Acorn Gathering & Preparation

There are various types of oak trees in the United States and Canada
and the taste is varied as well. Some are more bitter, so it's a good
idea to learn which trees produce the sweet acorns. This will save time
boiling and reboiling to get rid of the tannin in them. White Oaks have
the sweetest acorns and need little boiling to remove the bitter taste.
Their leaves do not have the little sharp hairs on the ends of each leaf
lobe like say, a Red Oak. Note that if your oak trees do not have many
acorns, that all nut trees have bountiful years and lean years.

Preparing acorns for use in recipes

Boil acorns in a pot of water and snap off out coats. Boil again several
times, until water stays clear. Then roast in a 200 degree oven until
nutlike and brittle. You can eat them as a snack or put them through a
coffee grinder and make acorn flour.

from: ACORN PANCAKES, DANDELION SALAD AND 38 OTHER WILD RECIPES
by Jean Craighead George and illustrated by Paul Mirocha

From: "Star"
Subject: Acorns

I am surprised to hear how many other tribes use acorns. I was born
and raised on the San Carlos Apache reservation and haven't really
had a chance to learn about other tribes.

In the fall my people gather acorn. The acorn we gather is very small.
They are about the size of a pinon nut. The way we prepare it is to dry
it in the sun for several days then we grind it into course pieces. Then
we put it in a large bowl and shake it into the wind. The wind blows
away the shell and leaves the nut in the bowl. I know there is a name
for this but it escapes me at the moment. The remaining nut is then
ground into a fine powder.

We use this powder to make acorn stew with corn and squash, acorn
hash and acorn soup with dumplings.

Star

(c) Star 2001. All rights reserved. Used with permission