Processed Acorns

[Mang]

I was looking through my Photobucket album and discovered these three images I took when I processed some Acorns. It was at the time that the forum was on enforced downtime and it slipped my mind.

The three shots are the raw, blitzed Acorns, after they were soaked to remove the tannins and once dried.

They look like Chestnut flesh when the shell is off and the membrane is a bitch to get off cold! Once I started soaking them the water discoloured readily and I faithfully changed the water on a regular basis.

I have to be honest that I found the cooked pulp a little disappointing flavour wise. It was vaguely nutty and would have made a good addition to stuffing at Christmas, but that's about it to be honest. I also found it too crumbly to fashion a patty, and I spared myself Acorn coffee-Tannin free or not, it would have looked like it had come out of the internal workings of a Tomcat! Give me Rosehip tea anyday.

I didn't cook the remainder and kept it in the fridge were it ultimately developed a silver beard.

Questions...
*How do I know when the tannins are leached out? I wasn't sure if it was the pulp discolouring the water in the end. so did I leach flavour out?
*Is there a knack to getting it to stick together?
*Has anyone tried (and liked) the coffee?
*Should I have cooked the remainder to prolong it as a 'winter staple'?

 

[Melonfish]

don't you boil these in several changes of water then roast once dry and grind for coffee?
i hear its good if you add a touch of chickory.

 

[Cap'n Badger]

Nah....I just shelled mine crushed them....dry fried them brown...ground them down t' a coarse dust...dry fried them again....an' drank them as coffee fer three weeks.....I did put a thread up when I first processed them a while back.
Bloody good alt t' coffee an' I'll bet no one can tell the diff' t' normal instant coffee. Not used them as flour yet ....s'thing I mean t' try in the near future tho.

 

[Melonfish]

I got a fantastic wild food book from my sis this christmas, and acorn coffee is in there, defo one i'm trying this year, actually seen some fresh buds on some Gorse plants recently so i'm going to try Gorse bud tea which is another recipe.

the book is:
Edible Wild Plants And Herbs

jolly good read tbh.
i'll let you know how i go this year with my acorn coffee but cheers for that, defo means i'll be having a go

as an aside this book mentions nothing about tannins, it just says when chopped drop in salty water then rinse the lot with clean water then on to the baking?

 

[lee2205]

ray mears covers acorns in one of the wild food episodes , the woodland one i think. you can probebly find it on youtube
lee

 

[Mang]

Gorse tea is on my 2010 to do list as well. It was seeing Ray rinse the acorn mush that I took my lead from, but he doesn't say for instance if the water needs to runs clear for instance...it didn't seem to and I just stopped soaking it in the end.

Think I will give Acorn coffee a go too. I also found that some Oaks had bigger, fatter and more plentiful dropped acorns than others of the same variety. I also found three mature Oaks in a row by a hedge and only one of the three had any dropped acorns and they were in profusion.