acorn experiment, and a question

[Dinghy]

Me and Hubby went for a walk in the woods today. For the first time ever I found a large amount of acorns on the ground. I decided to fill my pockets and bring them home and experiment with them. I figured if TSHTF they would be a terrific source of food for us. I know this isn't the right time of year to be gathering them, but thought I'd try them any way. I also wanted to see if I could eat them since I'm allergic to a lot of trees. I shelled them, picked out the bad looking ones, and put the good ones in water and boiled them. I changed the water at least 4 times to get out the tannin. Then I drained them and rubbed the peanut type skin off of them, and put them on the dehydrator trays. While I was doing that I started to feel a little funny. I had them about 3/4 done when I noticed my nose was running. Then I realized I was breathing a little harder. I smelled something that smelled like mushrooms. I tasted one of the pieces left in the pan, and it tasted like mushrooms. It was then that I decided there must be some mold somewhere, which I am allergic to. I had tasted several pieces before and didn't notice anything, but I was starting to feel worse. I ended up throwing the whole batch away after spending so much time fixing them. I was so upset, but I couldn't take a chance on getting sick. I don't know how there could still be anything like mold left after boiling them for so long. I decided to end the experiment for the time being, and wait until fall when I can get them before they have had a chance to lay on the ground. I don't know if the reaction was because of the tree allergy or the mold allergy, but I'm guessing it's the mold. If it was just the acorns I should have started to itch or something while I was shelling them or when I tasted the first few pieces. I really had the air let out of my balloon!
Have any of you foragers ever eaten acorns, and if so how did you fix them? I had thought I could use them like regular nuts. Everything I've read says to use them as a type of flour, and that it can't be stored for more than a few days or it will get rancid. I always wondered why nobody ever eats them any more. After seeing how much work is involved, I don't really wonder any more!!! Since they are so nutritious you would think somebody would have come up with a better way of being able to use them!

 

[cooter]

guess I admit Im a little nutty

did the acorn thing quite a few times over the yrs, some yrs they tasted ,,,ok, other yrs yuk!, depends on the amount of tannin in them , the soaking, and what kind of oak , I have always gotten them in the fall not spring too,

thats about all I can offer,

 

[Freeholder]

We've eaten them, and they were pretty good (Oregon White Oak). But we picked and used them as soon as they dropped from the trees. As I recall (it's been quite a few years ago) we shelled them, washed them, dried them (just surface, not dehydrating the whole nut), and ran them through a little electric coffee mill since we didn't have a grain mill. The resulting meal was rinsed and then put into pancakes or something, about one third acorn meal. It was good, and I would have been willing to do it again with that type of oak, as they were sweet enough to be easy to prepare.

Kathleen

 

[GrDner777]

I am pulling this out of memory, but I believe that acorns are full of a strong substance called tannin (sp?). The native americans used to place them in a pit of sorts for the winter and let the stuff leach out. I think you can do the same by placing them in water (I cannot remember if there should be in or out of the shell) and changing it out as the water turns color. Repeat many times until the water is clear. As you discovered the tannin has a toxic quality to it and should be handled accordingly. They say that this is one of the reasons that other trees don't grow well under oaks (though this has not stopped the wild cherries here).

I am sure a good survival book would have the details. Hope this helps, Suzanne

 

[Double_A]

I've done them 3 or 4 times, they are a TON of work to prepare. I let them leach through running water for 36 hours if they are chopped and 24 hrs if they are course grind. I put the coarse ground meal in a three pound coffee can with holes poked in the bottom and sides. Can is filled 3/4ths that goes under the tap in the garage sink at a slow continous stream for 24-36 hours.

If they taste at all bitter they are not leached enough.

I use them in a corn bread receipe replacing about half the corn meal with acorn.

Acorns are SUPER high in protein.

 

[tanstaafl]

I've never made the effort, but I do have a book in my library about this: "Acorns and Eat ‘Em: Complete Directions for Harvesting, Preparing, and Cooking Acorns; A How-To Vegetarian Cookbook" by Suellen Ocean (c. 1993).

One thing I learned from scanning the book was that there's a reason oak trees haven't been domesticated for their acorns: there's no consistency between oak trees, not within the same grove and not even a tree grown from a parent that produces great tasting acorns. It's apparently a real crap shoot, but none-the-less it's still a source of food if the situation calls for it.

 

[Myranya]

Yes, you need to peel them, then chop or coarsely grind them and then rinse them, I don't think you can get all the tanine out if you try to process them whole, no matter how often you change the water. There'll still be tanine inside if you try that!
I've only prepared them once, they were slightly nutty but there wasn't much flavor left after the whole preparation process. That was in fall, too; I'm not sure how long they'll keep.

 

[Dinghy]

Thanks everybody! I will try them again in the fall, but I don't think it will be worth the effort except in an emergency! There really wasn't much taste after all that work. I had hoped they'd be more like regular nuts. I won't be fighting the deer for them any time soon!!

