English Oak  / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible

Common Names

Oak, English oak, pedunculate oak

Botanical Name

Quercus robur

Scientific Classification

Kingdom – Plantae

Order – Fagales 

Family – Fagaceae

Physical Characteristics for Oak

A large deciduous tree, growing up to 30-40 metres when fully grown, with distinctive round-loped leaves.

Leaves

Around 10 cm long with 4-6 lopes. Leaves have almost no stem.

Flowers

Long, yellow hanging catkins which distribute pollen into the air.

Fruit

Acorns are 2–2.5cm long, on long stalks and in cupules (the cup-shaped base of the acorn). As it ripens, the green acorn turns brown.

Habitat

English oak is a very common tree, especially in Southern England.

Known Hazards 

None known.

Could be Confused with…

The Sessile Oak, but its leaves have stalks and its acorns don’t have stalks (whereas it’s the opposite in English oak which has tiny or no leaf stalks and acorns with long stalks). But there is no issue if the two are confused, they can both be used in the same way.

Edible Uses

Acorns have been gathered and eaten by humans since ancient times but the issue with the nuts is not their flavour but the effort involved in getting them ready to eat, because they are naturally inedible to us humans. Acorns are packed with tannins; a compound that makes them astringent and bitter and they must be ‘leached’(rinsed in running water over a period of time)  first to make them palatable.

Oak leaves were once used to make wine and even the trunk of the tree has provided an edible source of gum.

You can reduce the processing time of the acorns dramatically by collecting them later in the season when they’ve turned dark brown, instead of leaching in running water for 1 week you can boil for 5 minutes 🙂

Click here to see some of our favourite acorn recipes. 

Notes on Herbal Uses

Leaves, bark and acorns were believed to heal many medical ailments, including diarrhoea, inflammation and kidney stones.

Extra notes from the Foragers

Oak trees in the UK can support more than 2,300 different species. While you won’t find that number on a single tree, it does mean oak is associated with a greater biodiversity than any other native tree.