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Suellen Ocean, who wrote a very useful book Acorns and Eat em,says she likes to collect Tanoak acorns
in February and March, after many have begun sprouting. She says acorns with sprouts between 1-2 inches
long are still good to eat, but discard any acorn meats that have turned green.
I plan to do this and go through a second round of acorn experiments, especially because Ocean
says recently sprouted acorns a) have begun to turn their starch into sugar, and b) are foolproof: If it is
sprouted, its a good acorn and I havent wasted time gathering wormy ones.
A word on worms. When I gathered all those Valley Oak acorns in October, little did I know that I had
gathered scores already infected with the larva of the oak weevil. Nasty little maggoty things, you can tell
they are inside your acorn if there is a little hole in the shell. Look for it, discard that acorn and move on.
But know that oak weevil larvae bored those holes from the inside out so many acorn experts say only
choose fallen acorns that still have their hats on; the theory is that the extra weight of the larva makes the
acorn fall prematurely.
Still, you need to know what kind of oak you are dealing with. If you dont know your trees, start looking
for little green acorns in May. Pick a leaf and compare it to oak leaves online or in a guidebook. Right now
gather acorns and compare them to online images and guidebooks; different oaks bear acorns with different
shapes.
With that in mind, remember that not all oaks are created equal, and the fundamental fact of cooking with
acorns is that you are dealing with a wild food, and as such must contend with tremendous variability, both
in species and even among individuals of the same species.
Some oaks bear acorns so low in tannins (well get to tannins later) that they can be eaten raw. Legend says
that California Indians fought over these trees, which makes some sense because one mature Valley Oak can
drop 2,000 pounds of acorns in a really good year. A ton of sweet acorns may well be worth fighting over.
UC Riverside Professor David Bainbridge wrote in a 1986 academic paper that depending on species,
acorns can range in fat content from 1.1 percent to 31.3 percent, protein from 2.3 percent to 8.6 percent, and
carbohydrates from 32.7 percent to 89.7 percent. That is a huge range!
What does it mean? It means that in the kitchen you treat acorns from different species very, very
differently. A fatty acorn will make a meal, like ground almonds. A carb-rich acorn like my Valley Oak
acorns makes a drier flour, more like chestnut or chickpea flour (acorns lack gluten and so wil not rise.)
water, and you do not denature a particular starch in the acorns that acts a little like the gluten in flour, i.e., it
helps the flour stick to itself.
If you plan on baking with the acorn flour, use the cold-water leaching method.
DRYING
Once your acorns are free of tannins, you need to figure out what to do with them. Regardless, you need to
dry them first or they will rot. Big pieces can be patted dry on a tea towel.
If it is hot out, lay the acorns out on cookie sheets and dry in the sun. You could also put them in an oven set
on warm.
You can also put the acorns in a dehydrator set on low heat.
I prefer to roast my hot-leached acorns, as roasting brings out the sugars in acorns and really protects them
from deteriorating. I roasted my acorns at 300 degrees for about an hour. Keep in mind these were Valley
oaks, so watch your acorns after about 30 minutes some may roast faster than others, and you do not
want to burn them.
Start with the cold-leaching method, where you pulverize the fresh acorns and put them into a jar to
leach. Once the tannins are all gone, pour the acorn meal into a a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Steadily
squeeze as much water as you can out of the meal.
Lay the squeezed acorn meal on a baking sheet in a thin layer and dry it either in a dehydrator or in
an oven set as low as it will go; I set mine at 170 degrees. Slowly dry the flour, mixing it from time
to time the top layer will dry before the bottom.
Once the meal is fully dry do not skimp on this step or you will ruin your flour put it into a
blender fixed with a dry blade (I use a Vitamix) or a strong coffee grinder to grind the meal into a
flour. Do this in batches, and allow time to let your grinder cool between batches. Ive found that
about 60-90 seconds works pretty well.
Sift the flour through your finest-mesh sieve to remove any stray large pieces.
Store the flour in jars in the fridge. Why the fridge? What fat there is in acorns will go rancid pretty quick if
you left the flour at room temperature.
You make this shape or at least I made this shape, as cavatelli has many permutations by rolling out
the pasta dough into a snake about the width of your fattest finger. Then with a small knife you slice off a
disc about the size of your thumbnail. With the knife you drag the dough towards you and it will roll around
on itself.
The effect is a very basic, very rustic gnocchino, or little dumpling. The edges remain thick and chewy, but
the action of dragging the dough over the wooden board gives it texture both by contact with the wood and
by stretching out the gluten in the wheat flour. The center section of the cavatello gets thin in the process,
giving you a variety of sensations when you eat them.
A perfect match, especially with a little homemade bacon in the ragu. OK, I put a lot of homemade bacon in
it. The sauce was even better the second day we had it, and it definitely benefits from an earthier pasta; we
ate it with regular spaghetti and it was not as good.
