Processing acorns - best way?

[Dozza]

I have found some bits and pieces on here about acorn processing but no definitive guide in one place so I am asking for help please.

I found a nice walk on the weekend and decided to gather some acorns as they were ankle deep in places (well not really - but there were lots!). They are fallen brown ones and I thought I'd have a go at processing them to flour. First of all I softened them in water to shell them. This was moderately successful but then I read somewhere it is better to bake and crack them rather than wet them to do this(?).
Now I am soaking them in water for a few weeks with changes 2-3 times a day as I am reluctant to pay the gas board to boil a saucepan of water half a dozen times. Would be different over a camp fire but I am at home with them.

Apart from some overall guidance on the best approach, some specific questions:
1. Is processing hard, fallen, brown ones the best bet?
2. Is it important to get the brown skin off the nutmeat (it's like you get on an almond)? I have been scraping away while they are wet but it's pretty tedious.
3. A lot of them have gone black, or at least very dark brown as they are soaking. It can be scraped off the surface but is that important? I think a lot of it formed when I had shelled them but I left them for a while before getting them under water and they went dark then.
4. How long is the soaking going to take; I guess I should taste for bitterness at some point?

Eventually I think I dry them in the oven at low heat and then grind them to make the flour(?).

Appreciate help on the details with all of this. They are a plentiful resource but potentially very unhealthy if not processed properly...

 

[treadlightly]

See John Fenna's post this afternoon on his recipe for acorn coffee. A lot of your questions are covered.

 

[Dozza]

Yes, I already saw that thanks but it does not address my questions.

 

[spiritwalker]

my research has shown that you boil them in 3 changes of water (i think soaking them for that duration has made them go off and black, hate to think how the flour will look possibly starting to ferment?)

if this weather clears off i might get a fire going in the garden and a billy can out to give it a try...

my neighbour has an oak which is raining down acorns in my garden as we speak

 

[JJJ]

Try this
http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatT...959/8/10_Acorns:_More_Than_Survival_Food.html

he also has a huge libary of articles and videos .

 

[willpower]

I went on days acorn course last year, from what I can recall we picked the brown ones that had fallen to the ground and cracked the shells of the acorns using a hammer. We didn't worry about the thin skin just threw them in a pot and leached them 6 times in boiling water to get rid of the tanins, after this we put them through a mincer.

I would have thought leaving for long period in water might cause them to start rotting which could explain the blackening. One thing I've heard of is putting them in the cistern of your loo, ideally in a net bag like you buy satsumas in. Every time the loo is flushed they are in effect getting cleaned out. Would have thought a few days would be sufficient.

The flour that you get at the end is incredibly tasty but yes it is a time consuming process.

 

[Dozza]

That's useful; thanks.
I read somewhere that soaking for a long time with frequent changes of water is equivalent to a few boils and that another way is put them in a net in river for 2 weeks. Maybe the difference to keep them fresh is flowing water rather than the still water I was trying. I have since ditched them and will try again...

 

[willpower]

yes, I believe soaking in running water was the method of choice of certain american indian tribes who would all come together as a community to process the acorn harvest. I suppose the blackening you describe could be the acorns stewing in their own tannins as much as rotting so the running water technique would eliminate that. I would have thought a few days would be enougth but could be wrong.

Good luck with it, and would be interested to find out how you get on- it's got to be one of the tastiest and most nutritious wild foods out there- just rather time consuming!