Edible Parts: Seed
Edible Uses: Coffee

Seed - cooked[105, 161]. A staple food of some native North American Indian tribes[257]. It can be dried, ground into a powder and used as a thickening in stews etc or mixed with cereals for making bread. The seed, which can be up to 35mm long and 1cm wide[82, 229], contains bitter tannins - these can be leached out by thoroughly washing the seed in running water though many minerals will also be lost. Either the whole seed can be used or the seed can be dried and ground it into a powder. It can take several days or even weeks to properly leach whole seeds, one method was to wrap them in a cloth bag and place them in a stream. Leaching the powder is quicker. A simple taste test can tell when the tannin has been leached. The traditional method of preparing the seed was to bury it in boggy ground overwinter. The germinating seed was dug up in the spring when it would have lost most of its astringency. The roasted seed is a coffee substitute.

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Antiarthritic  Antiseptic  Astringent  Dysentery

A decoction of the bark has been used as a cough medicine[257]. The pulverized outer bark has been used as an astringent and antiseptic dusting powder on burns and running sores and is particularly useful for babies with sore umbilicus[257]. A decoction of the inner bark has been used in the treatment of arthritis[257]. Any galls produced on the tree are strongly astringent and can be used in the treatment of haemorrhages, chronic diarrhoea, dysentery etc[4].

Adhesive  Fuel  Repellent  Tannin  Wood

A mulch of the leaves repels slugs, grubs etc, though fresh leaves should not be used as these can inhibit plant growth[20]. Oak galls are excrescences that are sometimes produced in great numbers on the tree and are caused by the activity of the larvae of different insects. The insects live inside these galls, obtaining their nutrient therein. When the insect pupates and leaves, the gall can be used as a rich source of tannin, that can also be used as a dyestuff[4]. The acorn meal has been used to mend cracks in clay pots[257]. Wood - heavy, very hard, strong, close grained[82]. Of no commercial value because the trunks are never tall or clear, it is used mainly as a fuel[82, 229].

Special Uses