Turning Acorns Into Human Food

Turning Acorns Into Human Food FARM HOME Food Acorns look like they should taste good but if you’ve ever bitten into one you know they’ve got a bitter taste In recent years some food experimenters around the country have been coming up with new methods to turn acorns into human food Wild food expert Dr John Kallas of Portland Oregon offers classes on preparing acorns He teaches techniques to break open the flexible shell identify bad acorns remove the tannins which cause the bitter taste and dry the nuts in a way that avoids mold www wildfoodadventures com Sue Chin owner of Sue’s Acorn Café in Martinez California sells breads biscotti and muffins made with acorn flour She hand grinds acorns into flour The flour sells for about $30 a pound perhaps a bargain for all the work involved Chin is from South Korea where acorns have long been a traditional part of local diets www buyacornflour com Hank Shaw is the author of several books including “Hunt Gather Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast” Continually on the hunt for unconventional food sources Hank holds workshops around the country and his website displays such delicacies as acorn dumplings and acorn maple shortbread cookies www honest-food net In a good year a large oak tree can produce 2 000 lbs of nuts Acorns are low in fat high in B vitamins rich in protein and a decent carbohydrate Depending on the type of oak fat content can range from 1 percent to 32 percent with a protein content of 2 percent to 8 percent When gathering acorns many nuts have to be discarded because they’re cracked and may have worms or oak weevils Shelling the acorns and ridding them of tannin is the second step They should be shelled under water because the nuts oxidize and rapidly turn brown Tannin is best removed by placing the nuts in a water bath for 2 weeks changing the water daily Once the tannin is gone the acorns can be treated much like other tree nuts They can be roasted for nibbling chopped into pieces ground into grits or made into flour

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