Download - Eating Acorns
EATING ACORNS
Compiled by Native Tree Burning Grill
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Table of Contents
Acorn............................................................................... 7
About Acorns............................................................... 8
Acorn 2 ........................................................................ 9
Acorn Flake ............................................................... 10
Acorn Flour................................................................ 11
Acorn Flour................................................................ 12
Acorn Flour 2............................................................. 13
Acorn Gathering & Preparation.................................. 14
Acorn Information...................................................... 16
Acorn Meal ................................................................ 17
Acorn Meal Or Flour.................................................. 18
Acorn Milk ................................................................ 19
Acorn Notes ............................................................... 20
Acorn Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers ....................... 21
Acorn Substtutes ........................................................ 22
Acorn Tips ................................................................. 23
Acorns ....................................................................... 25
Acorns ....................................................................... 27
Acorns A.................................................................... 28
Acorns B.................................................................... 29
Acorns, Acorns, Acorns ............................................. 30
California Acorns....................................................... 33
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Recipes .................................... 34
Collecting And Storing Acorns And Meal .................. 36
Harvest And Eat The Acorns ...................................... 40
Harvesting The Wild: Acorns ..................................... 41
How To Use Acorn Meal ........................................... 49
How To Use Acorns For Food And Bread.................. 50
Preparation Of Ground Acorn Meal............................ 53
Processing Acorns...................................................... 54
Turning Acorns Into Meal .......................................... 55
Appetizers...................................................................... 57
Acorn Crunchies ........................................................ 58
Acorn Shred ............................................................... 59
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Acorn Slivers ............................................................. 60
Breads............................................................................ 61
Acorn Baking............................................................. 62
Acorn Bread............................................................... 63
Acorn Bread............................................................... 64
Acorn Bread............................................................... 65
Acorn Bread............................................................... 67
Acorn Bread............................................................... 68
Acorn Bread............................................................... 69
Acorn Bread............................................................... 70
Acorn Bread............................................................... 71
Acorn Bread............................................................... 72
Acorn Bread............................................................... 73
Acorn Bread (Modern) ............................................... 74
Acorn Bread 3............................................................ 75
Acorn Bread 33.......................................................... 76
Acorn Bread 5............................................................ 78
Acorn Bread Apache .................................................. 79
Acorn Bread With Cattail Flour.................................. 80
Acorn Pan-Bread........................................................ 81
Acorn Pumpkin Bread................................................ 82
Acorn Soda Biscuits ................................................... 83
Acorn Spice Bread ..................................................... 84
Acorn Tortillas ........................................................... 85
Acorn Yeast Bread ..................................................... 86
Acorn-Corn Bread...................................................... 87
Bread Acorn.............................................................. 88
Burning Tree Acorn Bread ......................................... 89
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Bread Recipes .......................... 90
Christopher's Acorn Bread ......................................... 91
Contemporary Acorn Bread........................................ 92
Honey Acorn Bread ................................................... 93
Mixed Grain Acorn Bread .......................................... 94
Multi-Grain Bread With Acorn Meal:......................... 96
Tom & Judy Brown's Famous Acorn Yeast Bread...... 98
Breakfast........................................................................ 99
Acorn & Egg Breakfast .............................................100
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Acorn Cinnamon Pancakes........................................101
Acorn Griddle Cakes.................................................102
Acorn Griddle Cakes 2 ..............................................103
Acorn Pancakes.........................................................104
Acorn Pancakes.........................................................105
Acorn Pancakes.........................................................106
Acorn Pancakes I ......................................................107
Acorn Pancakes II .....................................................108
Acorn Tofu Breakfast................................................109
Acorn and Cornmeal Pancakes ..................................110
Grandma's Acorn Griddle Bread With Syrup.............111
Cake/cookie ..................................................................112
Acorn Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Cookies ..........113
Acorn Cookies ..........................................................114
Cakes ............................................................................115
Acorn Cheesecake.....................................................116
Acorn Hominy Cake .................................................117
Acorn Meal Cakes.....................................................118
Acorn Pound Cake ....................................................119
Apache Acorn Cakes:................................................120
Quick Acorn Cheesecake ..........................................121
Desserts ........................................................................122
Acorn Brownies ........................................................123
Acorn Shortbread ......................................................124
Peanut And Acorn Yogurt Dessert ............................125
Persimmon Acorn Cinnamon Rolls ...........................126
Pumpkin Acorn Pudding ...........................................128
Dressing........................................................................130
White Sage Acorn Dressing ......................................131
Game ............................................................................132
Acorn Pemmican:......................................................133
Acorn/Pemmican Preparation....................................134
Modern Pemmican: ...................................................141
Main Dish .....................................................................142
Acorn Casserole ........................................................143
Acorn Cheese Pies ....................................................144
Acorn Enchiladas ......................................................145
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Acorn Lasagna ..........................................................146
Acorn Veggie Loaf....................................................147
Acorns & Rice ..........................................................148
Acorns With Black Bean Broth & Pasta ....................149
Chicken With Jalapeño Acorn Sauce.........................150
Elk Stew With Acorn Dumplings ..............................151
Split Pea Acorn Dinner .............................................152
Muffins .........................................................................153
Acorn Muffins ..........................................................154
Acorn Muffins ..........................................................155
Acorn Muffins 1........................................................157
Russ Cohen's Acorn Muffins .....................................158
Savory Acorn Muffins...............................................160
Pies ...............................................................................161
Acorn Pie ..................................................................162
Relishes/preserves.........................................................163
Acorn Pickles............................................................164
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Pickles ....................................165
Salads ...........................................................................166
Acorns & Pasta .........................................................167
Kidney Bean Acorn Salad .........................................168
Korean Acorn Noodle Salad......................................169
Sandwiches ...................................................................170
Acorn Burgers...........................................................171
Acorn Salad Sandwich ..............................................172
Acorn Spinach Burgers .............................................173
Beets & Acorns .........................................................174
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Burgers ...................................175
Sauce ............................................................................176
Acorn Spaghetti Sauce ..............................................177
Sauces/dips ...................................................................178
Acorn Dip .................................................................179
Acorn Dip 2 ..............................................................180
Baked & Browned Eggplant Acorn Dip & Spread.....181
Refried Acorns ..........................................................182
Soups/stews ..................................................................183
Acorn Mush ..............................................................184
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Acorn Mush In A Shawee .........................................185
Acorn Soup or Mush .................................................186
Acorn Stew ...............................................................187
Acorn Stew ...............................................................188
Acorn Stew ...............................................................189
Acorn Stew ...............................................................190
Acorn Stew ...............................................................191
Acorn Stew Apache ..................................................193
Acorn Stew Seminole................................................194
Acorn Veggie Soup...................................................195
Acorn, Carrot & Dock Soup......................................196
Apache Acorn Ravioli In Clear Broth........................197
Apache Acorn Soup ..................................................199
Apache Acorn Soup ..................................................200
Apache Acorn Soup ..................................................201
Apache Acorn-Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers .........202
Burning Tree Golden Acorn Soup .............................203
Cornmeal And Acorn Mush ......................................204
Nativeway Apache Acorn Stew.................................205
Nupa Acorn Soup Part 1............................................206
Nupa Acorn Soup Part 2............................................210
Ohlone Acorn Mush..................................................213
Ohlones Acorn Mush ................................................214
Seminole Acorn Stew................................................216
Venison-Acorn Stew .................................................217
Wiwish Cahuillaacorn Mush .....................................218
Vegetables ....................................................................219
Sauted Mushrooms & Acorns....................................220
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Acorn
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About Acorns
1 acorns
There are more than 60 species of oak trees throughout
North America, and all produce edible acorns. Oaks are
broadly divided into two groups: red (or black) oaks, which
produce nuts with a bitter taste (a result of high tannin
content), and white oaks, which contain less tannin and are
considerably sweeter. The annual nut crop from oak trees
in North America surpasses the combined yearly yield of
all other nut trees, both wild and cultivated. Acorns
provide a complete vegetable protein, up to 7 percent by
weight in some species of oak. More than half their bulk
consists of energy-rich carbohydrates. From:
"Manyfeathers1" <manyfeathers1@yadate: Fri, 31 Oct
2003 15:07:16 ~0000
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Acorn 2
I have made flour from acorns for years but never boiled
them. I always use the acorns from the white oak and soak
them for three days. I change the water every day. Then I
lay them on a screen to dry for sometimes two weeks or
roast them in the oven (which has a distinct nutty odor). It
always depends on how much time I have. I would think
that boiling them would remove some of the flavor.
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Acorn Flake
These are sliced thin (when wet) with a slicing blade.
Somewhat resembles small potato chips when dry. Used
for casseroles, 'meat loaf,' and any type of heavier baked
product. Can be toasted, used as chips, etc.
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Acorn Flour
1 text file
Lee Peterson, Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Although
a few white oaks have acorns sweet enough to be eaten raw
or roasted, most oaks have extremely bitter acorns.
