Acorn Processing

[woodsorrel]

Hi Everyone!

For me, the end of summer is signaled by the start of the acorn harvest. True Oaks (Quercus) and Tanoaks (Lithocarpus) in my area produce a wonderful crop of acorns. Nutritious food literally falls from the trees!

Many types of wildlife rely on this food, from black-tailed deer to acorn woodpeckers. And as many of you know, indigenous peoples around the world used acorns for food wherever they occur.

I also use acorns for food. Sometimes I prepare a more traditional mush, other times I use acorn meal to bake my favorite Orange-Acorn bread.

Many people locally express interest in processing acorns for food, so I thought forum members might be interested as well.

A Gentle Reminder:
In the past, I have been a little hesitant to post information online about acorn processing. I am concerned that too many people harvesting acorns will impact wildlife, much of which uses acorns for food. This is a real concern for metropolitan areas (where I live). A small fraction of the human population harvesting acorns could easily consume an entire crop. It is also becoming fashionable in my area to incorporate wild foods into restaurant menus. Modern humans no longer rely on acorns for survival. But the animal population still does.

So please be attentive to this so that you do not over-harvest where wildlife needs the food source the most. As bushcrafters, we are stewards of the land more so than others.


Equipment:
The equipment you need is very simple, and you probably have all of it already available in your kitchen:

You will need:

1. Pitcher (to hold water)
2. Coffee or seed grinder (easy to clean blender can substitute)
3. 1 gallon plastic water jug
4. Small strainer/colander (one shown is conical, I have since switched to semi-circular)
5. Coffee filters that fit the strainer you have selected

Not shown:

• Rubber mallet
• dish towel

Links to Instructions:
I am consolidating all of my most recent information about processing acorns for food and toys and making it available online. It will probably take the better part of this month to do so. In case forum members are interested, I will place links to the information in this thread so everyone can find it, and add links as I get more of the information online.


How to Make Acorns Into Food (Part 1) - Covers indigenous use, nutrition, outlines steps to process, some information on selecting/harvesting, drying

How to Make Acorns Into Food (Part 2) - Covers equipment, shelling, tannins, and grinding. Touches upon traditional methods of leaching acorns.

How to Make Acorns Into Food (Part 3) - Covers leaching and cooking (both traditional and modern methods)


I hope people find this information helpful. I derive a great deal of pleasure from processing acorns into food. Hopefully other forum members will enjoy it as well.


If you already process acorns, can you share your tips/tricks/recipes with the rest of us?



- Woodsorrel

 

[woodsorrel]

Added link to information that covers equipment, shelling, tannins, and grinding. Touches upon traditional methods of leaching acorns.

- Woodsorrel

 

[xylaria]

good blog post. i wish I could get my flour that golden.

English and penduncular oaks need massively more leaching then the american white do. My method is boil, batter out of the shells, then sieve out the shells, leach, leach some more, dry, then powder, then if the colour isn't pale enough leach again.

The park 12 miles away has american oak species, it might save some work getting some acorns from there.

 

[woodsorrel]

good blog post. i wish I could get my flour that golden.

English and penduncular oaks need massively more leaching then the american white do. My method is boil, batter out of the shells, then sieve out the shells, leach, leach some more, dry, then powder, then if the colour isn't pale enough leach again.

The park 12 miles away has american oak species, it might save some work getting some acorns from there.

I did not know that English oaks had more tannins than their American cousins. I use tanoak acorns (Lithocarpus densiflora - not a true oak), which also have very high levels of tannins.

You describe a very interesting approach, xylaria. I have tried boiling in the past without much success. It seemed to me that boiling "locked in" the bitter taste.

Please let us know how the American species works out!

- Woodsorrel

 

[Toddy]

Interesting topic

Our local oaks seem to come in two varieties; one can be eaten almost straight from the trees while the other is really bitter.
We don't have much history of eating acorn flour, tbh.
It's an awful lot of work for hard earned calories, especially in a damp climate that means we usually need additional heat to dry them off.

Tannins are highly water soluble.
Find a free running clean burn. Gather acorns, you can take off the shells and put them in a sack(or just bash them first; though this can lead to them starting to go sour as they rot a bit, or just accept that the soaking will take longer) Tie securely and stake the sack in the burn. Three weeks let it have water running through it.
Try biting into one; if it's still bitter/bitter then put them back into the water.
When they are no longer jaw tighteningly bitter then lift them out of the water and hang up from a branch to drain and air dry for a couple of days.
Spread them out in the sunshine (Hah! as if that's reliable ) and pick them clean of shells and rotten bits. If you can use free sunshine, great else use a big pan or in a slow oven to dry off until hard (good idea to bash them a fair bit before they become hard/hard again. ) Grind into flour. It keeps quite well, and even if it starts to ferment a bit when in the sack (you're water's not running hard enough) the flour's fine.

If you're only doing a pot load, Xylaria and Oblio's method's a lot quicker

Not to everyone's taste, and tannin does in small quantities not do us any harm, but larger doses aren't so good since they can help leave folk anaemic. I believe there's a chemical process that somehow latches onto the iron and binds it in such a way that it's not useable by the body. A little though seems to be rather good for us. Eases diarrhoea, is mildly antiseptic, antimicrobial, strengthens the gums, eases sunburn, used to be used as part of the mix given when someone's been poisoned, etc., etc.,

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97984

http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/ahcbac.htm

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Rich D]

Great info guys, always wondered about this since reading my side of the mountain at school. Although with a 3 week leaching process in the UK I might stick to red wine for my tannins.

 

[Toddy]

Xylaria's (and see Oblio's post in the link to the old thread) boiling works.....just it's energy use. Fine if you've got a stove on anyway

Like apples though, I reckon every tree's different.

atb,
M

 

[woodsorrel]

I went ahead and added a link in the first post to the final portion of the "Acorn Trilogy". Spoiler alert: The Tanoak is Luke's father.

Toddy accurately describes the bitter, astringent taste of the tannic acids. The tannins bind and precipitate proteins. This effect is precisely why they are used for “tanning” leather.

You can leach them without using a lot of energy or having a clean flowing stream nearby. This last part describes the method I use in my kitchen to leach the tannins over a period of several hours. It is very easy to do, and you can do it while watching a day of sports on television. I also describe two methods for making traditional-style acorn mush. One uses the stove, the other hot rocks. There is also a link to a free online book containing acorn recipes.

Hopefully, this will get the creative juices (and tannins) flowing.

- Woodsorrel