Posted on by Andy Dobos

I did some wild food foraging recently. Here are some pictures of chestnut oak acorns I boiled down and ate the other day.

It took 3 changes of water and the bitterness was completely gone though I did not think they tasted good, very bland. I will have to try mixing them with something next time to get more of a flavor.

The chestnut oak acorns are big (sorry nothing for scale in the picture). The big ones are about an inch long.

Here are some red oaks for comparison.

I also made tea from spicebush and had some very delicious autumn olives on a separate occasion. The autumn olives make my mouth very slightly numb.

I found a few rose hips I will save for tea and a golden birch twig as well.

Recomended Reading.

Posted on by Andy Dobos

Audubon Field Guide to New England
Audobon Field Guide to Trees

Tom Brown Jr. Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
Tom Brown Jr. Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking
Tom brown Jr. Field Guide to Nature and Wilderness Survival for Children
Tom Brown Jr. Field Guide to Edible and Medicinal Plants

The Science and Art of Tracking by Tom Brown Jr.

Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels

How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier

Primitive Technology, Ancestral Skills by Society of Primitive Technology

Stalking the Wild Asparagus By Eull Gibbons

Petersons Field Guides, particularly the edible plant guide and medicinal plant guide.

Wilderness living and Survival Skills by John and Gerry McPherson

The Book of Field and Roadside by John Eastman
The Book of Forest and Thicket by John Eastman

American Indian Earthsense- Herbalism of Ethnobotony and Ethnomycology
Earthwise- American Indian Traditional uses of Native Northeaster Trees
Both great books on not just edibility but other uses of plants and trees, available from Institute of American Indian studies in Washington Conn.

Stokes Guide to Animal Tracking and Behaviour by Donald and Lillian Stokes

More to come