Happily, the bitterness is due to an abundance of tannin
which is readily soluble in water. Whole kernels, stripped
of their shells and boiled in repeated changes of water until
the water no longer turns brown, can be roasted and eaten
as nuts or dipped in sugar syrup and eaten as candy. Dried
and crushed acorns can be placed in porous bags and put
through same boiling process to remove the tannin. They
can then be redried, ground into meal, and used to make
excellent breads and muffins. Rich in protein and fat.
From: Neysa Dormish Date: 16 Jan 97 National Cooking
Echo Ä
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Acorn Flour
The acorns are fisrt collected. We then take a hand crank
coffee grinder and loosen it so that it does not produce a
fine grind. We keep the grinder loose enough
to just crack the acorn shells open. The Apache women
then simply pick through the acorns while telling stories
amongst each other and the younger girls. This is usually
or traditionally considered womens work with in the
community/tribe.
This process is time consuming and usually you can hear
the women talking and laughing in the camp as they pick
through the acorn.
After the acorns have been carefully picked, picked and
repicked to remove any small shells, the small yellow
acorns are then put back into the hand grinder and gound
into flour. I love the smell of fresh ground acorn. It is best
to store it in airtight containers like a cleaned glass jar.
Because of the labor involved it is expensive when sold in
the community. It is a prized food product that people will
pay the high price for.
I like the flavor for its initial sweet flavor followed by the
sharp bitterness at end. It is great in Apache Acorn Stew.
-Nephi Craig
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Acorn Flour 2
Here is the process that I used. - shelled them by putting
then in a pillow case and pounded then with a stick against
a board and sorted the meat out. - ground them. It was the
first that I used the grinder so they didn't grind evenly -
they went in to a 1/2 gallon jar full of water and I did water
changes once or twice a day for 2 weeks. When I did the
water changes I poured the liquid from the jar into another
to make sure that I didn't lose any nut meat or flour. Any
that did get in the second jar would settle out over night
and get mixed back in. - put the 'slush' in a dehydrator to
remove the liquid - today I am going to grind the meat
finely - tomorrow we have pancakes with 50% wheat flour
and 50% acorn flour!!!!
things I will do differently next time. - shell them against a
cement/concrete stone - chop instead of grind them before
I soak them. I think they leech better with the smaller
pieces but it was annoying having to be so careful that I
didn't lose flour while pouring off the water. - gather more
acorns!!!
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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
See also:
Nuts & Grains for recipes using Acorns
Northeren Nut Growers Association Northern Nut Growers
Association Indigenous Plants to learn more about the
plant itself.
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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.
Acorn flour and starch can be purchased from any Korean
market.
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Acorn Information
To me the most interesting part of using acorns as food is
that acorns were a crucial part of California's Native
American diet and Koreans and Native Americans share
the same preparations to make acorns edible. I know this
only anecdotally so I may be wrong about the details but
it's interesting to note that our ancestors were equally
resourceful on this one way of surviving.
To make the acorns edible, you'd have to peel and soak or
soak and peel. I think soaking gets rid of some chemical
that's poisonous. Tannin? Then you dry them and grind
them to powder.
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Acorn Meal
1 acorns
1 water
Make meal by grinding dry, raw acorn kernels (after
shelling). Mix with boiling water and press out liquid
through a cheesecloth. With very bitter acorns, repeat this
process several times. Spread meal on a tray and
thoroughly dry in oven at 250F.
This meal will cake during the drying process. Regrind
using a food chopper. Then, seal in containers, preferably
glass jars.
Note: All acorns contain tannic acid or tannin. This is what
causes the bitter taste, the same as the soft brown lining in
pecans that we have all tasted if we have cracked open
pecans and eaten them raw. The white oak family has less
tannin than the black oak family. THe white oak family
acorns I have tried are White Oak, Burr Oak, and Club
Oak. There are many varieties. White oaks have rounded
leaves. Black oaks have pointed leaves. Squirrels go for
white oak acorns first. They're not dumb. They don't like
the tannin either. Black oak acorns will make you pucker
up just like eating unripe persimmons.
John Hartman Indianapolis, IN
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Acorn Meal Or Flour
text
Gather acorns after they are ripe. Soak the acorns
overnight, and the shells will split open. The shells can
then be removed from the kernels.Spread the kernels
(acorn nuts) out to dry. When the kernels are completely
dry, they can be crushed with a stone mortar into meal or
flour.After the acorn meal or flour is ground it should be
leached to take out the bitterness. A frame can be made
with cedar twigs overlapped tightly as shingles on a roof.
Spread the acorn meal on this frame, then pour water
through it repeatedly until the meal turns pink. The meal
can then be dried and stored until used. You may also buy
acorn flour and acorn starch in a Korean store
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Acorn Milk
acorns
English colonist who describes how the Powhaten people
of Va would pound acorns in a mortar with a little water to
create a milk like liquid which was used in cooking
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Acorn Notes
info acorn
As to acorns, they all can be eaten, but some require a lot
of boiling and soaking to remove the tannins. You have to
shell them and taste them as you go along. The ones that
take the most treatment are rather bland tasting by the time
they are edible. You can restore some flavor by toasting
them in a low oven. Hope this helps, and I am curious what
the list turns up for those two tribes. When I did my ethnic
cookbook, I couldn't find enough recipes for either tribe to
make the book (which has 22 other native groups), and
couldn't assign the water crackers, since the Wind River
reservation is both northern Cheyenne and Arapaho, with
separate governments.
-Mark H. Zanger author, The American History Cookbook,
The American Ethnic Cookbook for Students
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Acorn Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers
1 T. unsalted butter
1 c. pinyon nuts
4 T. shelled acorns or unsalted pistachi; o nuts
6 T. chopped wild onions or leeks
9 c. rabbit stock or chicken stock
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 qt. half and half
snipped wild onions, mint sprigs an; d wild edible
flowers for
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and
saute the pinons, acorns and onions 4 minutes until the
onions are translucent and the nuts golden brown.
Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce
the heat to medium and cook until the mixture is reduced
by half, about 20 minutes. Add the half and half and reduce
the mixture again by half to 6 cups.
Remove from the heat and blend in a blender or food
processor until the mixture is smooth. Push through a fine
sieve; discard the contents of the sieve. Garnish with the
mint, wild onions, and edible flowers and serve.
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Acorn Substtutes
Acorns
Several other ethnic food enthusiasts like to substitute
acorn meal for corn meal when making muffins -- usually
using 1/2 corn meal and 1/2 acorn. Some have substituted
1/2 of the flour in a biscuit recipe with 1/2 acorn meal.
Experiment carefully, remembering that a good portion of
the work performed by flour has to do with the gluten in
the floor. Sorry, acorn has no gluten, so you'll have to keep
this in mind.
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Acorn Tips
acorns
The pale faces seem to want to boil leach them, but the
indians of my area and Koreans use cold water methods for
a good reason. I find that cold water processing is better
that boil leaching because on some acorns the meal
thickens up 1 time when cooked. If you boil leach this
happens during leaching not the cooking when you want it
to happen. That is why the acorn brownie recipe on my
web page has no eggs. If your acorns do not thicken up
when cooked add eggs to the recipe to get good brownies
that hold together.
Now for some tips on gathering acorns (California black
oak (Quercus kelloggii)) that might work with your
species.
1 The first drop of acorns has most of the bugs and worms.
Perhaps the tree rejects these acorns so they fall off early?
2 Most good fresh off the tree acorns sink if put in a bucket
of water. Most buggy acorns float in a bucket of water.
Well dried good acorns float too.
3 Most acorn bugs develop inside the acorn and burrow
out. They do not get buggy normally from sitting around in
a dry place. This does not mean that outside bugs do not
like them though.
4 High tannin content seams to preserve the acorn from
going rancid. I find that they keep for several years if kept
dry. However they will go rancid. I have gotten them from
building walls and most were still good after who knows
24
how long. But some were rancid so each acorn must be
smelled for rancidity. Because of the preserving effect of
the tannin most acorns were processed as needed or within
a week or so of when they were needed. This was a daily
process of many indian tribes.
At rabbitstick this year we had a success at leaching acorns
the cold water method based on the method described on
my web page. A time or two we tried to process too much
meal for the amount of water we used and the leaching was
not finished. I have processed acorn meal in 1 day by this
method by changing the water often. From: John Goude
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Acorns
Acorns
Here's how i processed them (i started with about a half a
plastic grocery sack). I'm not sure if this is 'the best' way to
do it or not. I eventually found that if i heated up a small
handful in a frypan they would shell much easier. It
steamed them a bit inside and using a pair of nutcrackers
the meat would come out pretty eaisily (squeeze it once on
the cap end to break the shell then once on the oposite end
to pop it out). It was important not to heat up more than i
could shell before they got cold again.
After they were all shelled i went with the boil and drain
method. I think it was 4 times total that i boiled them
before the the water was clear. After the last boil, they
went into the food dehydrator over night. I had to watch
them carefully so they would dry evenly.
