Acorn flour experiment

H

halo2

Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Messages
299
Anyone ever made acorn flour?

I'm cooking up a batch now, but they're still bitter. I think my problem may be that the acorns might have been red oaks. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Shelled each acorn. Discard any with holes. Keep the nut, which is encased in a skin like spanish peanuts.

2. Crush the nut meats. Discard any dark meats.

3. Place in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain water and replace with more boiling water (water change #1.)

4. Taste at 7 minutes of boiling. Still bitter.

5. After 10 minutes, drain water and replace with more boiling water (water change #2.)

6. Taste at 12 minutes of boiling. Still bitter.

7. After 10 minutes, drain water and replace with more boiling water (water change #3.)

8. Taste at 19 minutes of boiling. Still bitter.

Repeat every 10 minutes. I'm up to 6 changes. Any suggestions?

I should add that they smell very sweet while boiling. Like walnuts. I plan on stopping the boiling and removing the skins to see if that helps.
 
Last edited:
Hey Halo,

I have never processed Acorns, although I've been going to get around to it forever.

Isn't the heat from boiling fixing the tannin in the acorns?

Something you might be interested in - it's on my bookshelves, also to get around to at a later date :o. Be sure and read the reviews.

Doc
 
Last edited:
Although I've never done it myself, the books I've read suggest leaching it through four changes of water, over a 24 hour period. They don't mention anything about boiling it, if I remember correctly. I believe it is just the changes of water to get the tannins out that does the trick. Then you can boil it as a mush, or dry it and grind it to use as flour.

This is just from memory, and could be wrong.
 
I can tell you one thing about eatting acorns...white oak acorns taste much better than black or red oak even the animals preferentially eat them hence the trees' fruit maturation pattern
 
You mentioned that you crushed the acorn. Then you mention that you are thinking about removing the skin. So i guess you didnt realy crush the acorn them selves. Its a good idea to actualy crush the acorns and then like Dawsonbob mentioned it to let them sit in water for a longer time hot water makes it faster, But dont just boil them. It might take 24 or 48 hours depands on the acrons.

Sasha
 
My ex made acorn bread for me, once. I don't know the details of her methods, but I do know that – done right – it's delicious!
 
I'm gonna follow this post just out of my personal curiosity...like to learn how to do it myself. I've also heard that white oak acorns are best.
 
This is from Edible Wild Fruits & Nuts of Canada, Nancy J. Turner/ Adam F. Szczawinski, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1988, ISBN# 0-88902-751-X, page 102:

If the acorns are bitter, crack them open and thoroughly dry the kernels. Cover with a generous quantity of water, bring to a boil, and keep boiling for 2 hours. Pour off the now darkened water, cover the acorns with cold water, and allow them to soak for 3 to 4 days, changing the water occasionally. The acorns may now be re-dried and used whole or ground into meal.
Click to expand...

Maybe that will help,

Doc
 
My wife and I tried the same thing this fall, but couldn't gather enough to really make flour. We read the same thing about white oak varieties being much better for flour than the red oaks. We got the tannins out by lightly boiling them 3 or 4 times, maybe 2 minutes at a time. They tasted bland but not bitter after 6-8 minutes total boiling.
We followed this ladies advice:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/clay79.html
 
This from 'Wildman' Steve Brill:

"The red oak group has pointy-edged leaves. Their nuts take two years to mature, and the insides of the nutshells are hairy. Acorns in this group contain so much tannin, they're only worth collecting if you're a squirrel." (Identifying & Harvesting Edible & Medicinal Plants in Wild ( and not so wild) Places, 'Wildman' Steve Brill / Evelyn Dean, Hearst Books, 1994, ISBN# 0-688-11425-3, page 174)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From another:

"Northern red oak and black oak acorns, which are also very bitter-tasting, were used mostly as a famine food by the Iroquois, Huron, Ojibwa, Potawatomi and other peoples." Edible & Medicinal Plants of Canada,- MacKinnon / Kershaw, Lone Pine, 2009, ISBN# 978-1-55105-572-59-6 page 56
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This from Edible Wild Plants- A North American Field Guide, Thomas S. Elias/ Peter A. Dykeman, Sterling Publishing (Outdoor Life), 1990, ISBN# 0-8069-7488-5

