Acorns can be people food...

When the United States really falls into hard times...and we are looking for ways to feed our families...it can give peace to know that there are ALL KINDS of wild foods all around us that are ready to be gathered and enjoyed....if only we take the time to learn to identify them...and how to use them. I bet that in your lawn right now...there are several weeds that are quite tasty and nutritious...do you know which ones they are!? From time to time I will do an article on what is generally called "foraging"...or "wild foods" and post it here to bring to light some of these foods that are in our region. The first wild food that I will highlight...that I am really excited about...is acorns!

Acorns are a wild food that even the smallest of children can identify. To the children that find them they are a novelty...and to most adults they are a nuisance...litter to be discarded. They drop from Oak trees in the Sacramento valley by the barrel full. A friend of mine recently told me how he had filled up his green waste bins multiple times with nothing but acorns! He exclaimed to me "What a waste...I know there is a way to make them into food...like the Indians did! I got a bumper crop and they are just going straight to the green waste".

If you have ever been adventurous and tried even the tiniest bite of raw acorn...you probably regretted putting it in your mouth. When eaten raw...they are BITTER. What is so bitter is what is called "Tannic acid" or "Tannin". This is the stuff that can be used to tan leather...that LDS people often cite as a main reason why coffee is bad for you. So how can acorns be people food with all of that tannic acid? How are they processed to make them good to eat?

The last few weeks I have been investigating that...and here are some highlights and some thoughts....

I would guess that at some point we all did a report on the American Indians...and how they pounded acorns into flour. While not all tribes made heavy use of acorns for their sustenance....some tribes used acorn as their main source of food. I just checked out a book this last week from the library called "It will live forever". It was a really interesting peek into some of the methods of acorn preparation of the Miwok and Paiute Indians that lived in the Yosemite valley. The book outlines how to process acorns with the most rudimentary of tools...and much of the culture revolving around the "people of the acorn". One thing that the book made clear is that there is no "one way" to do the process...it can be done a variety of ways. Methods vary from tribe to tribe...and even within tribes...or even families.

I am sure that the thought of sitting around for hours pounding acorn with rocks doesn't sound all that appealing to many. You will probably be pleased to know that you don't have to lift and drop an rock for hours to get a product!...There are modern methods that can be employed.

This last week I tried out one of these methods. Without getting into all of the details...I collected the acorns that are still falling from my "Interior Live Oak's" in my backyard...and followed this method to prepare the acorns. The flour was completed yesterday...and today I made my first acorn muffins! The kids in our preschool all loved them...and asked for seconds...and for thirds (to which we said "no".) They turned out to be like a spice cake...they were really good. I had some family eat some of a muffin and I asked them what they thought the special ingredient could be...to which they guessed at various spices and nuts. Imagine their surprise when I told them it was made with "Acorn!" My grandmother exclaimed..."Like the Indians!!"

Here are some interesting points about acorns...and stuff to get you to want to use them!...

1. They are probably the most easy foraging food to identify! You aren't going to make a mistake and poison yourself! Identifying oak tree's can be difficult...because of the hybridization between the species...but you will not mistake the acorn that drops from it.

2. In hard times...if you took the time to learn how to use acorn...you would probably be the only one within miles that would have any idea how to eat them.

3. All acorns are edible from all varieties of Oak. They have differing flavors....different amounts of oils...differing amounts of tannic acid...etc.

4. They can be dried and stored for a LONG time. The black oaks acorn can be dried and stored for upwards of 13 years!! Tannic acid is a natural preservative...the higher the tannic acid content...the longer it will store.

5. Once leeched of the tannic acid...the acorn can be made into a mush that is so mild an infant can eat it! It can be eaten without adding anything to it...or it can be mixed in with other foods to bulk them up. It is versatile!

6. ACORNS ARE A SURVIVAL FOOD OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE!! Acorns are extremely nutritious, containing up to 18 percent fat, 6 percent protein, and 68 percent carbohydrate as well as vitamins A and C and many amino acids. 100 grams of acorn flour (roughly one cup) contains a whopping 500 calories, 30 grams of fat, and 54 grams of carbohydrate.

7. Oak tree's are EVERYWHERE! Oak tree's are to be found all over the world...and across the US. While other wild foods are only regional...one can be assured that an Oak tree can be found most anywhere in the US. In the Sacramento valley they are especially plentiful. The food they drop is ready to be picked up by the barrel full!