Once they were dry I went to grind them. I don't have a
food processor and was not committed enough to do it by
hand... first i tried the coffee grinder and that kept getting
clogged. Then i used a blender and that worked ok but a
had to run the meal through a strainer the keep grinding. It
took a long time! I'll be investing in a food processor for
the next batch. lol
Once i got it all ground i spread it out on cookie sheets and
finished drying it on very low heat in the oven. Total yeild
was just over a quart.
I was quite pleased with the end result and it has made an
awsome addition to apple crisp!
26
I've never worked with acorn before so i'm not sure how it
compares. I like it and so far nobody has gotten sick :-)
27
Acorns
Acorns
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
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.
28
Acorns A
text
Made flour from acorns for years but never boiled them. I
always use the acorns from the white oak and soak them
for three days. I change the water every day. Then I lay
them on a screen to dry for sometimes two weeks or roast
them in the oven (which has a distinct nutty odor). It
always depends on how much time I have. I would think
that boiling them would remove some of the flavor.
29
Acorns B
text
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
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.
30
Acorns, Acorns, Acorns
info
A food staple, delectable treats, and cute lil buggers, acorns
have been processed on a wide scale in the Wintu area
since sometime around 700 or 900 AD or so when
climactic changes forced the shift of food sources from
grasses to acorns, which of course along with this we see
the introduction and increased use of specialized
implements for processing this 'new' food source. Or so an
ethnologist would say mano's to mortars.
Oak Trees (Quercus) are found throughout north America
but some species are unique to northern California climates
such as the California Valley Oak , or California White
Oak. Which produces very good acorns for all around
Wintu food acorn preparation. ie. breads, and soup, or Yuit
in wintu. Also unique to the California area are the Coast
Live Oak and the Tan Oak, which actually falls in to genus
Lithocarpus Densiflorus who's fruit more closely resemble
that of chinquapin nut or chestnuts. Of which the tan oak
are far preferred but rare in the wintu territory. Live oak
acorns make fair yuit but are poor for traditional bread
techniques. Various other oak species flourish across the
rest of the country, but unfortunately am not
knowledgeable about the techniques required to remove
the otherwise bitter tannic acids from these eastern species
(Northern red, scarlet, blackjack, pin oak).
In the olden days there used to be hereditarily inherited
rights to favorable acorn harvesting locations all around
31
our territory, sometimes adjacent to the village or miles
away in a valley or on a slope neighboring another band or
entire tribes territory. There along a prominent ridge or a
conspicuous tree, sticks may be laid to mark areas reserved
for the sole use of the owner of the marker. In times of
famine the neighbors might come to perform the Sune'
dance asking for contributions of acorns and other food
stores which would be reciprocated or debt paid in
aboriginal form. One such place used to be down the road
from my house outside Redding, the people from cotton
wood creek owned those acorns and that was about 12
miles away from the Rancheria at Reading's Spanish
rancho. The highly specialized art of basketweaving and
the collection and processing of these vegetable foods were
a chief duty of the Wintu female.
To prepare acorns collect first a gunny sack or so of whole
unshelled acorns, from the branch, when ripe in late
September or October. They used to be collected in the day
by lots of wintu women. At the end of a long day of
gathering acorns, grass, seeds, berries, hazel and pine nuts,
they would come back into the village and empty all their
burden baskets into granaries, large woven cradles
sometimes 12-14 feet high and 4-5 feet across. I've seen
others made from green (living) Buckbrush and bent to
form a cradle as it grows about 6 feet across and 4 feet
high. Like the buckeyes I usually collect about a 5 gallon
bucket full. To prepare, hull the acorns, using the
traditional method of cracking between the teeth. Sift on an
open work basket to remove skin. Pound out to fine and /
or coarse meal. And leech out. Again the key to this
method is to find a suitable spot along a fresh water creek
with an appropriate type of sand. The sand is pushed up to
form a dish and the meal placed in the 'dish' and water
poured over repeatedly, repeatedly leech with water for
one day. You can try using a cloth to separate the sand and
meal.
32
Remove meal, coarse and fine meal will be completed
separately, fine meal can be made into yuit (soup) by
adding to a large acorn basket and introducing small pre-
heated stones and stirring to avoid scarring the basket.
Don't forget your plied willow stone fork for handling the
red hot cooking stones. Usually stirred with a nice oak
paddle. Once the acorns are warm they can be set to cool.
Once cool it is ready to serve in individual serving baskets.
The coarser meal can be made into coarse yuit or into
bread, add pinch of red clay soil (iron oxide) and mix with
water to doughy consistency. Preheat stone oven made
over a ground fire, or cook evenly over coals. Flipped,
comes out a scorched consistency on surface. Cool, slice,
(some ppl salt), serve along with deer or salmon, but
always remember don't put the puufiich in the aama basket,
because you won't get anymore.
33
California Acorns
info
We usually gather the acorns up in the San Jacinto and
Santa Rosa Mountains in fall. Store them in a dry place for
a few months or till the next year and then crack, shell,
remove skin and grind into flour. We prefer Black Oaks
and have to leach the ground flour out with warm water.
Then you can make it into a porridge, weewish (thick
enough to cut into squares and stands like Jell-O),
dumplings or use in bread or muffin recipes. For the
mesquite I have a friend who gathers it down in the
Coachella Valley area and she grinds the dry yellow bean
pods in a blender. I have bought the ground flour from
Native seed search in Tucson, AZ. When I couldn't get it
here. To make our traditional bread you just add water to
the flour, kneed it into dough, pat it out into small cakes,
sun dry and there you go. It is honey mesquite and it is like
a dried candy treat.
34
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Recipes
1 soup or mush
Southern California Indians commonly used the leached
and ground acorns as a base for soup or mush. To use as a
soup base, mix approximately two cups of the meal with 8
cups of water. Add diced onions, potatoes, carrots, wild
greens, and seasonings to suit your taste. To use as a
breakfast mush, add milk and/or water to the acorn meal to
your desired thickness. Serve with whatever you'd add to
oatmeal: such things as raisins, sliced fruit,honey, butter,
and cream.
MEAL CAKES
Acorns are ground, sieved, and pressed (all while still
"wet"). You must dry it well, and it will last one year.
Reconstitute when ready to use. Use as needed. Pie crusts
can be 1/3 meal cake. Can toast, and use as regular meal
for nuttier flavor.
SLIVER
These are leached, and then ground with a special blade (a
la salad shooter) which results in thin slivers. Use in pie,
on toast, and as you'd use toasted coconut on top of foods.
Gives a nutty flavor. Use where you don't want or need
body. Can use with cheese balls. Ideally, toast before
using.
FLAKE
These are sliced thin (when wet) with a slicing blade.
Somewhat resembles small potato chips when dry. Used
35
for casseroles, "meat loaf," and any type of heavier baked
product. Can be toasted, used as chips, etc.
SHRED
Made with a larger blade, results in thin shreds. Can season
with chili powder, soy sauce, etc. Used as fried things. Add
oil to skillet, add onions, meat, vegetables, etc. Like pilaf.
Can use in cheese balls. From: "Linda Roberts"
<lrobe684@bellsou
36
Collecting And Storing Acorns And Meal
acorns
acorn meal
acorn flour
Acorns will generally be at least somewhat green when
picked from trees, but they normally turn brown in storage.
Not every acorn is sound. Several different insects,
including filbert weevils and the filbert worm lay their
eggs on the cap end of developing acorns. When the eggs
hatch, the larvae begin to feed on the inside of the
developing acorn. Larvae reach maturity at about the same
time as the acorns do. When mature, weevils and worms
bore their way out of the acorn. Exit holes made by the
larvae are about the size of a pencil lead. Most acorns that
have these small open exit holes have a lot of internal
damage and should be discarded. Not all eggs develop into
larvae, so acorns with closed pimple-like marks, may be
perfectly sound. Acorns that are shriveled, lightweight, or
cracked have often dried out excessively, and these should
be discarded.
Insect and weevil damage can be minimized in the second
year of harvesting by raking up and removing all old
windfalls.
Collection of Acorns
Acorns are ready when the caps are removed easily
without damage to the acorns. Usually when acorns start
dropping to the ground, most of the acorns remaining on
the tree are ripe. Acorns may be picked directly from the
37
tree when they are ripe. The freshest nuts are collected this
way.
Nuts may also be gathered from the ground if they haven't
been there too long. Choose the acorns that are green or
dark brown. Light brown color usually indicates that the
acorns have been on the ground longer and are more likely
to have become dehydrated.
Select the largest acorns, and avoid those with obvious
cracks, holes, or damage from rodents or worms, and those
that feel unusually light or hollow.
A blue-gray mold also damages fallen seed. Acorns
covered for about 2 months by wet leaves show mold at the
blunt ends that gets well within the nuts. Gather only
freshly fallen acorns to avoid the mold.
Storage of Raw Acorns
The primary goal of storage is to reduce the metabolic
activity (i.e. keep the seed dormant). The acorn is
perishable, and the other goals of storage are to prevent the
acorns from drying out or becoming moldy Do not wash or
soak acorns before storage, as the water and room
temperature will start the germination process. Freshly
harvested acorns should be stored at 33-41øF as soon as
possible. A home refrigerator is adequate.
