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[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 82 points 1 day ago

Resist cultivation or have some other undesirable properties. Often low yield, short harvest, low yield, difficult picking or transporting.

A favorite example of mine: oak’s acorns are sometimes edible. Roughly one in ten oaks produce edible acorns. They are indistinguishable from inedible ones unless you try them out - but inedible ones are fairly poisonous. The gene for edible acorns is recessive and it takes at least a decade before you know if a newly planted oak produces edible acorns or not, with a 10% probability of the former. It is just practically impossible to select for this criterion. Thus, we don’t eat acorns.

[-] rayyy@piefed.social 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Not sure that acorns are inedible. They just need to be processed.

[-] danekrae@lemmy.world 74 points 1 day ago

Often low yield, short harvest, low yield, difficult picking or transporting.

And let's not forget, low yield.

[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 31 points 1 day ago

Let us not!

Low yield due to overly specific conditions that are hardly met

Low yield due to short production window

Low yield due to long growth time

Low yield just because

[-] Gladaed@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago

Also acorns ain't particularly nutritious.

[-] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 19 points 1 day ago

You just remove the tannins by soaking them, it's not really a major problem. I tried it before, they were fine but fairly bland.

[-] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Isn't acorn flour edible after you rinse out the toxins? Some north american tribes did essentially "farm" acorns (They managed groves of oak) and iirc that's how they dealt with the toxicity.

[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Acorns are like the easiest thing to forage, though. I agree that foraging isn't as simple for many people as the OP makes it out to be, but acorns are a bad counter example.

They are high in tannins, which your body is pretty good at processing in reasonable quantities (they're in tea, coffee, and wine), but many acorns DO have unreasonable quantities of them and they can cause organ damage. Luckily, tannins are water soluble, so you just need to crack them open and soak them in water for a few days, then rinse and they're safe to eat.

[-] someacnt@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago

I thought we eat acorns after processing them? There are cuisines which involve acorns as main ingredient.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

Let the deer and squirrels and wild pigs eat the acorns, then eat the deer and squirrels and wild pigs. Easy!

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2025
1053 points (97.3% liked)

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