Acorn Flour

Just harvested a good amount of acorns from some white oaks. I stripped shells and boiled, changed water and repeated until water ran clear to leach the tannins. I ground the meat down and dried( in oven 165 degrees for 15 hours) crushed again and sifted.
I didn't get as much flour as I expected. I have been receiving heavy rains in my area, coinciding with the acorn drop. This results in many acorns being rotten and worm infested. I was planning on having enough flour for at least a month. The rain is supposed to continue through the weekend. That is great news for perspective oak trees but terrible news for the forager.

I was wondering if anyone makes flour from scratch from wild plants. If any one does, do you know any good recipes for acorn flour?(I would prefer recipes that include only foraged items, but beggers can't be choosers)

I have previously harvested cattail pollen flour and mixed with regular wheat flour(bought from corporate sources(not foraged)) and used it to produce some delicious bread in my bread maker. However, I have never tried acorn flour for baking. I am planning on making some cattail rootstock flour in a month, when the rootstocks begin swelling with starch. I have never tried this before either and would appreciate recipes.

 

I saved a few pounds of acorns for deer hunting coming up soon! I think an interesting bread might be from acorn, pecan, and oats. Grinding the acorn would be easy. Ditto for the oats, and pecans. So given the densities of these flour/ingredients could favor the 'light' recipes.... if baking powder/sodas were used with an appropriate yeast mix so that the nutricious loaf would not be overly heavy.
GB

 

Acorn flour is great but very labor intensive.I switched to dandilion root.Simply dig up the root of the dandylion,clean it,dry it,and grind it into a powder.It has a unique flavor and makes a good bread.

 

Learn something new every day.

Thanks.

 

I have made dandelion coffee from the roots before but never flour. You do learn something new everyday and on this site that something you learn will actually be useful.
Do you have to refine the dandelion flour at all before you use it?

I am making a second batch of acorn flour tomorrow and probably some dandelion flour. This time I will weigh the acorns before processing and the flour afterwards to give everyone an idea of how many acorns to harvest. I will do the same with the dandelions and try to get a few pics up.

If anyone would like to join me in making acorn flour this year NOW IS THE TIME TO HARVEST in the midwest. If you got rains like I did, then most of the acorns (9 out of 10) will be rotten, worm infested or already eaten by delicious squirrels.

 

FYI:
"Acorns old method, Extremely bitter from tannin content. Grind them to flour - pace in cloth sack and leave in running water such as a stream or at home you can leave them hung under a faucet set to run continually at a slight stream. Anyway allow them to soak like this a minimum of 24 hours to remove some of the bitterness, Soaking for 72 hours is better. allow to dry. May then toast in pan to preserve constantly stirring.


Newer method. Scald in boiling water 2 minutes to make shell softer and then quarter with knife to make shelling easier. Place 1-2 cups in blender and fill with water. wish until reduced to rice like size. Bring to rolling boil for 10 minutes, taste - if bitter change water and repeat. Do this as many times as needed to removed the bitterness. Use as is the dry - may use oven or sun. Must be roasted to preserve more than a couple days - will spoil easily. Can be ground to flour after roasting.which will last longer than fresh nuts"

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100321152833AAPZK3E

 

That^^^ is not a very good way to prepare acorns. If you bring the acorn to a boil and then cool it down before all the tannin is leached out you will bind the tannin to the meat and never make it less bitter. If you do go the boiling method make sure you have 2 pots boiling water and pour the strained acorns straight into the colander and back into the other boiling pot then start heating the water back up in the old pot for the switch.
I have found a better way to prepare the acorns for flour. I use a blender to grind the meat with water. I then place the mush in a cheese cloth and run under the faucet four an hour or less while massaging the bag. Then spread out on a cookie sheet and and put in an oven at 165... This method is very fast and and works great.
All of the recipes I can find include some other sort of flour in the baking due to the fact that acorns include no gluten (wah wah). So this morning I made myself a delicious "oatmeal" with acorn meal and fruit. My wife added some brown sugar and both of ours were delicious.
I am interested in making a recipe I keep running into online. You boil some meat like venison (I will try squirrel or rabbit if my trap gets tripped) add some dried fruit like raisins or dates and of course add your acorn meal. You mix thoroughly, some recipes even say blend in a blender, and refrigerate to mix flavors better. Reheat and serve on torilla or as a meatloaf.

I have prepared different types of acorns in my area and am ready to report on the tastes. White oak acorns are a mild and nutty taste and take less leaching. Red oaks are a more bitter taste even after leaching but still nutty. Live oaks were more bland all around. I like a mix of all of them or a mix of white and red (mostly white).
I have also foraged up some black walnut (delicious and can't believe most people don't search their neighborhoods for them, they cost a pretty penny in a store and are the same flippin' nut!) and some mockernut hickory. Both are great nuts and go great in an acorn meal served with some fruit. Acorns, walnuts, and hickory all are great roasted as well.

 

That's what I've done with my white oak acorns, and it worked really well. I also brewed some "coffee" from some of the white oak acorns, after toasting them to a dark brown color. I haven't tried processing the acorns from any of my other oaks, or other nut trees. I need to; I'm covered up in Mockernut Hickories.

 

Have you looked at "cooking_with_acorns" in the Downloads section of this site? If you haven't, you might find some interesting ideas in there.

 

If any of you are close to NC/SC please let me know. We are having a fall gathering in Oct and would love for you to come share your experiences. They get tired of me talking all the time. Use the PM please, 06