The easiest way to store acorns is in 1-gallon zip-lock-type
plastic bags. Fill them only half full with acorns. Add a
handful of dry peat moss. Peat moss is slightly acidic,
which inhibits bacterial growth, and it absorbs excess
moisture given off by the acorns, which helps prevent mold
growth. Do not seal the bags. Leave them completely open,
and lay them on their sides to allow air circulation so the
acorns do not become moldy.
38
Some external mold growth on stored acorns can occur, but
is generally not a cause for concern. However, if acorns are
oddly discolored and feel soft when squeezed, they may be
decayed. You can check a few acorns by cutting them
open. The inside (the "meat") of a healthy acorn is whitish
or yellowish. Decayed acorns will be dark brown or
sometimes nearly black internally.
Acorn Meal and Flour
Leaching can be effectively accomplished by cold water.
Crack and shell the acorns, then grind them into a coarse
meal. Place the meal in a cloth sack or tightly woven,
lidded basket and anchor the sack or basket in a clean
flowing stream. Every several hours, taste the meal and
when the bitterness and astringency are gone the leaching
is complete. The meal is then spread out into flat, broad
baskets and stirred frequently until sun-dried. To assure
dryness for storage of the flour, it is best to then parch the
meal on a flat rock over fire, or in a cast iron skillet. When
doing this, a light roasting of the meal imparts a fine, nutty
flavor to the finished flour. The leached, dried, parched
meal can be used at this point, or ground once more into a
fine flour.
Dry storage for the flour is essential. Acorn flour can easily
become moldy with the right combination of moist
conditions and a few warm winter days. When going into
the storage container, smell the flour before using. If a
musty smell has developed, discard the flour. Acorns can
serve as a host for the aflatoxin mold, as can peanuts, rye
and other grains; most frequently, aflatoxin poisoning
comes from the mold aspergillus flavus. Acorn flour often
lasts into February or March before "going off," when
stored at room temperature on the kitchen shelf in a
ceramic container. Freezing prolongs the shelf life; but the
39
flour loses the richness of its flavor 8-10 months after
freezing.
40
Harvest And Eat The Acorns
question: do you know of any recipe; s using
acorns?
The reason I ask this: When I was a child, my grandfather
had me pick up a small bucketful of acorns from under our
pin oak tree. A day or two later, he asked me to come over
to his house and he fed me acorns. The only problem I
have is he never told anyone how in the world he prepared
them.
Here is some information about eating acorns or rather
acorn meal. The tannins have to be removed to avoid the
bitterness. I don't know what your grandfather might have
done to remove the tannins in whole acorns unless the type
of acorn had less tannins to begin with and could have
been removed by soaking the whole acorn.
41
Harvesting The Wild: Acorns
Information
When I was just a little girl, I used to collect acorns by the
boxfull as they fell in the fall. I didn’t know why. They just
felt nice in the hand and somehow a big bunch of them felt
satisfying. Could that be because somewhere in my
ancestors’ time, acorns were a very important food? Native
Americans all across oak-growing North and South
America harvested acorns, which were nearly as important
a food as corn or beans. Such tribes as the Cherokee,
Apache, Pima, and Ojibwa routinely harvested and used
the acorn. These Indian gatherers taught early settlers how
to harvest and use acorns in their cooking, as they did corn
and other traditional foods. Even today, many Indians
gather acorns, both to use themselves and to sell in
Mexican markets.
And those bright, shining round acorns are very good for
you, besides tasting great. Health benefits of acorns
Acorns have been tested and found to be possibly the best
food for effectively controlling blood sugar levels. They
have a low sugar content, but leave a sweetish aftertaste,
making them very good in stews, as well as in breads of all
types.
Ground, leached acorn meal, ready to dry. The bitterness is
gone.
42
They are rich in complex carbohydrates, minerals, and
vitamins while they are lower in fat than most other nuts.
They are also a good source of fiber.
An additional benefit from eating acorns is in the
gathering. Acorns, although they “fall from trees, must be
picked and processed before eating, which requires a walk,
then bending and picking up. All of these are good
exercise. In fact, that is why many primitive foods are so
healthy. They require exercise just to put them on the table,
not just a short trip to the convenience store or fast food
joint. But acorns taste bitter!
One of the first things I learned as a little girl harvesting
acorns was that they tasted awful. Unfortunately, many
acorns do taste bitter. This is because they contain tannin, a
bitter substance in oaks which is used to tan leather. Real
pucker power here. Some varieties of acorns contain more
tannin than others. They range from the Emory oak of the
southwestern United States and northern Mexico, which is
so mild it can be used without processing, to some black
oaks with very bitter acorns, requiring lengthy processing
to render edible.
Generally, the best acorns to harvest are those of the white
oaks, such as the swamp oak, Oregon white oak, and burr
oak, as they contain less bitter tannin. Luckily, nearly all
acorns can be made usable with natural processing which
renders them nutty and sweet. From the mighty oak
Acorns are one grain that literally grows on trees. Even a
small oak tree can produce a bushel or more of tasty,
nutritious acorns. And that grandaddy oak out in the
43
pasture could produce nearly a thousand pounds. Now that
is a lot of eating from a small area.
There are now several varieties of grafted oak trees, which
bear nearly double the harvest of wild trees. These trees are
available for purchase from specialty nursery companies.
Nice fat, ripe acorns, ready to be used for acorn meal or
flour
Not only are acorns great food for us, but for many birds
and animals as well. Any deer hunter can tell you that one
of the best spots to ambush a wily buck is on a trail to a big
oak tree. Deer and wild turkeys harvest these nutritious
acorns to fatten up for winter.
Early settlers must have noticed this, as they soon began to
turn their hogs out into the oak woods to fatten on the
bounty of acorns. I accidently had this happen to two of my
own pigs. I had a litter of weaner pigs, six in number in an
outside pen. While we were in town, a stray dog came by
and had great fun, chasing the little porkers around the pen.
None were injured, but two of them vaulted the pen wall
next to the shed and took off for the woods as fast as their
little legs would run.
We hunted, called, and scoured the woods for days.
Weeks. No piggies. By then, we figured a black bear,
which were numerous in our woods, had a midnight snack
of pork on the hoof.
44
Then one November, I was riding my horse down one of
the wooded trails through huge old oaks, when I noticed
turned-up fresh soil. Bear? Nope, my “bear” had left pig
tracks. I tied my horse and scouted further, discovering
seemingly acres of ground dug up underneath those
bounteous oak trees. My lost piggies were found. But those
tracks looked pretty big.
To make a long story short, we corralled those errant
porkers and hauled them home. On putting them in the pen
next to their brothers and sisters, we were shocked. Out in
the woods, they really looked big, but now they looked
huge. They were a third again as big. On butchering, the
woods raised hogs weighed 290 pounds, while the grain
fed hogs barely made 200 dressed. So much for “modern
feeding.” Of course the pigs had access to roots, grasses,
insects, and more. But I credit much of their hearty size to
those fat acorns they were gorging themselves upon.
As acorns hold a long time under the tree, the hogs were
feasting on last year’s crop all summer, then the fresh crop
come fall. Not a bad natural feed. Harvesting
First of all, you’ll have to check out your local oaks during
the spring when the leaves and underbrush are not as
dense. Get a little pocket tree book and try to identify the
oaks you find. In many areas, there are several varieties of
oaks available to the acorn harvester. Some are quite mild
and sweet and others pretty darned bitter. If you have a
choice, try to find a variety with mild meat and only a little
initial tang of tannin.
My son, Bill Spaulding’s hunting “shack” sits right in the
middle of white oaks, which produce “grain from trees,” as
45
some Indian tribes refer to acorns, and also lure big deer,
which come to feed on sweet, fat acorns.
You may have to simply nibble and check, come fall.
Different varieties of oak have different shaped acorns.
Crack a nice fat acorn with no worm hole. Examine the
meat. It should be yellowish, not black and dusty (insects).
Now, simply nibble and chew up a part of the nut. If it is
very bitter, spit it out and try another kind of acorn. When
you find a grove of relatively mild acorns, note this for
next year and harvest away.
As the understory is usually very thin below a decent sized
oak tree, the acorns are quite easy to pick up. Depending
on the variety of oak, your acorns will drop between late
September and October, more or less, depending on your
climate zone. The best way I’ve found to pick up acorns is
to simply pick a nice dry, sunny day as soon as the acorns
begin to drop and take baskets and sacks to the woods and
sit down and pick them up. If you wait too long, the handy
dandy squirrels and other wild critters will beat you to
them, leaving only the worm-riddled hulls behind.
Processing
The term “processing” brings to mind machines and
chemical additives. With acorns, processing simply means
making them ready to eat.
