust water?

[@vonnacoppock5105]

Cookies and coffee look delicious ❤

[@CityPrepping]

They are!

[@patkonelectric]

Bad Acorns go into the fire pit. The tannins are good to add to your fermenting.

[@l.o.sstrategy3176]

Solid for tanning hides too!

[@goldsilverjunkie]

ALL IM concerned about is if it’s going to give me the shits😂😂

[@CityPrepping]

Nobody I fed it to got a case of those. :)

[@mikecollins6405]

Go Chiefs!!!❤💛❤💛

[@saba5774]

You can follow this same process with Mesquite beans.

[@reignjosiah]

You don't need to leach mesquite.

[@hawk1481]

Would a Nutcracker work?

[@SabrinaTaylor-s3l]

Weevils will make good fish bait

[@timothyconnet9873]

Any thoughts on Robert Murray-Smith episode 1668?

[@GirlCarpenter]

You’ve gotta be nuts!

[@patkonelectric]

Darn I was just looking this up today. Are you spying on me.

[@CityPrepping]

Maybe it's time to clear your browsing history. ;)

[@isatq2133]

QUESTION: Im growing kale in my garden this year and id like to be able to preserve it. What is the best way of preservation other than canning or freeze drying? Thanks!

[@CityPrepping]

With Kale, just dehydrating it will keep it for a long time. You could can it in liquid like a spinach. You could also dry it in the oven and powder it. It all depends on your end use, I think.

[@2morecats]

Ferment! Kale Kimchi❤

[@isatq2133]

@ im not sure what i plan on doing with it. Would you make kale puree soup?

[@isatq2133]

@ oooo! Whats your recipe?

[@zefox7851]

I freeze mine, just a quick blanch. Then cook like any other green, but my favorite way is soup with Italian sausage.

[@reignjosiah]

If you live in California, I respectfully ask you not to gather acorns. Our oak trees are in danger and in decline due to the goldspotted oak borer beetle. We still rely on our oaks for food and we are careful on how much we are gathering. If people are inspired to go foraging, then that could put a strain on our traditional harvesting practices and leave us with nothing. Thank you 🙏🏽

[@georgeg7840]

Interesting, unfortunately, to my knowledge, there are no important concentrations of acorn producing oak trees in my area.