HARVEST and PREPARATION: Gather acorns in autumn as they turn brown and fall. Store in cool dry place or shell for immediate use. Place whole, chopped, or coarsely ground nutmeats in cloth (clean T-shirt will do) and tie with string. Place in boiling water until water turns brown, drain, add more boiling water. Repeat many times until water remains clear. In the field, place bag filled with nutmeats in clear running stream until nutmeats are no longer bitter, from 1 to several days. Spread leached acorns in pan and dry in sun or warm oven. Use whole nutmeats or prepare and use as grits or meal as described under WHITE OAK GROUP. For acorn muffins, cream 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 cup sugar or molasses. Add alternately and blend 2 eggs, 1 cup milk, and dry mix of 1 cup acorn meal or grits, 2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt. Beat thoroughly. Bake in greased muffin pan at 200°C (390°F) for about 20 min. For pancake batter, repeat muffin recipe but add 1 more egg plus milk. For acorn coffee, roast acorn meal at 175°C (350°F) until dark and crisp, about 30 min. Use 1/2 cup roasted meal to 4 cups water. Combine, boil 15 min, strain, and serve. (OL233)
-----------------------------------------------
"Shelling acorns is not a process I enjoyed until I came across a method used by Native Americans in northern California. They simply soak the acorns overnight, which causes them to split. Old women would shell the acorns. This method made it so easy to shell even the blind participated. Another method is to place the acorns near fire, toasting evenly until the outer shells become brittle. Rolling with a heavy rock could easily crack off the shells."

Important: Do not place acorns in cold water and then boil, as this will fix the tannins. Only allow the acorns to come into contact with boiling water, never warm or cold. (Harvesting Nature's Bounty, Duffy, 1st Books, 2000, ISBN# 1-58721-876-3, page 8)

_________________________________________________

Good luck!

Doc
 
Sounds like you've got a good grasp of it! Always wanted to try, but never have.

I heard about multiple boilings and/or leaching overnight, crushing to provide as much surface area as possible. White much less tannins than the darker acorns; very preferable if any choice. White can be quite good from what I hear, and sounds yummy; dad wrinkled his face at dark acorn idea. Can cheat the extra tannin with baking soda, just don't overdo it.

My notes say to gather in Fall, and roughly 15% protein and fat. Sweet and nutty. Gather, dry fully in fire/sun/air. Shell (why not do this before drying, I don't see). Boil to remove tanic acid, repeating til water is light-colored. Use tannin water as anti-septic/anti-bacterial/anti-viral (would this be enough concentration to soak a hide I wonder). Topical uses: rashes, bites, swollen, sunburn, cuts, canker-sore. Eat or pound into flour with natural levin. Disclaimer: ask your doctor before doing/using/consuming anything!:p

Thanks for reminding me, it's something I've always intended to get to! Now, if I can just forage up something from under the snow, I'll be good to go
 
Thanks all. My response is a bit delayed - I've been shucking acorn skins. I don't recommend it if you have a pressing appointment:)

Ha, Doc. I have both of those references (Brill & Elias/Dykeman!) Time to re-RTFM, I guess :) Boiling is reducing the tannins after 1 hour or so. I'm going to leach them overnight and retest.

VTguy - I thought that might be the case. These were gathered for holiday decoration without regard to what tree they fell from.

Dannyboy Leather - I have Kephart also. And I've read it cover to cover and obviously forgotten what I've read. Thanks for the reminders!

The skins peel right off; however, crushing them has made it a lot more difficult to get all of the pieces. I have two containers now. One peeled (about 1 cup) and one with peels of about the same size. If I were to do this in the future, I'd boil for 20 minutes whole and try to peel them.

Still this is an experiment. I'll keep y'all posted ...
 
The interesting thing about all this is that there are so many different methods of accomplishing the same thing. When I initially posted, I was going by memory. Others have posted a number of different methods, all of which would apparently work.

I know that some of the local indian tribes would winter in the Anzo Borrego desert where they would stockpile chia, Mesquite beans (and other legumes) and whatever else was found there at the time. In the Spring they would move up into the mountains, spend the summer and then, in the fall they would harvest and process acorns. Once processed, they would move back to the desert as cold weather approached.

If you wander around the local mountains and foothills, you can still find the locations where the indian women processed their acorns. They used Manos (grinding stones) in Metate's (depressions in large rocks), and many of their camps were set up just to take advantage of the combination of oak trees, water, and processing stones.

Once the acorns had been dried, processed and turned into meal, the entire tribe would take part in transporting it down to the desert for the winter.

Other local bands, like the Diguenos, ranged between the ocean and the mountains, but did essentially the same thing.

As far as I know, none of these tribes left anything like cookbooks :D, so I guess we'll never know just how they processed and prepared their acorns. We do know that they were a staple part of their diet, though.
 
now the next question......is all the labor and time involved, worth the ENERGY expenditure to get a few biscuits....?


just saying....in a survival situ, one might EXPEND more energy gathering, processing and waiting than they get a return on for their efforts.
 
Ray and his ethno-botanist friend did this... They put the meal in a bag, and left it to leach in a stream, overnight I think. Interesting tidbit... They said that reportedly some tribes used the most bitter acorns, because they had a higher fat content. And in that context a higher fat content was, or course, quite valuable.


Bushman5 said:
now the next question......is all the labor and time involved, worth the ENERGY expenditure to get a few biscuits....?
just saying....in a survival situ, one might EXPEND more energy gathering, processing and waiting than they get a return on for their efforts.
Click to expand...

No, this would be a bush living skill. As part of the maintenance phase, well after establishment.

Marion
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top