I still had enough leftover pasta dough to make another dish, and this is where that Asian-inspired soup I
was mentioning above comes in. I decided to go with Asian simplicity and Italian flair. Maybe its weird,
but hey. Deer eat acorns, right? And I had some rich venison broth in the freezer.
I really like Japanese buckwheat noodles, so I figured Id make acorn flour vermicelli with the leftover
pasta. It would be a lot like those soba noodles, I reckoned, and the Koreans actually do eat acorn flour
noodles that look like this. When I made them, however, I realized the dough Id made that was perfect for
cavatelli a little wet and loose made making vermicelli difficult. I needed to add quite a lot of extra
semolina to keep everything from sticking together.
The result rocked. Long-simmered, lovingly made venison broth bathing freshly made acorn flour noodles.
We ate it with chopsticks and wished we had more. Holly thought that of all the acorn dishes Ive been
making of late, this was the one that was the most balanced, the one that most brought out the acorn flavor
without other ingredients shouting it down.
Maybe so, but I am really happy with that mushroom ragu. I will say this, however: The combination of
venison broth and acorn flour pasta was the most restrained and elegant acorn dish Ive yet made.
A simple tagliatelle or pappardelle is perfect here, as is spaghetti if you have the die to make it. Handformed pasta, like orecchiette would also be good. Could you use acorn flour pasta for a ravioli? Yes, but it
might be tough to roll it out thin enough. Decrease the amount of acorn flour and replace it with regular
wheat flour if you do this.
Oh, and if you want a similar effect with a store-bought flour, use chestnut flour. You can buy it at good
Italian grocery stores or from my friend Scott at Sausage Debauchery, who sells chestnut flour online.
Note that in the cook time below, most of that time is how long it takes for water to boil. The pasta itself
should only need about 2-3 minutes to cook.
Makes enough to serve 6.
Prep Time: 90 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
1. Mix the flours and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Pour the water into the well and combine it by swirling your fingers around. When the dough
becomes a shaggy mass, bring it together with your hands, then knead on a floured counter for 5-8
minutes.
3. Lightly coat the dough in olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit out for at least an hour, but
this dough will keep in the fridge for a day. Acorn flour and semolina need a little longer to hydrate
because they are coarser.
4. Roll out depending on how you want to make the pasta. Tagliatelle would be the next-to-last setting
on your pasta maker and about inch wide.
5. Dust them in all-purpose flour as you lay the tagliatelle down on a floured board or counter. Allow to
dry while you make the rest. After each portion of the dough is rolled out, gently pick up the center
of the tagliatelle from the previous portion and twirl into a loose pile. Set aside.
6. This pasta is not good frozen, but it will hold in the fridge for a few days. It gets terribly brittle the
longer it dries out.
More Acorn Recipes
Posted in Foraging, Italian, Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi, Recipe | Tagged acorns, cooking tips, Foraging, pasta
recipes, veggies | 70 Responses
1.
Hank Shaw October 1, 2012 at 12:36 pm | Permalink
Stephanie: I would not. While I know of no factual reason why you couldnt reuse the water, I do
know that tannins are one of the substances oaks use to kill off competing plants around their drip
system. Id be careful.
2.
druid ozone October 1, 2012 at 1:58 pm | Permalink
heroes of old, when fed with oaken mast, the great trees themselves, in years surpassed poem from
14th century england implying extended lifespan, if not heroism
3.
Jennifer Aitkens October 3, 2012 at 11:25 pm | Permalink
Hank thanks for the great info on acorns! Re how to crack the shells, I was playing around with
feeding red oak acorns to the birds and discovered that an old-fashioned aluminum garlic press did
the job. This press is like a little box with a grid for the garlic to come through and a metal press that
comes down on the nut. I think the reason it works better than a nutcracker is because the box holds
keeps the nut from deforming as the press comes down on it. (if that isnt clear, let me know and I
can flip you a pic of the press with an acorn in it).
BTW, there was so much oil in these nuts that just leaving a line of 6 or so cracked nuts on the deck
stained a 1-sq ft area! What a mess!
Jen
4.
john e October 13, 2012 at 5:51 am | Permalink
Great article, thank you so much! Ive seen the usual acorn bread and pancake recipes, but acorn
soba noodlesoh my, thanks again
5.
Nuts About Acorns | Are We There Yet? October 17, 2012 at 8:54 pm | Permalink
[...] Acorn Pasta [...]
6.
Joe T October 20, 2012 at 4:39 pm | Permalink
Dear Hank,
I had a question regarding Valley Oak acorns. Ive head on other gathering blogs that, unlike either
acorns, you do not need to leach them before you roast and grind them. Would you recommend
leaching them or not leaching them?
7.
Joe T October 20, 2012 at 4:43 pm | Permalink
Hank
Sorry, another quick question.