8. You don't have to plant and tend the crop! In contrast to growing your own garden...which takes a lot of time and effort to get the fruit...acorns just fall from the trees without any thought of taking care of the tree! Oaks drop their acorns according to a cycle...weak years followed by a strong year...and the timeline is based largely on what variety Oak it is. Then there is also a phenomenon called "masting" where an Oak will drop an unreal amount of acorns (often really large)...like my friend experienced.

9. You can actually have a really long season of harvestable acorns! Many Oaks are dropping acorns back in October...November...and here it is mid-February and I am still collecting!

10. If things got really rough for our nation...and people came to you for help...if you knew how to process acorn...you could send them out to gather what they want to eat!

So...what did I learn from my first attempt at using acorn as a food?....

1. If you over bake the acorn....it will take forever to get all of the tannic acid to leech out. I think next time I will not bake them...I will dehydrate them a bit instead. It will be one of those things that will develop as I go.

2. Ideally you will collect your acorns when they have freshly fallen. The Miwok and Paiute Indians both selected their acorns like we would our oranges at the grocery store. Taking only the acorns that had no holes or bumps...and looked healthy. I used substandard acorns...and it was still edible....next time I want it to be even better!

3. I want to get a Davebilt nutcracker. After leaning over a pile of acorns for a good stretch of time...whacking them with a hammer...breaking the shells...winnowing...etc...I found that my back was tired and my fingers were tender from cracking the shells. This is work I would gladly do to survive...but it sure would be nice to mechanize to process to make it easier. The Davebilt is THE way to shell acorns...according to people that use acorn as a means of food...as opposed to a hobby. Watch this video of the Davebilt in action.

4. You can be a total rooky...and still get a product that your kids will eat...and love...and could even thrive upon...and this from the ground in my backyard! Better in our bellies...than in the green waste!

Here is the way I will try it next time...just to try another method

Julia F. Parkers New Way Acorn (from the "It will live forever book")

Cracking
Crack 4 pounds of acorn with a hammer. When cracking, tap shells lightly enough that the nutmeats will split into halves or thirds, but won't shatter into small pieces.

Shelling
Remove shells by hand, returning shells and any bad nuts to the earth.

Cleaning
To loosen the skins, lay acorn on a cloth on a table in the sun. Split grooves open by pressing down with the sharp edge of a knife held lengthwise in the groove. Sprinkle the acorns with water and allow to dry. Rub handfuls of nutmeats between hands to remove skins. Scrape any adhering skins off with a knife. Taking bad nuts into account, 4 pounds result in about 4 cups of whole, cleaned acorn.

Blender Crushing
Measure out 4 cupfuls of whole, cleaned nutmeats. Put 1 cupful (5 1/2 oz.) in a blender and break up at low speed. The acorn will jump around in the blender. Once the nutmeats are broken up, switch the blender to high speed and run until no more acorn falls from the edges onto the blades. Mix acorn up with the handle of a wooden spoon, making sure to include the acorn nearest the bottom, which tends to get sticky. Repeat blending and mixing until acorn is reduced to fine flour. (If acorn gets oily as blended, add a few whole nutmeats at a low speed to absorb the oils.) Remove the now fluffy flour and set aside in a bowl. Add second cupful and repeat the process. Add a third cupful and repeat. Add a fourth cupful and repeat. This results in 5 fluffy cupfuls of flour.

Note
If there are chunks of acorn in the flour, it needs to be run throught the blender again. Don't put more than a cup of acorn in the blender at a time - any more might cause the motor to burn out.

Leaching
Put flour into a 5-pound flour, sugar or salt sack. Fill the sack full of water and allow it to drain so the flour is saturated. Tie the sack to a faucet and turn the faucet on just past a drip, so that a very slow, steady stream of water drips over the outside of the sack (which serves as a waterbreak) all night long.

Cooking
Place leached acorn (when wet, it reduces again to 4 cups) in a stainless steel pot. Add 3 cups water and mix with acorn. Cook at high heat, stirring frequently. While acorn cooks, gradually add 7 more cups of water. Keep stirring. Let the acorn boil for 15 minutes, until it has the consistency of tomato soup. For cornmeal mush consistency, add less water. Makes 11.5 cups nuppa. If using fresh (newly gathered) acorn, increase the amount of water used, as fresh acorn thickens more than older acorn.