Eating Acorns

Oh man, the acorns workshop was awesome! And that bread? Holy moly. SO GOOD.

Courtney showed us the quickest and easiest way to make acorn flour, but there are a few different ways it can be done. 

The acorn nuts are quite bitter to begin with (I tried them to verify ;) so it's necessary to rinse them to get the tannins out.

(Cool fact: Tannins - from aging in oak barrels - give red wine a lot of their flavour!)

Before acorns are edible, the bitter tannins must be eliminated. For some oaks (English, chestnut oak) the tannins are minimal and peeling off the outer skin and lightly roasting the whole kernels will do. Most acorns need a water leaching to become edible. Boiling whole or lightly chopped kernels in several changes of water over several hours is one way. This makes a very dark nut with loss of sugar, and changed starch making it less useful for thickening. But the whole kernels can be eaten as is or added to granola or trail mix. Soaking whole or chopped kernels in fresh cold water is another way. This was traditionally done in a pit, or in a basket in a stream over several weeks. This washes out the tannins, leaving the sugars and starches and results in a pale nut which can be ground and used as flour or eaten as is. This cold processed flour is an excellent thickener, and makes good porridge.

The Fast Method:

The fast method results in a slightly poorer quality flour (less sugar and starch) than the boiling or cold water leaching process, but it’s super fast and easy. Having the modern convenience of wheat flour, corn or potato starch, and lots of sweeteners at hand the lack of the natural sugars and starches will not be missed when baking with acorn flour made this way!

Shell the acorns and discard any kernels that are discoloured. The nuts should be creamy white or pale beige. Cut off any black, grey, yellow or brown parts. 

Put 1 or 2 cups of kernels into a blender with lots of water. Blend to a fine paste, you want particles the size of cracked wheat or even cornmeal. The water will turn milky white, this is the starch coming out of the nuts. 

Pour the slurry into a clean nylon stocking. You want a fairly thick weave, not a sheer stocking. Let drain, and then wash the stocking full of nut meal under cold water, kneading the nut meal inside until the water runs clear and no more white starch comes out. The starch is easier to see than the tannin, so we use the absence of starch as a clue to when we have sufficiently washed the nuts.

 

Spread the nut meal out on a stocking or fabric covered dehydrator tray, or a fine mesh screen. Dry at a fairly high temperature for 6 to 10 hours, stirring and breaking up lumps occasionally. The oven can also be used, 15 – 20 minutes at 150 – 200F then leave the door ajar for several hours, stir, give it another 10 minutes at low heat until dry.

When completely dry, sift or run the meal through a food mill to even out the texture. Enjoy! 

When cooking with this acorn flour, use it in place of cornmeal in bread, cake or muffin recipes. It can also be used instead of almond or walnut meal. Use it with wheat flour for best texture, and add a spoonful of extra sugar and starch if you find the texture too heavy. This does not make good porridge, but is wonderful added to muffins and cookies.

References:
This is from the blog of an awesome Serbian guy. Lots of good info and crazy speculation.