What kind of regulations are there on acorn gathering? Are you only allowed to gather a certain
amount/number per season?
8.
Rick Dusenbury October 21, 2012 at 12:10 am | Permalink
Koreans make a product called Mook from acorns. It is processed like a flour, but can be made by
putting the acorns in the blender with a little water after leaching with water pouring off the brown
water.The mixture is allowed to sit in a large bowl to separate the Mook from the water. It is then
filtered several times and put into bowls or vessels to solidify into a gelatin like consistency, sliced
and eaten with hot pepper powder mixed with sesame oil and garnished with green onions. Primarily
the oaks used are the scrub oaks in western Washington that have big seasons and seasons with little
or no acorns. 2012 was a bountiful harvest.
9.
Hank Shaw October 21, 2012 at 9:10 am | Permalink
Joe: Nope, you need to leach Valley oak acorns. They have less tannin than other oaks, but unless
you get a rare individual tree that has sweet acorns, you will be sorry if you do not leach them.
And no, there are no regulations about gathering acorns to my knowledge.
10.
Terry October 22, 2012 at 1:13 pm | Permalink
This is my first time roasting acorns. I live in Mobile Alabama. I have 3 white oaks all over 400
years old. This year is a bumper crop of acorns. I soaked mine for 4 days changing the water twice a
day. I just shelled them, boiled them in lite sugar water & Im roasting them 350 deg. for a hour.
Mine didnt have the caps on them, but the squirrels make most of them drop & I didnt find a lot
with worms. If there are worms in them, and are accidently eaten after theyve been boiled &
roasted, can they make you sick / harmful to a person? Also, can you eat them just boiled? I tasted
one & it was pretty good. Kinda like a boiled peanut.
it seems like the worms couldnt harm you. Theyre gross, Ill give ya that.
11.
megan blu October 24, 2012 at 11:39 am | Permalink
try using tanin waters for tannning hides once you drain water off, add the discarded shelld and
make a tea of them. waste not want not.
12.
Hank Shaw October 24, 2012 at 12:05 pm | Permalink
Terry: Nope, they are not toxic. And a few people I know actually like eating the little worms. Ew.
13.
How to Eat Acorns: Video Part 2 First Ways October 31, 2012 at 12:21 am | Permalink
[...] Hank Shaw on Acorn Pasta [...]
14.
Why Foraging for Food (and Eating Acorns) is So Very Satisfying | Heartlines November 18, 2012
at 10:14 pm | Permalink
[...] Why acorns? Acorns are starchy and also contain B Vitamins, Fats, Manganese, and Potassium.
Carb scarcity in foraging situations is apparently the primary reason why humans settled down
10,000 years ago to grow grain. [...]
15.
Recipe Box: Acorn Flour | Jon Schelander-Pugh November 22, 2012 at 5:10 am | Permalink
[...] http://honest-food.net/2010/01/14/acorn-pasta-and-the-mechanics-of-eating-acorns/ This
entire blog is one of my new favorites. It has delicious-looking recipes for foraged/hunted/grown
food with great photography. This particular post was the one that got me thinking about making
acorn flour. So much great background info plus a recipe for acorn pasta. [...]
16.
Robin November 25, 2012 at 6:00 pm | Permalink
I am wondering why you recommend NOT doing the hot water method if you are turning the acorns
into flour. Thx
17.
angela December 7, 2012 at 7:25 am | Permalink
I am making wreaths from my acorns that I gathered in Kissimmee FL and they are so oily that they
will not stick to any glue onto any surface!! Any suggestions? P.Sthese wreaths (7) are for this
christmasonly a handful of days away!!!
18.
Wild Food: Acorn Pancakes Check Your Premises December 12, 2012 at 8:32 am | Permalink
[...] are different processes for leaching out the bitter tannins from the nut meat. Some require
boiling, other just soaking in [...]
19.
20.
Petra May 1, 2013 at 4:50 pm | Permalink
Hi, what a wonderful article! Im trying to do this at the moment: I have been leaching the roughly
chopped acorns for a couple of weeks now, changing the water every second day or so.Today I
ground them up, rinsed some more and now got them sitting in a baking tray over our fireplace. As
they are drying they are starting to smell of chlorine! Were on rain water, so it cant be from the
water and was wondering if I need to leach some more? TIA
Previous 1 2
Julie in Sacramento January 14, 2010 at 8:28 pm | Permalink
Hank- Im absolutely loving the acorn posts. I went in my parents backyard last week, which has a creek
and an Indian grinding rock and some fantastic low-tannin oaks. Although most of the acorns were moldy or
had larvae by January, the ones Ive harvested needed only 4 water changes. Mild, nutty, and earthy, just as
you described. Im making acorn pancakes for my folks this Saturday, the same folks who responded to my
gathered acorns with, But dont those taste bitter?
