Some studies even show that some species of white acorns may have more tannins, but they’re just more tightly bound within the nutmeat and harder to leach properly. There’s a myth that white acorns contain fewer tannins, which isn’t universally true. They place nets under the trees to gather the acorns more efficiently, and to prevent acorn weevils from infesting them before they’re gathered.) Choosing Acorns to Harvest (There is one commercial acorn flour manufacturer in Greece, and their founder wrote a book about their process titled Eating Acorns: A Field Guide. Out here in the woods, it’s easy enough to rake them up by the bucketload. In urban and suburban environments, city parks are a good source, and you’d be amazed at how many public buildings landscape with oak trees. On a small scale, you can simply pick up acorns off the forest floor in the autumn. The whole process starts with gathering the acorns. In Vermont, we’re rather water-rich, but this may not be the best method for arid climates.) How to Make Acorn Flour (The only catch is, this method assumes you have plenty of fresh water available. The cold leach method also happens to be the least labor-intensive method, requiring minimal work beyond patience (and acorn cracking). With the cold leach method, the starches within the acorn maintain their binding properties, and while there’s no gluten, it’ll still hold together well enough for pancakes, cookies, cakes, and even acorn pasta… It leaves you with the most versatile end product, with all the natural binding starches intact (for better bread) as well as the best flavor. Some involved using wood ash to bind the tannins, others leached the acorns whole in water-filled pits for months at a time, and still, other methods boil the acorns for hours on end.Įach of these methods has it’s pros and cons, and some manage to alter the flavor of the acorns and/or the structure of the starch within the nut (for better or worse).Ĭoldwater leaching is my preferred method, and it’s incredibly simple. There are a number of ways to make acorn flour, and many different methods were used historically. That means grinding the acorns into flour first, even if you’re not planning on making baked goods or acorn bread. Almost all of those recipes start with grinding and leaching the acorns into acorn flour.Īcorns contain natural tannins that must be leached from the nutmeats before they can be eaten, and the fastest way to remove the tannins is to create as much surface area as possible. This past fall I set out to harvest as many acorns as possible, with the goal of making at least a dozen different acorn based recipes.
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