When I get home with my bounteous haul, I spread them
out a layer thick on an old sheet which I have laid on a
roof, corner of the yard, or some other out-of-the-way dry,
sunny place. This lets them sun dry and prevents any
possible molding before I get them shelled. It will also kill
46
any insect eggs or larvae, which might be inside. If you
cannot lay the acorns out in the sun, spread them in a
single layer on cookie sheets in a very slow oven for an
hour.
Some acorns, such as those of the Emory oak, require no
more processing than cracking them open and eating them.
Like most nuts, acorns of all types benefit from toasting on
a cookie sheet in an oven at 175° F. Stir to prevent
scorching.
However, most acorns do contain enough tannin to make
leaching this bitter substance out necessary. To do this,
simply sit down and crack a big bowlful of acorns,
carefully examining each nut for black holes, which
indicates a worm is inside rather than a wholesome plump
yellowish-beige nut. Acorns are very easy to crack. The
shell is pliable and quite thin. Pop the cap off, then simply
grasp it with a pair of pliers and give a squeeze. Don’t
mash the kernel. Simply crack the shell. Then peel it off
and toss the kernel into a bowl.
When all are done, get out your food grinder. Put a fine
knife on the grinder and run the shelled acorns through it.
This makes a coarse meal. Place this in a large crock or
glass bowl. Then add boiling water to cover and let stand
an hour. Drain and throw away the brownish, unappetizing
water. Repeat. Then taste the meal. It should have a bit of a
bitter tang, then taste sweet as you chew a piece. Continue
leaching out the tannin as long as necessary.
When the acorn meal is mild tasting, it is ready to dry. I
usually lay out a piece of old white sheet in a basket and
47
pour the wet meal on it. Then, gathering up the edges, jelly
bag style, I press and squeeze, getting out as much of the
water (and tannin) as possible.
Author grinding shelled acorns in a hand grinder
One caution?don’t let wet acorn meal lie about for hours,
or it will surely mold. Keep at the leaching process.
Spread the damp meal out in a shallow layer on a cookie
sheet or on sheets of your dehydrator. Then begin to dry it.
In the oven, you only need the pilot light or the very lowest
oven setting. As it begins to dry, take your hands and very
carefully crumble any chunks which hold moisture. Slowly
your meal will begin to look quite good.
When the meal is completely dry, run it through a fine
setting on your grain mill. The traditional method was to
use a stone (mano in the southwest) hand grinder to crush
the meal on a large, flat stone (metate). It is now ready for
use in your recipes. If you produced more meal than you
need right now, you can store the meal in the freezer or
refrigerator in an airtight bag or jar. The dry, ground meal
will last a week or so, stored in an airtight jar on the shelf.
But, because of the oil, the meal will begin to go rancid, as
will whole wheat flour and homeground cornmeal.
You can also grind your meal in a food processor or
blender a little at a time. I smile, thinking of the vast
difference between grinding acorns between stones and
using a food mill. What would our ancestors think? Using
acorn meal
48
Some Native Peoples called acorns “grain from the tree,”
indicating the use they had for it as a grain in cakes,
breads, and thickening for stews and soups. Today folks
use “cream of this and that” soups for the same thing.
I think processed acorns taste like a cross between
hazelnuts and sunflower seeds, and I often include acorn
meal in my multi-grain bread recipes. Adding half a cup of
acorn meal to a two-loaf bread recipe and reducing the
flour, as needed, works quite well. Because the acorn meal
is a natural sweetener, I only use a bit of honey to feed the
yeast while softening it, relying on the acorn meal to give
sweetness to the bread. No complaints yet.
As acorn meal is very dense, you will have to take care to
get your bread to rise when adding it. One way to ensure
this is to use hot liquid and beat in your flour, making a
batter. Then cool so you can add the yeast and the rest of
the ingredients. This helps release wheat gluten to let the
bread rise, despite heavy ingredients. Indian bread was
always very dense and heavy, as there was seldom, if ever,
wheat or yeast added to the recipe. It takes wheat gluten, as
well as yeast, to make bread rise properly. Indian breads
were often small, thin cakes baked before the fire on large,
reflecting rocks. They were not puffy, large loaves as we
are accustomed to today.
49
How To Use Acorn Meal
recipe
the possibilities are almost endles; s! add acorn
masa to mush
acorn masa for cornmeal. or use the; pulp to replace
part of
be sure to cut down a bit on the li; quid and shorten
the reci
mildly flavor and makes breads and; cakes richer,
moister, br
of the acorn-masa delicacies descri; bed and see for
yourself
50
How To Use Acorns For Food And Bread
Information
There are many species of oak trees. Oak trees are found
throughout. They prefer open woods and bottom land.
Normally, they are divided into two major groups: Red
Oak - The red oaks have deeply scalloped leaves with very
pointed tips. The acorns from the red oak are very bitter.
The acorns require two growing seasons to mature, have a
hairy lining on the inside of the shell, and the nutmeats are
yellow in color. Red oaks are also members of the black
oak family. (Photo: Oak Trees - Quercus spp. Provide
Acorns Rich in Protein and Oils) White Oak - The white
oak also has leaves with deep scallops, but the tips are
rounded. The acorns of the white oak are less bitter than
those of the red oak, and they require only one growing
season. The inner portion of the white oak acorn shell is
smooth, and the nutmeat is white in color. The chestnut
oak is considered part of the white oak classification.
NUTS: The nuts are gathered during the fall from
September to October. When processed properly, acorns
have a pleasant nutty flavor. Acorns are an excellent source
of energy, protein, carbohydrate, and calcium. When
collecting acorns, one should not be surprised that many of
them must be discarded due to insects or mold, so more
should be collected than are needed. If you spread a sheet
51
of plastic under the tree and use only those acorns that fall
within a one-day period, this seems to reduce bug
infestation, an especially important problem for acorns that
are to be stored in their shell. The ripe tan-to-brown acorns,
rather than the unripe green ones, should be gathered. The
bitterness in acorns is caused by tannic acid which is water
soluble. To remove this unpleasant taste, shell the brown,
ripe acorns and remove any corky skin layers, dice the
meat; and boil the chunks in water from 15 to 30 minutes
until the water turns brown. Then pour off the water and
repeat the process until the water clears, indicating that the
tannic acid has been removed. Periodically taste a bit of the
acorns until you no longer detect any bitterness. (Native
Americans would let the crushed acorn meat soak in a fast-
moving, clean stream for several weeks to remove the
bitterness.) During the last boiling, salt water can be added;
then the acorns can be deep fried or mixed in a soup. Also,
finely chopped acorn meats can be added to bread and
muffins, or the soft acorn nut can be added as a protein
booster to cooked greens. After the leaching process, acorn
meat can be frozen. To make flour, the boiled acorn meat
can be split in two and dried by slowly baking in a 200
degree oven with the door cracked to allow moisture to
escape. Or, they can be dried in the sun. They are then
crushed or ground and used as a thickener or as flour.
Another method is to roast the fresh acorns to work well in
a grinder or blender. After grinding, the course flour is
placed into a cloth bag and boiled to leach out the tannic
acid. Acorn flour can be used alone to make an acorn
bread, but it is not very pleasing to most tastes. Acorn flour
is more palatable when mixed with wheat flour or corn
meal-one part acorn meal mixed with four parts corn meal
for corn bread, or one to four parts wheat for bread. The
acorn meal can also be heated in water to make a nutritious
mush. Or add enough water to make a thick batter. Add a
dash of salt and sweetener to improve the taste. Allow the
batter to stand for an hour (or until thick) then pat into
52
pancakes and cook or twist and bake on an open fire. The
leached acorns, after they are roasted until brittle, can be
ground and used as a marginal coffee substitute. In their
shell, the dried acorns will store for a time. Some Native
Americans stored acorns for several years in bags buried in
boggy areas. CAUTION: In the identification and use of
wild edibles as a food and herbal healing source, care and
attention to details should be exercised, as some plants are
toxic. Always use several field guides to insure proper
identification. Better yet, you should be trained by and
expert. The above informatio
53
Preparation Of Ground Acorn Meal
Information
1. Pick up several cupfuls of acorns. All kinds of oaks have
edible acorns. Some have more tannin than others, but
leaching will remove the tannin from all of them. 2. Shell
the acorns with a nutcracker, a hammer, or a rock. 3. Grind
them. If you are in the woods, smash them, a few at a time
on a hard boulder with a smaller stone, Indian style. Do
this until all the acorns are ground into a crumbly paste. If
you are at home, it's faster and easier to use your mom's
blender. Put the shelled acorns in the blender, fill it up with
water, and grind at high speed for a minute or two. You
will get a thick, cream-colored goo. It looks yummy, but
tastes terrible. 4. Leach (wash) them. Line a big sieve with
a dish towel and pour in the ground acorns. Hold the sieve
under a faucet and slowly pour water through, stirring with
one hand, for about five minutes. A lot of creamy stuff will
come out. This is the tannin. When the water runs clear,
stop and taste a little. When the meal is not bitter, you have
washed it enough.
