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Oak trees tend to produce acorns in waves--for a few years, there might not be many, and then one year, they're all over. If you're inundated with acorns this autumn, here's how to make the most of your bounty. Acorns are quite nutritious--they're generally good sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats, as well as the minerals calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and the vitamin niacin. The following steps will show you how to make acorn flour, which can be used to make pancakes and bread, or added to cereal and soup.
- 1worms in them and are no good.
- If you have ground acorns, flush them with water. The amount of time it'll take to rinse out the tannins depends on which kind of oak tree the acorns are coming from. See the Tips below.
- Cold water. Place ground acorns in a large bowl of water. After the acorn meal settles out, decant the water. Repeat 2-3 times a day. If the acorns are from the black oak group, this can take 6-12 days. This method is best for maintaining the integrity of the kernel so that the resulting flour sticks together better (for making bread and other things).
- Running water. If you have an appropriate container, you can put the acorn meal in a stream and this will quicken the process.
- Hot water. Bring the shelled, pounded kernels to a boil and change the water every 45 minutes or so for about 6 or 7 hours of boiling. This works best in a large pot on a wood stove. You will know when they are done, as they will taste very bland (no bitterness and no astringency). This method is faster and doesn't require the kernels to be ground into a coarse meal (small pieces are fine), but it alters the texture of the kernels and they don't stick together as well.
- To make acorn pancakes, mix the acorn flour 1/2 and 1/2 with wheat or other flour from your favorite recipe. The acorn flavor is slightly nutty, very hearty.
- Once the flour is dried out it may be a little coarse. You can put it in a cleaned out coffee grinder to get a finer texture. A good food processor also works and they make attachable gadgets for mixers that really mill the flour if you get completely obsessed.
- Those of the black oak group often require prolonged leaching. The white oak group includes white oak (Quercus alba), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), mountain chestnut oak (Quercus montana), and others. The black oak group includes red oak (Quercus rubra), scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), pin oak (Quercus palustris), black oak (Quercus velutina), scrub oak (Quercus illicifolia), and many others.
- Even acorns that taste relatively nice straight out of the shell (such as most members of the white oak group) still contain tannins and eating large quantities could cause troubles (e.g., stomach upset, loss of nutrients due to tannins binding with proteins).
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