Editing Acorn (section)

==Uses==
In some cultures, acorns once constituted a dietary [[Staple food|staple]], though they have largely been replaced by [[Food grain|grain]]s and are now typically considered a relatively unimportant food, except in some Native American and Korean communities.

Several cultures have devised traditional acorn-leaching methods, sometimes involving specialized tools, that were traditionally passed on to their children by word of mouth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indigenous Food and Traditional Recipes |url=http://www.nativetech.org/recipes/recipe.php?recipeid=115 |access-date=2017-01-06 |publisher=NativeTech}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cooking With Acorns |url=http://www.siouxme.com/acorn.html |access-date=2017-01-06 |publisher=Siouxme.com}}</ref>

===Culinary===
{{Cookbook}}

Acorns served an important role in early human history and were a source of food for many cultures around the world.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bainbridge |first=D. A. |title=Use of acorns for food in California: past, present and future |date=12–14 November 1986 |url=http://www.ecocomposite.org/native/UseOfAcornsForFoodInCalifornia.doc |access-date=1 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027113825/http://ecocomposite.org/native/UseOfAcornsForFoodInCalifornia.doc |url-status=dead |place=San Luis Obispo, CA. |publisher=Symposium on Multiple-use Management of California's Hardwoods |archive-date=27 October 2010}}</ref> For instance, the [[Ancient Greek cuisine|Ancient Greek]] lower classes and the Japanese (during the [[Jōmon]] period)<ref name="HabuJunko2004">{{Cite book |last1=Junko Habu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGnAbTyTynsC |title=Ancient Jomon of Japan |last2=Habu Junko |date=29 July 2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77670-7}}</ref> would eat acorns, especially in times of famine.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} In ancient [[Iberia]] they were a staple food, according to [[Strabo]]. Despite this history, acorns rarely form a large part of modern diets and are not currently cultivated on scales approaching that of many other nuts. However, if properly prepared (by selecting high-quality specimens and [[leaching (chemistry)|leaching]] out the bitter tannins in water), acorn meal can be used in some recipes calling for grain flours. In antiquity, [[Pliny the Elder]] noted that acorn flour could be used to make bread.<ref name="Met">{{Cite web |last=Alphonso |first=Christina |date=5 November 2015 |title=Acres of Acorns |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-season/2015/acres-of-acorns |access-date=15 April 2017 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum}}</ref> Varieties of oak differ in the amount of tannin in their acorns. Varieties preferred by Native Americans, such as ''[[Quercus kelloggii#Uses|Quercus kelloggii]]'' (California black oak), may be easier to prepare or more palatable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Derby, Jeanine A. |title=Proceedings of the symposium on the ecology, management, and utilization of California oaks, June 26–28 |publisher=USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-044 |year=1980 |editor-last=Plumb, Timothy R. |pages=360–361 |chapter=Acorns-Food for Modern Man |chapter-url=http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr044/psw_gtr044.pdf}}</ref>

In Korea, an edible jelly named ''[[dotorimuk]]'' is made from acorns, and ''[[dotori guksu]]'' are Korean noodles made from acorn flour or starch. In the 17th century, a juice extracted from acorns was administered to habitual drunkards to cure them of their condition or else to give them the strength to resist another bout of drinking.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}{{clarify|date=October 2020}}

Roasted acorn flour is a main ingredient in sweet cakes special to [[Kurdish population|Kurdish]] areas of [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hooper |first1=David |last2=Field |first2=Henry |author2-link=Henry Field (anthropologist) |title=Plants and Drugs of Iran and Iraq |date=1937 |publisher=[[Field Museum of Natural History]] |page=161}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Salih |first1=Rafiq Mohamed |last2=Sabir |first2=Dlir Amin |last3=Hawramee |first3=Othman K. |title=Effect of sweet acorn flour of common oak (''Quercus aegilops'' L.) on locally Iraqi pastry (kulicha) products |journal=Journal of Zankoy Sulaimani - Part A |date=October 2013 |volume=16 |issue=special |pages=244–249 |doi=10.17656/jzs.10327|doi-broken-date=20 March 2025 }}</ref>

Acorns have frequently been used as a [[coffee substitute]], particularly when [[coffee]] was unavailable or rationed. The [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]] in the [[American Civil War]] and [[Germany|Germans]] during [[World War I]] (when it was called ''[[Ersatz]]'' coffee), which were cut off from coffee supplies by [[Union blockade|Union]] and Allied [[blockade]]s respectively, are particularly notable past instances of this use of acorns.