Or, in camp, tie the meal up in a towel and swish it in
several bucketfuls of clean drinking water, until it passes
the taste test. 5. Squeeze out as much water as you can,
with your hands. 6. Use the ground acorn mash right away,
because it turns dark when it is left around. Or store in
plastic for freezing if you want to make the pancakes later.
54
Processing Acorns
Acorns
After removing caps and shells, acorns can be eaten raw or
roasted. To roast, nuts should be baked at 250B0 to
300B0F for 1 hour. For more bitter acorns, boil kernels
whole for 15 minutes and pour off water. The discarded
water will be brown with tannin. Add fresh water, boil
another 15 minutes, and continue this process until the
water is only slightly tinted. Once tannin is removed, roast
nuts as described above. From: "Manyfeathers1"
<manyfeathers1@yadate: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:07:16 -0000
55
Turning Acorns Into Meal
Information
The process of turning acorns into meal starts by going out
into the oak groves in the fall and harvesting the acorns.
Turning the acorns into meal is not easy. It often takes the
entire village to find and gather them. Adding to the
problem is the fact that oak trees produce good harvest
every four or five years.
Once the Chumash find a sufficient amount of acorns, they
crack them one at a time to check for worms using a
hammer stone. This same tool is used to grind the acorns
once they have been removed from their shell. Then, when
it is fine enough, they sift it through a basket and remove
any unrefined pieces. They then lay leaves down on hot
sand and spread the acorn meal all over the leaves.
Water was boiled using hot rocks and poured on top of the
acorn meal. They do this to get rid of the tannic acid which
can cause stomach problems. A bitter taste to the acorn
meal indicates that there is still some tannic acid left, and
that it must be removed. The rinse water is a milky white
color until all the tannic acid has rinsed off. The water will
run clear when it is thoroughly cleaned. This is known as
the leaching process.
The Chumash allow the meal to dry in the sun for a while
and the process ends by placing the acorn meal into tightly
woven baskets and storing it in huts for the winter. A
healthy gruel, or oatmeal type food, was made from the
ground acorn meal. It could also be made into flat cakes
and cooked on a steatite comal over a fire.
56
The whole village would be involved in gathering the
acorns during the fall season. Granaries were used to store
unshelled acorns until it was time to grind them. Coastal
Live Oaks could drop as many as several hundred pounds
of acorn nuts.
The age of manos and pestles that are found today help
date the site of grinding activity. Manos were used as long
ago as 3000 years. The pestle shape evolved about 1500
years ago. Often, large groups of manos or pestles are
found near grinding sites. It is thought that this was
because they were too heavy to carry back to the village.
Grinding sites were usually conveniently located near
running water to assist in the leaching process. Each
woman maintained her own work site even though there
was no ownership of the land.
This healthy flour formed the base of nutrition in the Santa
Susanna area. The Chumash and Gabrielino did not farm,
but gathered and hunted fresh food to accompany their
acorn based diet.
57
Appetizers
58
Acorn Crunchies
After your acorns are leached, you can bread them using
cornmeal, and whole wheat flour. Bake lightly, (until
crunchy). You can get creative with this by adding spices,
butter, seasoning salt, etc. Make sure you keep stirring this,
and don’t bake too long. Oven temperature 325°.
59
Acorn Shred
acorns
Made with a larger blade, results in thin shreds. Can season
with chili powder, soy sauce, etc. Used as fried things. Add
oil to skillet, add onions, meat, vegetables, etc. Like pilaf.
Can use in cheese balls.
60
Acorn Slivers
Acorn are leached, and then ground with a special blade (a
la salad shooter) which results in thin slivers. Use in pie,
on toast, and as you'd use toasted coconut on top of foods.
Gives a nutty flavor. Use where you don't want or need
body. Can use with cheese balls. Ideally, toast before
using.
61
Breads
62
Acorn Baking
Several other ethnic food enthusiasts like to substitute
acorn meal for corn meal when making muffins -- usually
using 1/2 corn meal and 1/2 acorn. Some have substituted
1/2 of the flour in a biscuit recipe with 1/2 acorn meal.
Experiment carefully, remembering that a good portion of
the work performed by flour has to do with the gluten in
the floor. Sorry, acorn has no gluten, so you'll have to keep
this in mind. Here is a modern Acorn Bread recipe from
the book Cooking with Spirit, North American Indian Food
and Fact by Darcy Williamson and Lisa Railsback,
Copyright 1987 by Darcy Williamson. Published by
Maverick Publications, Drawer 5007, Bend, Oregon
97701. Used for a children's class in California Indian
Culture which I do periodically.
63
Acorn Bread
2 cups of milk
2 tablespoons oil or butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons dry yeast
4 2/3 cups acorn flour (see below)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup luke-warm water
To make Acorn flour:
Use white, burr, or chestnut acorns collected in the fall
when ripe. Remove shells Boil acorns for two - two and a
half hours, changing the water each time it turns brown.
Remove from water and layer on a sheet pan and roast for
one hour then chop finely and grind in a flour grinder or
processor. Dry again in oven for one half hour then put
through the grinder again at least twice more until very
smooth.
Scald the milk then stir in oil or butter, honey, and salt.
Pour into a large bowl and let cool to luke-warm. Dissolve
yeast in warm water then add to mixture and gradually stir
in the acorn flour. Cover bowl and let rise for two hours in
a warm place, then knead for ten minutes and roll out like a
thick pastery. Roll the dough like a jelly roll and shape into
two loves. Place in buttered bread pans, cover and let rise
for two hours. Bake for forty minutes at 375 degrees then
remove and brush with melted butter. Serve warm.
64
Acorn Bread
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
or
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup carob flour
or
2 cup acorn flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Salt
3 tbl honey
1 pc egg
1 cup milk
3 tbl oil
Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45
minutes at 300 degrees F.
65
Acorn Bread
1 cup acorn meal
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, beaten or egg substitute
1 cup milk (i use soy or rice milk-
works; fine)
3 tablespoons oil
Very tasty, with a distinctive texture. Great for
Thanksgiving! American colonists in the Northeast used all
available food sources- acorn bread is an adaptation of a
Native American recipe which was somewhat common in
the late 17th century until the mid 19th among the poorer
working classes. 1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. 2. Grease a
loaf pan. 3. Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. 4. In a
separate bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil. 5. Combine dry
and liquid ingredients. 6. Stir just enough to moisten dry
ingredients. 7. Batter will be a bit lumpy. 8. Pour into a
greased pan, bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. 9. Acorns
are very easy to use, similar to chestnuts. 10. First examine
the acorns as you pick/gather them. 11. Throw away any
that are wormy/moldy/cracked/etc. 12. Next, shell them.
13. Early in the season (August-September) the shell is
usually soft enough to cut through. 14. Later in the season
acorns may require a nut cracker, though many times the
shells are rather thin and brittle. 15. Taste the raw acorns-
if they are bitter, they need to be boiled. 16. Tannic acid
causes the bitterness, and is easily leached out by boiling
the acorns in successive pots of water. 17. When the water
no longer turns brown (looks a lot like tea), the acorns are
ready. 18. The next step is to roast the acorns slightly. 19.
Use a warm oven, no more than 250 degrees. 20. Acorns
that have not been boiled will take 60 minutes or so, boiled
66
acorns will take longer. 21. Once they're roasted, the
acorns can be used in place of nuts in most recipes,
although they are less oily than most nuts. 22. They can be
glazed like chestnuts, simmered in a soup, ground and used
as a flour extender.
67
Acorn Bread
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup flour
2 tbl baking potato
1/2 tsp Salt
3 tbl sugar
1 pc egg
1 cup milk
3 tbl oil
Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt
and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and
oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir
just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased
pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes.
Native Indian Wild Game, Fish and Wild Foods Cookbook
Fox Chapel Publishing Co. 1992 From: Bobby Queen
Date: 08 Sep 99
68
Acorn Bread
3 tbs. cornmeal
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 tso salt
2 tsps. butter
1/2 pkg active dry yeast (1 1/8 tsp.)
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup potato starch
1 c all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup acorn starch
1 tsp. sugar
3 tbs. water (about) to hold dough togethe
Mix cornmeal with cold water; add boiling water and cook
2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add salt and butter and cool
to lukewarm. Soften yeast in lukewarm water. Add
remaining ingredients to corn mixture, along with yeast.
Knead to a stiff dough. Dough will be sticky. Cover and let
rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch down
dough and form into loaf; place in bread pan (9 5/8 x 5 ½ x
2 ¾), cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375
degrees for 30-40 minutes.
Adapted from http://www.siouxme.com/acorn.html
69
Acorn Bread
1 cup cup acorn flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (or 3/4 cup wheat; and 1/4
cup carob flour
or just use a total of 2 cups acorn; flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons honey
1 egg
1 cup raw milk
3 tablespoons oil
Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45
minutes at 300 degrees F.
70
Acorn Bread
1 c acorn meal
1 c flour
2 T baking powder
1/2 ts salt
3 T sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 c milk
3 T oil
Sift together acorn meal, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar
and then mix egg, milk and oil and add to dry ingreadients
and pan up.