 

[Giblin]

My Aunt gave me a book of native Indian receipes (New England) that used Acorns as a type of meal/flour. If I can find it I'll give you some more information.

 

[Double_A]

Thanks everybody! I will try them again in the fall, but I don't think it will be worth the effort except in an emergency! There really wasn't much taste after all that work. I had hoped they'd be more like regular nuts. I won't be fighting the deer for them any time soon!!

Have these been on the grownd since last fall? I collect mine in November.

 

[Windy Ridge]

Oak trees fall into two groups, the white oaks and all the others (black, red, live). White oaks produce acorns with low tannin levels. Some species and individual trees in other species have acorns that are quite tasty without any processing. The other oaks produce acorns high in tannins. They keep much better as there is far less insect and fungal damage but require grinding and leaching to become edible.

Windy Ridge

 

[Dinghy]

Yes, they were on the ground. I think they were just too old and weathered. I think they are a white oak, but I'm going to get some leaves to check for sure. They were a little bitter, but not real bad.

 

[Todd]

I posted a thread on the H&H SIG last year about making acorn meal. I could look it up but it's quicker to just repeat it.

1. Remove the shells - the Indians in my area used stones and a deprssion in a larger stone. I use a nut cracker. The nuts should be dried first either in the sun or a dehydrator.

2. Discard the moldy nut meats. Put the rest of the nut meats in a blender with plenty of water. Whiz until the nut meats are finely ground.

3. Discard the water and rinse.

4. Put the ground nut meats in a sprout jar with water to cover. Put in the fridge.

5. Rinse and change the water each day for a week.

6. Do a final drying of the meal.

Be aware that this is a lot of work.

If done right, the taste will be bland.

Todd

 

[ittybit]

I have also read that adding pure clay will detox potentially edible plant materials, pulling out alkyds, which are one of the main 'bad' things that makes for poisonous plant eats.

In the case of acorns, the acorn meal was ground without washing and approx 10% by volumn of fresh dug clay was added. The mix was cooked a or roasted.

You dig the clay from well below the surface to get clay that is free of biological contamination.

 

[A.T.Hagan]

The trick to acorns is to find the right tree. Find one that makes large, sweet tasting nuts and concentrate on that one. Ignore the ones that produce nuts that will require much processing unless you simply have to use them.

Oaks are like any other tree in that they are quite variable. One tree may make nuts that are way more trouble than they are worth, another may make nuts that can be made edible with only minimal processing, and one may make nuts that are good to eat out of hand.

I once found such an oak as that in that I could peel and eat the nuts as they came out of the shell. Unfortunately I did not realize the value of what I had found so didn't mark or record the tree. Years later when I realized what a valuable find it was I could not find the tree again. Oh well, live and learn.

All of the fruits and nuts that we enjoy came to us in the same way. Somewhere along the line someone found a particular tree that made good fruit or nuts so they began to propagate it. Maybe they planted the seeds it produced, maybe they rooted cuttings, or maybe they grafted buds or branches onto other trees. Over time selections were continuously made to select for whatever qualities were deemed desirable. Given a long enough period of time this made a vast change in the qualities of the tree.

There are wild pecans to be found in the U.S. that are pretty well completely inedible for being so bitter. But you can buy or grow your own that are excellent in eating quality.

The same can be done for acorns as well. If you find a wild tree that makes good nuts then mark the tree! Plant the acorns it produces to improve the chances that the good nut producing genes it carries will be passed on.

.....Alan.

 

[Double_A]

Books I've read researching the topic before my first experiment talkabout finding the right tree. The right tree was often a source of contention as to who's it was.

 

[Todd]

Double A,

Native people weren't dumb. They knew which trees were best. In my area some were handed down from generation to generation within the same family. They also planted acorns from the best trees to increase their stock. In fact, my wife and I have discussed planting acorns from our best trees to increase yields for us...there are significant differences between trees.

Acorns were a major food source around here (coastal northern CA).

Todd

 

[Camasjune]

The preferred tree in Northern California is the pin oak.

Gather your acorns as soon as the fall from the tree otherwise the squirrels will get the best and leave you the culls.

Shell the acorns and put the nuts into a muslin bag. Lay the bag of nuts on a flat rock and roll a rounded rock over them and mash them.

Tie the bag closed, place it in a flowing creek and weight it with a rock. Leave it there until you can squeeze the bag and no "milk" flows out. 1 to 3 days.

Acorn meal is ready to use fresh or spread on another piece of muslin to dry in the sun.

As taught to me by a Karuk Grandmother.

 

[summerthyme]

The tastiest way to eat acorns:

1. Feed to a hog

2. butcher said hog, make bacon

3. fry bacon.

4. enjoy.

(Sorry, couldn't resist. LOL!)
Summerthyme