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Articles From March 2008
#1 How To Properly Process Acorns
#2 Deer And Acorn Stew
Week #1 March 2008
How To Properly Process Acorns by Tim MacWelch
Copyright © 2000 as Earth
Connection Handout Series 1
ALL TEXT, PHOTOS, AND GRAPHICS ARE PROTECTED BY
COPYRIGHT. NO PART OF THIS WEBSITE MAY BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE
PERMISSION OF EARTH CONNECTION, LLC.
Believe it or not, there are still acorns out there to be harvested in
March. I have used them as late as April, and they processed and tasted
just fine. For the squeamish, just think of winter as nature's
refrigerator. The Oaks have put out food for all the woodland creatures,
which includes us, if we are part of the ecosystem like we should be. All
Oak acorns are technically edible, but some are so bitter that they cannot be
tolerated. This bitterness is water soluble Tannic Acid which can be
leached away in water through a variety of methods.
All acorns can be processed in the same ways. Just find an Oak and look on
the ground. Look for the telltale acorn cap. If you have a husk like
a hickory, with a shiny acorn-looking nut, you are probably looking at Buckeye.
So be very cautious, as the several species of Buckeye in the Mid-Atlantic and
Mid-West are very poisonous.
Acorns are fine to use -
even if they have sprouts coming out of them, I even look for the sprouts with a
touch of pink or red to tell me the nut is less likely to be rotten.
even if they are bug eaten (just pick away the bad spots and worms),
even after all winter if they don’t have a strong fermented smell,
even if the nut meats are orange, red, tan or brown and they don’t
have a strong fermented smell.
Acorns should be avoided -
if they have a strong fermented smell
if they are moldy (green or blue fuzz)
White Oak (Quercus alba) typically have the least bitter acorns, followed by
Chestnut Oak, and other members of the “White Oak” group. The Red Oaks and
Black Oaks are generally more bitter. However, bitterness can vary by nut
to nut, tree to tree, different habitats and certainly by species.
Acorn processing
The two most commonly taught ways to prepare Acorns in modern books and classes
are to process them by leaching in boiling water and by leaching in running
water (or changes of water). However, the boiling water seems to cause some
level of bitterness to remain in the Acorn no matter how long it is boiled. So
we recommend the following techniques of leaching in warm or cold water.
First, gather the Acorns. Picking them by hand is the old school way, especially
with a very large, flat basket in front of you so that you can pick nuts with
both hands. With more speedy and contemporary tools, they are easily raked or
shoveled up on flat surfaces. In short grass, they can be scooped up very well
with “Bedding Fork”, which is like a pitch fork with two dozen tines (the tool
is for scooping livestock poop out of sawdust bedding). One other way is to lay
out large tarps under the trees. Shake the branches with long poles, or just
wait a few days. Then collect the Acorns by picking the tarp up and rolling them
into a pile.
Second, shell the Acorns. The caps (cups) should be removed immediately from
freshly fallen nuts because worm larva may be under there trying to burrow into
the otherwise good nut. A few days may make the difference between a good Acorn
and a wormy one. However, if you are freezing nuts in your freezer as soon
as you pick them, you could leave the caps on. Once the caps (if any) are gone,
then crack the nut’s thin shell. These nut meat halves and crumbles can move to
the next step now, or be dried and stored as is, or frozen for future use. You
could also roast the acorns inside their shells to give them a different flavor
and make
some species a little easier to shell out.
Once the nuts are shelled, chew up a piece for a taste test. If it is not too
bitter, you probably have a White Oak group acorn which could be ground into
flour once it dries up a little bit. However, if it is very bitter it will need
to be leeched in water to improve the flavor. Leeching is accomplished by
soaking the nut meats in changes of warm, cool or cold water for several,
minutes - hours - or days until their taste becomes acceptable. If you use
potable water, you can taste the acorn raw. If you have to soak them in a
stream, then cook the acorn meat somehow before tasting so you don’t get sick
from bad water. You could use potable running water by letting the sink trickle
on a colander of Acorns, but this is wasteful of water.
When the nut meat is leeched of enough Tannic acid to become palatable, it is
ready to be made into flour. Dry the nut meat until you are able to grind it
without a paste forming. If a paste seems to form, them stop until you have
dried the acorns more. They can be ground into “meal” between two rocks, or in a
flour grinder, or even in some blenders and food processors. The resulting flour
or meal can be used immediately, frozen for future use, or THOROUGHLY dried and
stored in an air permeable cloth bag or wood vessel in a very dry location.
Inspect
weekly for mold or bugs. Never eat any moldy acorn products. Freezing is the
best storage method.
Happy Acorn Hunting,
Tim
Week #2 March 2008
Deer And Acorn Stew by Tim MacWelch
Copyright © 2000 as Earth
Connection Handout Series 1
ALL TEXT, PHOTOS, AND GRAPHICS ARE PROTECTED BY
COPYRIGHT. NO PART OF THIS WEBSITE MAY BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE
PERMISSION OF EARTH CONNECTION, LLC.
 As
part of a Private Class last week, offered by my school
Earth Connection, we prepared a
traditional Deer and Acorn Stew. Despite being so late into the winter, we
found and harvested several handfuls of acorns. We shelled and processed
them as described in the previous article and stewed them with deer meat and
wild onions. As seen in the photo, we also took the opportunity to cook a
little deer on one of my soapstone rock "frying pans". Very tasty!! With
the acorns still about, we can still enjoy a very old and traditional Native
American dish - Deer and Acorn Stew. So many Native peoples throughout
North America relied on Acorns as one of the staple "crops" to be collected,
stored and used all year round. The local Native folks of the Algonquin
language group and many of their diverse neighbors are documented enjoying this
dish. We can still make it today, just as it has always been made.
Add equal amounts of leached acorn flour or leached acorn chunks to boiling
water, and gradually add water until desired thickness is achieved. This can be
eaten thin as a soup, or thick as a porridge if you are using acorn flour or
adding some other starch like Cattail flour. Maple syrup is an outstanding
traditional additive to make a sweet dish. Spices such as dried Spicebush
berries or Wild Ginger root are always so good in sweet foods. Stewed meat
was frequently added to the dish, as well as wild vegetables, onions, greens and
nuts like Walnut and Hickory. Frying the meat a little before adding it to
the stew is a nice touch. We rushed a bit the other day, and ate the meat
after frying it, but fried meat adds a complex & almost salty flavor to an
otherwise mild dish. Hope you try this and hope you like it. Just
remember, much stranger stuff has been cooked on Iron Chef!!
Enjoy,
Tim
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