SWEET Red Oak Leaves

[bigbendmarine]

On a "you might be a habitat guy" note, I often taste small portions of acorns and even leaves to test the flavor.. and... MAN, are red oak tender leaves SWEET. I'm talking saccharine sweet immediately after budding.

Plucked a single leaf off a sprout out of curiosity during a walk in town under a prolific acorn producing tree, and it was SO sweet I feared it might be some spray that had been on it... was instantly spitting for a minute or two in fear I poisoned myself.

This week while walking my own land, plucked another leaf and blessedly it had the exact same extremely sweet flavor.

Kind of amazed any red oaks make it to adulthood at all now that I've tasted a leaf. Have seen a number of studies sharing red oak leaves as a highly preferred deer browse and now understand one of the reasons why.

Have to add after a search online I see recommendations for humans not to consume much as supposedly can cause intesinal and kidney issues.

 

[OakSeeds]

Good info ... thanks

 

[rocksnstumps]

Wonder if a general rule that young leaves have more sugar/whatever compound that makes them so desirable. Have heard the same thing about young basswood leaves. Besides being more tender sweeter tasting while newly emerged. Or maybe they don't really have more sugar initially but less bitterness early that overpowers the sweetness

Maybe will give a test this spring

 

[T-Max]

Could they push sugar into the leaves to act like an anti-freeze early in the year?


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[Bowsnbucks]

Could they push sugar into the leaves to act like an anti-freeze early in the year?

GREAT question!!! It makes sense.