71
Acorn Bread
1 cup acorn meal
1 cup flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
3 tablespoon oil
Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt
and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and
oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir
just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased
pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes.
72
Acorn Bread
2 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ginger
1 cup honey
2 cups milk
2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped acorns
margarine
2 tsp baking soda
Grease two loaf pans with margarine. Mix together all dry
ingredients, thoroughly. Beat eggs, gradually adding milk.
Add egg mixture alternately with honey to dry ingredients.
Beat well. Stir in acorns and pour evenly into loaf pans.
Bake in cardboard oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until
golden. If bread is done, it will come out of pan easily
when pan is turned over and tapped gently. If not, bake for
another 10-15 minutes. Remove bread from pan
immediately when done and cool. This spicy bread always
tastes better the second day when its .flavors have had a
chance to mellow and blend.
73
Acorn Bread
The Indians mixed the acorn meal or flour with meat soup
or water to make a stiff dough. Salt was added to the
dough. The acorn dough was made into round loaves ,
wrapped in fern leaves, and placed in ashes for slow heat
cooking that turned the bread black. Another method was
to place the thick dough on a two forked stick and cook
quickly over hot coals. If baking powder was available, the
acorn meal was mixed with baking powder, salt, and water.
This dough was either baked or fried in a pan. While not
'traditional' recipes these are still very good. Sent to us be
SkyWarrior's Blood-Sister Lori.
74
Acorn Bread (Modern)
6 T. cornmeal
1/2 c. cold water
1 c. boiling water
1 tsp. salt
1 T. butter
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 c. lukewarm water
1 c. mashed potatoes
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. finely ground leached acorn meal
Mix cornmeal with cold water, add boiling water and cook
2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add sale and butter and cool
to lukewarm. Soften yeast in lukewarm water. Add
remaining ingredients to corn mixture, along with yeast.
Knead to a stiff dough. Dough will be sticky. Cover and let
rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch down,
shape into two loaves, cover and let rise until doubled in
bulk. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.
75
Acorn Bread 3
1-2/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. dry baking yeast
2 tbs. whole wheat flour
1 cup acorns
Stir to melt honey, then cover and set in a warm place
about 10 minutes until foamy. After yeast gets foamy and
starts to grow add 4 cups whole wheat flour 1/3 cup
vegetable oil 1 cup leached & drained uncooked acorns*.
Mix well with a wooden spoon. Fill two standard bread
pans and bake at 350° for 30 minutes
76
Acorn Bread 33
1 cup (packed) acorn mush
1 cup plain white flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/6 cup maple syrup (real stuff, not the fl; avoured
crap)
1/2 an egg (whisked gently, so you *can* h; alve it)
1/4 cup milk
1.5 tsp vegetable oil
The acorns can allegedly now be used as tasty snacks. I
didn't see that happening, so I drained them as best I could
and popped them in the food processor till I had a smooth
acorn mush.
From here, you can dry the paste out (so I'm told) and store
the acorn flour, or use it immediately.
I did the latter, and modified a recipe I found here to make
sweet acorn bread in muffin sizes. Here's my shot at it:
Combine the acorn mush, flour and baking powder in a
mixing bowl. Stir to combine - crumb if necessary to get a
homogenous mixture.
Create a well in the mixture, and add the maple syrup, egg,
milk and vegetable oil. Combine gently.
Spoon into lightly greased muffin trays and cook for 15
minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Test by inserting a wooden
skewer - if it comes out clean: they're done.
Throughout the whole lengthy process I couldn't believe
that the end result would be worth all the hassle. In fact, it
is. The bread is slightly sweet with bitter hints, and the odd
sweet aftertaste is natural to the acorns. It's dark and
textured, but very light, and has serious snob value for
77
dinner parties. Despite its subtle sweetness, I hope to serve
it with a meat dish someday, or perhaps a warming autumn
soup.
78
Acorn Bread 5
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups leached & drained acorns*
1-2/3 cups milk to make a soft dough
Notice there’s no sweetener in this. It doesn’t need it. This
recipe makes a beautifully colored brown bread. It is so
good, I just eat it plain. It is a good bread with cheese, jelly
or jam. It is soft and moist. Be creative with this bread.
Slice it. Top it with salsa and cheese and melt it. This is a
good meal served with fresh vegetables and a salad.
Acorns mixed with flour make a wonderful bread. It is
even better the next day. Refrigerate it then slice it real thin
and toast in the oven. My adult son said it was “awesome”
that way. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. Add acorns,
milk, oil and mix well. Dough should be stiff but not dry.
Bake at 325 ° for 25 or more minutes, (until done)
79
Acorn Bread Apache
1 cup acorn meal (from 2-4 cups acorns)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons salad oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup milk
Equipment: 8 by 8-inch brownie pan, food processor or
blender, wire cake tester or toothpick.
1. Shell acorns with a nut-cracker and nut pick, discarding
any with worms. 2. Chop nuts to a coarse meal in food
processor. 3. Soak nuts in boiling water 30 minutes. Drain
water, which will be reddish-brown. 4. Taste a little bit of
the meal. If it is still bitter and astringent, repeat Step
Three. 5. When nuts lose their bitter taste, spread meal out
on a baking sheet and put it into a 300 degree oven, so that
the meal dries out and toasts slightly, being careful not to
let the meal burn. (you can skip this step, but it adds
flavor.) 6. Measure one cup meal and combine with
cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder. 7. Combine
honey, beaten egg, and milk. 8. Add milk mixture to dry
ingredients and mix just until all dry ingredients are
moistened. 9. Grease the 8 x 8 pan, and pour in the batter.
Level off with a spatula if necessary. 10. Pour into greased
8 X 8 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30
minutes. 11. Test for doneness with a wire cake tester or
toothpick.
Serve cut into squares.
80
Acorn Bread With Cattail Flour
2 cups acorn flour
2 cups cattail or white flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup maple syrup or sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons olive oil
bake in pan for 30 minutes or until; done at 400
degrees
Using the ingredients given above will produce a sweet,
moist, nutty bread. The ingredients can be varied to
produce different types of bread or muffins or pancakes,
etc. Acorn bread is highly nutritious. It has an energy
giving combination of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. John
Muir called dry acorn cakes 'the most compact and strength
giving food' he had ever used. I use maple syrup from the
trees in my woods instead of sugar. Not only do I enjoy the
wild beauty and fiery colors of the maples and oaks that
surround my farm, but I also savor the sweet acorn bread
made from their nuts and sap. What better way is there to
get to know the trees than to live under them and eat from
their bounty? * 50% or less Acorn flour (if you use more
than 50%, bread will be too crumbly) * 50% or more wheat
(preferably whole wheat) flour * a bit of fat (olive oil, bear
grease, butter, or whatever you have) * 1 teaspoon of
baking powder for each cup of flour
81
Acorn Pan-Bread
1/2 cup acorn flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1 pcs eggs
1 pinch chili powder
1 tbl green onion; chopped
2 tsp Baking Powder
Acorn flour and cornmeal mixed 50:50, egg, and flavoured
with a little chilli and spring onion. Cooked in small cast
iron skillet. Raising agent baking powder. Details on
preparing acorns in RWFG.
82
Acorn Pumpkin Bread
3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 pcs eggs; beaten
2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin or
16oz. can
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup acorn flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground allspice
2/3 cup water
1 to 1 1/2 cup pecans; chopped
Combine sugar, oil, and eggs; beat until light and fluffy.
Stir in Pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients, and stir into
pumpkin mixture. Add Water and nuts; mixing well. Spoon
batter into 2 well-greased 9x4 Loaf pans. Bake at 350 for
65-75 minutes.
83
Acorn Soda Biscuits
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbs. vegetable oil (you can make without; oil,
butaren’t as flaky
3/4 cup milk (soy milk is okay)
1/4 cup leached & drained acorns*
Sift flour, baking soda & salt thoroughly. Mix in oil. Add
acorns and milk. Dough will be stiff, if wet add a little
more flour. Knead a little, then roll into balls then shape
biscuits and bake on un-greased baking sheet at least 10
minutes, until done, 350-400°, or cook on a hot cast iron
tortilla pan or skillet and turn, browning both sides. Make
the biscuits the size of English muffins. When cool split
and toast. These biscuits are so good! You can make mini-
pizzas out of these too, or use the dough for a big pizza.
Try rolling them into little balls and baking them in a
muffin tin. These are pretty sliced in half and topped with
tomatoes or onions or a spread (even cheese) and are easy
to make for a party.
84
Acorn Spice Bread
1 cups flour
1/2 cup acorn flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweet potato flour
2 tbl Baking Powder
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon ground
1 tsp nutmeg ground
1 tsp allspice ground
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
2 pcs eggs
3 tsp sunflour seeds; roasted or raw
Mix first nine (9) ingredients in large bowl and blend well
by stirring or sifing them together. In a seperate bowl mix
milk, oil and eggs until smooth. Add the liquid to the dry
ingredients and stir 50 to 70 strokes.
