The Food Value of Pines, Maples, Beeches and Oaks for Humans

As explained in my previous blog, the original vegetation on the Oak Ridges Moraine was mainly pines, maples, beeches and oaks. Their food value for humans is described in the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants:

Pines - All species of pines are edible. The young male cones can be boiled, and the inner bark made into highly nutritious flour. The fresh needles can be used to make a tea rich in vitamins A and C.

Maples - The sap from maples can be boiled to make maple sugar. The watery sap itself is quite pure and can be used as drinking or cooking water in areas where the water supply may be contaminated. All maples make excellent syrup.

Beeches - Beechnuts have sweet kernels that are delicious roasted and eaten whole, or ground into flour. An outstanding vegetable oil can be squeezed from the crushed kernels.

Oaks - Acorns are rich in protein and fat. They need to be boiled first to get rid of the bitter-tasting tannin, but then they can be roasted and eaten as nuts. Dried and crushed acorns can be ground into meal and used to make excellent breads and muffins.

So, when trees are cut down, a valuable food source is removed, which will take years to replace. This was not thought of by either the early settlers nor the current developers. However, the sooner that more of these kinds of trees are planted, the sooner there will be a reliable food supply for the future.