Acorn tips
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I wanted to share some of my techniques for collecting and processing acorns. Before I started working with acorns I was intimidated by the process, but after diving in I found it was very easy. It just sounds complicated!
* When collecting acorns in the field, choose ones that feel heavy for their size and check for holes. Dark spots on the shell are generally ok but you’ll find out when you crack them if the acorn is good or not.
* Using a crab cracker and crab meat pick makes it very easy to remove the nut from it’s shell.
* After acorns are cracked, remove the red skins by blanching them. To blanch, just boil water in a pot and place shelled acorns in a mesh sieve, then dip the sieve into the hot water. The skins easily fall off.
* I prefer to leach the tannins out of the entire nut rather than grinding it into a flour first. This is a personal choice, but I have found that it works well with the boiling water method.
* After leaching tannins out of the acorns, spread them onto a cookie sheet and place in the oven at 300 degrees, and roast for about an hour. This dries the acorn and brings out natural nutty-sweet flavors, and makes it easy to grind them into flour.
* After roasting the acorns, grind into flour and filter it through a sieve into your storage container. The little bits left behind are great on yogurt, mixed into granola, or thrown into oatmeal. The flour itself can be used in many recipes and adds great nutritional value.
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