Sweet acorn holm oaks

Recovering sweet acorn holm oaks varieties from Mallorca

The oak is one of the most emblematic trees of the Mediterranean. The vast majority of wild oak trees in Mallorca produce acorns with a high content of tannins that give them a bitter and astringent taste. But we also find oak trees with "sweet" acorns, which have been used both for animal consumption and also for human consumption (raw, roasted or flour).

In Mallorca, these oak trees have traditionally been propagated through grafting, a specific technique that has been handed down from generation to generation, and which on our island is the only place where this culture is preserved.

From 2019, thanks to the collaboration of Balanotrees and through an Applied Research Grant funded by FOGAIBA, we were able to identify and characterize some of the sweet oaks of Mallorca. Here you can consult the results of this latest project. You can also consult the different varieties or varietal types of oak that we were able to characterize and incorporate into the Catalog of local varieties of agricultural interest in the Balearic Islands.

Sweet acorn holm oaks nursery

The preservation of the sweet garlic oak varieties is another milestone in the recovery of Mallorca's cultivated biodiversity and the cultural and gastronomic heritage of our island. For this reason, in 2022 we launched a project to propagate sweet oaks of Mallorcan varieties in which, during the first two years, we grafted 1,800 individuals with the aim of enhancing and preserving these cultivars.

The Menut forest nursery, managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, provides the oaks of one year, and the University of the Balearic Islands he gives us a space to graft and an area inside the greenhouse.

Every year we complete the collections: Can Pistola (Felanitx), managed by a member of our organization; to the UIB, in gratitude for its collaboration in the project; and a last one in the Galatzó public estate.

In the month of November, we started the campaign to fill sour oak feet with sweet oak saplings, thanks to volunteer grafters and those attending the training courses. The seedlings remain for 3 weeks on a hot tube shelf and if they have started favorably, they are transplanted first into trays and then into individual forest pots. Before the summer, the trees are taken to grow and acclimatize at the CEFOR-Menut facilities and at the end of the year they can be planted in the field.

All this is possible thanks to the selfless collaboration of volunteers who help us, both with the collection of seedlings and grafts and with subsequent maintenance. This project is supported by Mallorca Preservation Foundation, the University of the Balearic Islands and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment.

Donate to the sweet oak nursery project

The preservation of the sweet garlic oak varieties is another milestone in the recovery of Mallorca's cultivated biodiversity and the cultural and gastronomic heritage of our island.

Do you want to graft oak trees?

Write to us at info@varietatslocals.org if you want to be part of the group of grafters who occasionally help us graft and do other tasks of the sweet oak multiplication project.
Get trained in the different courses we organize. More information in the section of formation.

Do you want to acquire a sweet oak tree?

Given the great interest in the project and the tree itself, it will soon be possible to purchase grafted oaks again.

The trees are primarily distributed among the partner people interested, in the month of December. Depending on the availability of copies and demand, we will make them available to the general public who wish to purchase them. We will announce it in our newsletter and through our networks.

Although our plants pass the relevant health checks, given the ban on moving live plant material outside the Balearic Islands, it is not possible to attend to requests from outside our Autonomous Community.

Contact us for more information

You can contact us by emailing info@varietatslocals.org or by calling 722 782 536