I use hydrated acorn meal, which is acorns that have been roasted, ground into meal, leached, and is still wet
from the leaching process. Heres my recipe:
Acorn Pancakes
Makes approx. 10 pancakes
2/3 cup hydrated acorn meal, finely ground
1/6 cup wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/2 to 1 Tablespoon honey
1 egg
1 Tablespoon melted butter
at least 1/2 cup milk
optional: berries
Whip the egg and 1/2 cup milk. Mix with the hydrated acorn flour and melted butter. Add the wheat flour,
salt and baking powder, mix until combined. Fold in the berries (optional). Add additional milk until the
batter is slightly thinner than a regular pancake batter.
Pour batter on hot, buttered griddle. These take a little longer to cook than most pancakes, and theyll look
dark brown when finished. I like them thin, because it helps avoid a mushy center. Yum!
Paula January 14, 2010 at 10:44 pm | Permalink
Thanks for this post- youve saved those of us interested in this sort of thing (me, for instance) a lot of timeI bookmarked this page by itself. I dont know about venison stock (it looks pretty good though!), but that
dish reminds me of the soba noodles my dad used to make us. He traveled throughout the world and I think
its his fault that Im into food as much as I am. At any rate, this was a great post, and well worth setting
aside for later.
Love the banner picture, BTW. I hope you get the James Beard- you deserve it.
Im really enjoying your site. Unfortunately we no longer live in the land of acorns. We used to live in the
Midwest where deer do indeed eat acorns. Now we live in Idaho and I havent seen Oak trees around. I do
want to experiment with making my own pasta though. Youve got some great ideas/recipes. Thanks.
fishguy January 19, 2010 at 11:34 am | Permalink
Great post. Ive got some big white oaks on the property and am thinking of ways to incorporate some
squirrel. Hope you are healing fast.
Jana January 27, 2010 at 2:58 pm | Permalink
Great article! I prefer the fridge method, we have lots of black and red oaks here in Portland.
Ever tried the oak weevil larvae, aka acorn grubs? Theyre delicious! Buttery. Id guess those are actually
the fattiest acorns.
Also, I really like your idea to use them in meatballs! I agree, the texture improves with bit of filler, but I
prefer to avoid grains.
David the Security Glass Expert April 17, 2011 at 1:39 pm | Permalink
You answered my Google question, which was can you gather acorns in spring. We live next to a large area
of state forest in Connecticut oaks and acorns everywhere. Thanks so much for the informative post. Im
going to give acorns a try. Someone once told me that white oak acorns make a great coffee substitute. Any
experience with that?
Acorn Meal Riekes Nature Awareness October 2, 2011 at 9:21 pm | Permalink
[...] theyre more or less dry, the next step toward acorn soup, acorn bread, acorn pasta, or any other acorn
creation, is to pulverize them. Julia Parker taught her traditional Yosemite [...]
I am have been looking for the best way to make Acorn Oil. And am having a hard time. Would you be able
to give me any suggestions. Thank You.
Cactus! (Cactus Salsa) | Dottie Donut's March 18, 2012 at 9:14 pm | Permalink
[...] Kind of off-topic: Acorn processing is a fascinating process that I do want to try someday! I would love
to get some ground acorn and bake with it. But, I do not have any acorns available to me right now Heres
a good link on acorn processing with recipes: http://honest-food.net/2010/01/14/acorn-pasta-and-themechanics-of-eating-acorns/ [...]
Help me Understand Edible Forest Gardening Cycads Australia Logo Design May 29, 2012 at 7:09 am |
Permalink
[...] people sustained themselves centuries ago in forested regions like ours. Sure enough, check out this
website about cooking with acorns, and this nursery in Michigan is growing oaks for food [...]
Dana July 9, 2012 at 10:26 am | Permalink
Oh, and I meant to make note, but forgot in the process of thinking what else to say, that everyone else
whos taken up grain agriculture has done so by dint of enforced cultural change. They were converted into
the act, rather than coming to it on their own. That says something. All along, when anybody bothered
recording their words, indigenous people faced with being made to settle down to grow huge fields of grain
largely resisted the idea, not seeing the point when there was so much other food in the world they could
gather or hunt instead.
There *is* quite a lot of food in the world, you know. Just because we refuse to see it as food doesnt
change the fact its edible.
Pickled Acorns Seeking Sanctuary At World's End September 27, 2012 at 11:34 am | Permalink
[...] I had frozen my acorns so I thawed them in the salt water. Now if you are interested in learning how to
prep acorns I highly suggest Hanks post on acorns. [...]
I live in New England. We have small green acorns, can we use those as well ?
Stephanie Gaignat October 1, 2012 at 10:36 am | Permalink
Is it safe to use the water the acorns were boiled in on other plants? I would like to be water wise if possible
and get double duty out of it.