"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
>I know that they have to be ground and soaked
> to remove bitter tannic acid. I've also heard
> that they're not particularly good.
>
> I ask because my mom has a giant oak tree
> which is dropping some really big acorns.
> It's a California live oak, and I don't remember
> this tree producing acorns of significant
> size when I was a kid. The few acorns were
> really tiny.
>
> I suspect the tree is dying. There's something
> called Sudden Oak Death going around here, and
> this tree is the most prominent tree along a
> heavily travelled road. It has moss growing on
> it, which it didn't have during most of the
> time I've known it.
>
> I've never heard of oak trees producing a bumper
> crop of acorns when dying. The acorns look
> really good, but they're going out with the
> yard waste unless I save them.



I haven't. But North American Indians sure did/do:

http://siouxme.com/acorn.html

Jill