====Use by Native Americans====
Acorns are a traditional food of many [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] peoples of North America, and long served an especially important role for [[Indigenous peoples of California|Californian Native Americans]], where the ranges of several species of oaks overlap, increasing the reliability of the resource.<ref>{{Citation |last=Suttles |first=Wayne |title=(Review of) Ecological Determinants of Aboriginal California Populations, by Martin A. Baumhoff |work=American Anthropologist |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=676 <!-- note that this article is a review of the Baumhoff article --> |year=1964 |doi=10.1525/aa.1964.66.3.02a00360 |doi-access=free}}</ref> One ecology researcher of [[Yurok people|Yurok]] and [[Karuk people|Karuk]] heritage reports that "his traditional acorn preparation is a simple soup, cooked with hot stones directly in a basket," and says he enjoys acorns eaten with "grilled [[salmon]], [[Huckleberry|huckleberries]] or [[seaweed]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prichep |first=Deena |date=2014-11-02 |title=Nutritious Acorns Don't Have To Just Be Snacks For Squirrels |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/10/24/358527018/nutritious-acorns-dont-have-to-just-be-snacks-for-squirrels |access-date=2014-11-03 |website=The Salt : NPR}}</ref>
Unlike many other plant foods, acorns do not need to be eaten or processed right away, but may be stored for a long time, much as [[squirrel]]s do. In years that oaks produced many acorns, Native Americans sometimes collected enough acorns to store for two years as insurance against poor acorn production years.

After drying in the sun to discourage [[Mold|mould]] and [[germination]], acorns could be cached in hollow trees or structures on poles to keep them safe from mice and squirrels. Stored acorns could then be used when needed, particularly during the winter when other resources were scarce. Acorns that germinated in the fall were shelled and pulverized before those germinating in spring.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} Because of their high fat content, stored acorns can become rancid. Moulds may also grow on them.

The lighting of ground fires killed the larvae of [[Blastobasis glandulella|acorn moth]]s and [[acorn weevil]]s by burning them during their dormancy period in the soil.  The pests can infest and consume more than 95% of an oak's acorns.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

Fires also released the nutrients bound in dead leaves and other plant debris into the soil, thus fertilizing oak trees while clearing the ground to make acorn collection easier. Most North American oaks tolerate light fires, especially when consistent burning has eliminated woody fuel accumulation around their trunks. Consistent burning encouraged oak growth at the expense of other trees less tolerant of fire, thus keeping oaks dominant in the landscapes.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

In the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] acorns found were often associated with grinding tools. [[Stone tools]] like hammerstone and anvil, millingstones, and [[mortar and pestle]] help crack open the acron and grind the arcon into dust.<ref>Buonasera, T.Y. (2013). More than acorns and small seeds: A diachronic analysis of mortuary-associated ground stone from the south San Francisco Bay area. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 32(2), 190–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2013.01.003
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Oaks produce more acorns when they are not too close to other oaks and thus competing with them for sunlight, water and soil nutrients. The fires tended to eliminate the more vulnerable young oaks and leave old oaks which created open [[oak savanna]]s with trees ideally spaced to maximize acorn production.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Acorn mortar holes friant ca.jpg|[[Mortar holes]] for pounding acorns into flour, [[Lost Lake, California]]
File:Photograph with text showing a Chuckachancy woman preparing acorns for grinding, California. This is from a survey... - NARA - 296297 (cropped).jpg|[[Yokuts people|Chuckachancy]] women pause in their work preparing acorns for grinding, California, {{circa| 1920}}
</gallery>

===In culture===
[[File:One of General Sherman's Campaign Hat.jpg|thumb|Campaign hat worn by [[William Tecumseh Sherman|General Sherman]]]]

====Art====
A [[Motif (art)|motif]] in [[Roman architecture]], also popular in Celtic and Scandinavian art, the acorn symbol is used as an [[Ornament (architecture)|ornament]] on [[cutlery]], furniture, and jewelry; it also appears on [[finial]]s at [[Westminster Abbey]].

In the [[Artemis Fowl]] book series, "The Ritual" describes the method used by faeries to regenerate their magical powers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Colfer |first=Eoin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/46493219 |title=Artemis Fowl |date=2001 |publisher=Viking |isbn=9780670899623 |location=London |pages=277}}</ref>

====Military symbolism====

The acorn was used frequently by both [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and [[Military forces of the Confederate States|Confederate]] forces during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chikamauga and Chattanooga |url=https://www.nps.gov/chch/faqs.htm |access-date=2022-10-27 |department=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=U.S. Forest Service|date=2022-10-27}}</ref> Modern [[US Army]] Cavalry Scout [[campaign hat]]s still retain traces of the acorn today.

====Contemporary use as symbol====
The acorn is the symbol for the [[National Trails]] of [[England and Wales]], and is used for the [[waymarking|waymarks]] on these paths.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Trail Acorn |url=http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/publications.asp?PageId=276 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314170425/http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/publications.asp?PageId=276 |archive-date=14 March 2012 |access-date=9 October 2010 |website=National Trails}}</ref> The acorn, specifically that of the white oak, is also present in the symbol for the [[University of Connecticut]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=University of Connecticut |url=http://uconn.edu/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104073123/http://www.uconn.edu/ |archive-date=4 November 2010 |access-date=5 November 2010}}</ref>

Acorns are also used as [[Charge (heraldry)|charges]] in [[heraldry]].

<gallery mode="packed">
Acorn Britain National Trails Symbol.svg|Acorn waymark for [[National Trails]] in England and Wales
1410EcudQ.svg|Acorn in the coat of arms of the du Quesne family
Tammela.vaakuna.svg|Oak branch with two acorns in the coat of arms of [[Tammela, Finland|Tammela]]
</gallery>