Devide into three well oiled (spay) 3X5 loaf pans. Sprinkle
with sunflour seeds and bake for about 35 minutes in a 375
F preheated oven or until inserted tooth pick comes out
clean. If you wish to make one large loaf with a 8X4 or
9X5 pan increase your baking time to 45-55 minutes.
Cool for about 20 minutes and remove from pans.
Dried cranberries or nuts may be added to batter. Serve
with butter or cream cheese.
85
Acorn Tortillas
1/4 cup leached & cooked & cooled acorns
1/4 cup bran
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
enough cool water to make a soft dough Heat an un-oiled
cast iron skillet. Roll out dough to tortilla thickness” on a
lightly floured board. Heat first on one side, then flip and
cook until done.
86
Acorn Yeast Bread
1 tablespoon of dried yeast
1/4 cup of cooking oil
1/4 cup of honey
2 eggs
2 cups of acorn masa
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of brewer's yeast (optional)
6 cups of flour (white or whole wheat)
Pour the water into a large bowl and add the tablespoon of
dried yeast. Let stand until the yeast is soft, then stir. Next,
add all the remaining ingredients except the flour to the
bowl and beat well. Then stir in about four cups of the
flour and [1] pile one cup of flour onto a bread board, [2]
make a well (a depression) in the center of the mound, and
[3] turn the batter out into the well. Working from the
outside in, gradually knead the mass, adding enough extra
flour (about a cup total) as you go along to make a stiff
dough. Knead for ten more minutes or until the dough is
smooth and doesn't stick to your hands. (Add more flour, if
necessary.) Now flour the bowl lightly, place the dough in
it, cover with a cloth, and allow the bowl to stand in a
warm place until its contents have doubled in size (about
one hour). Turn the dough out, shape it into two loaves,
and place the loaves into oiled bread pans . . . then lightly
oil the tops of the loaves and set them in a warm place to
rise. When they're almost double in size, bake the loaves at
350°F for 40 minutes (or until well browned). Finally, turn
the bread out onto a rack and let it cool before slicing.
Acorn bread keeps very well, by the way . . . if you have
any left over after your first 'tasting session'!
87
Acorn-Corn Bread
1/2 cup acorn meal
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 cup milk
Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl beat
egg, and add the liquid ingredients. Combine with a few
swift strokes. Pour batter into a small square greased pan
and bake at 425 for 20 min or until firm to the touch. Serve
hot with butter.
From: Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada, published
by the National Museums of Canada, ISBN 0-660-00128-4
Posted by: Jim Weller
Recipe By : Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada
From: Marjorie Scofield Date: 11-08-95 (11:31) (160)
Fido: Recipes
88
Bread Acorn
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (can be 3/4 cup w; heat and
1/4 cup carob fl
or just use a total of 2 cups acorn; flour)
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons honey
1 egg
1 cup raw milk
3 tablespoons oil
Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45
minutes at 300 degrees F.
89
Burning Tree Acorn Bread
reads
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 tbl Sugar
1 pc egg; beaten
1 cup milk
1 tbl oil
Mix together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt
and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and
oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir
just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased
pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes. NOTE: Acorn flour
purchased at any Korean Store.
90
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Bread Recipes
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup whole wheat flour or
3/4 cup wheat and
1/4 cup carob flour or just use a
1 total of
2 cup acorn flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon honey
1 egg
1 cup raw milk
3 tablespoon oil
Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45
minutes at 300 degrees F.
PANCAKES
I use the above recipe for making pancakes simply by
adding more milk or water until the consistency is correct
for pancake batter. They are excellent when served with
gooseberry topping. From: "Linda Roberts"
<lrobe684@bellsou
91
Christopher's Acorn Bread
1 cup acorn flour,
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup carob flour,
3 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. sea salt
3 tbs. honey,
1 egg,
1 cup raw milk,
3 tbs. oil.
Here's the recipe for my favorite acorn bread. Mix well and
bake in greased pan for about 45 minutes (or longer) at
250°F
92
Contemporary Acorn Bread
1 cup acorn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
3 tablespoon oil
Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt
and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and
oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir
just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased
pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes. From: "Mignonne "
<mignonne-Al@e...> Date:
93
Honey Acorn Bread
4 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ginger
1 cup honey
2 cups milk
2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped acorns
margarine
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Grease two loaf pans with margarine. Mix together all dry
ingredients, thoroughly. Beat eggs, gradually adding milk.
Add egg mixture alternately with honey to dry ingredients.
Beat well. Stir in acorns and pour evenly into loaf pans.
Bake in cardboard oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until
golden. If bread is done, it will come out of pan easily
when pan is turned over and tapped gently. If not, bake for
another 10-15 minutes. Remove bread from pan
immediately when done and cool. This spicy bread always
tastes better the second day when its .flavors have had a
chance to mellow and blend.
94
Mixed Grain Acorn Bread
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup coarse ground, leached acorn meal
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tbsp. dry granulated yeast
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 tbsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
about 8 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey
butter
Pour boiling water over oats, cornmeal, and acorn meal.
Set aside. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. In a large
mixing bowl, beat the hot oatmeal mixture with the rest of
the ingredients, except for the yeast and butter, adding the
flour a cup at a time until you get a medium batter. Cool to
lukewarm. Then add the yeast. Mix well and add enough
flour until you have a spongy dough that is not sticky.
Knead, adding flour if necessary to keep from being sticky.
Place in a greased bowl and grease the top of dough, then
cover it with a moist, warm kitchen towel and set it in a
warm place until it doubles in size. Punch down, knead
several times, and let rise again. Shape into loaves and
place in greased bread pans or on a greased cookie sheet.
This also makes great rolls, so you can use a cake pan,
making golf ball sized rolls. Cover and let rise again until
almost double. Preheat the oven to 350° F and bake for
about 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush
with butter and cool.
95
You can also make this bread in camp, using smaller
loaves and a reflector oven or forming 1/2 inch thick by 1
inch wide by 8 inch long sticks and twisting the dough
around a green stick and gently baking over medium
coals?never a fire.
96
Multi-Grain Bread With Acorn Meal:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup coarse ground, leached acorn meal
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tbsp. dry granulated yeast
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 tbsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
about 8 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey
butter
Let’s take a look at one of my mixed grain breads with
acorn meal to see how it differs from the Indian cakes
above. Pour boiling water over oats, cornmeal, and acorn
meal. Set aside. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. In a
large mixing bowl, beat the hot oatmeal mixture with the
rest of the ingredients, except for the yeast and butter,
adding the flour a cup at a time until you get a medium
batter. Cool to lukewarm. Then add the yeast. Mix well
and add enough flour until you have a spongy dough that is
not sticky. Knead, adding flour if necessary to keep from
being sticky. Place in a greased bowl and grease the top of
dough, then cover it with a moist, warm kitchen towel and
set it in a warm place until it doubles in size. Punch down,
knead several times, and let rise again. Shape into loaves
and place in greased bread pans or on a greased cookie
sheet.
This also makes great rolls, so you can use a cake pan,
making golf ball sized rolls. Cover and let rise again until
almost double. Preheat the oven to 350° F and bake for
about 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush
with butter and cool.
97
You can also make this bread in camp, using smaller
loaves and a reflector oven or forming 1/2 inch thick by 1
inch wide by 8 inch long sticks and twisting the dough
around a green stick and gently baking over medium
coals—never a fire.
So far, we’ve talked about using acorn meal as a grain. But
the acorn is so much more versatile. Most Native
Americans and early settlers used acorn meal as either an
ingredient in mush, which is sort of a thick, mealy soup, or
pounded with meat, fat, and berries, making pemmican. In
a survival situation which requires lightweight, high calorie
foods, pemmican would be a good choice. (But, of course,
many of us really don’t need the extra fat in our diets.)
Here are a couple recipes for these uses of the acorn. When
I say “acorn meal,” I mean ground, leached-till-mild acorn
meal, not raw.
98
Tom & Judy Brown's Famous Acorn Yeast
Bread
2 cups warm water
1 tbl dry yeast
1/4 cup honey or sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
2 cups acorn masa or 1 1/2 cups acorn flou; r plus
one cup water
5 1/2 cups whole wheat (or white) flour
In bowl combine water, yeast, and honey or sugar. Stir.
Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Add 4 cups flour
and stir. Place one cup flour on counter and place dough in
center of it. Knead for 10-15 minutes, adding remaining
flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking to counter.
Oil large bowl and place dough in it, turning once so both
top and bottom are oiled. Cover and let stand in warm area
until doubled (about two hours). After doubling, punch
down and let rest 10 minutes. Knead about 10 times and
divide into two loaves. Place on cookie sheet or form into
loaves and put in loaf pans. Let rise again until doubled.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
99
Breakfast
100
Acorn & Egg Breakfast
For this I have on hand cold boiled potatoes. Make sure the
potatoes are cold, if they are warm they’ll mush. Sauté 3
Tbs. chopped onion with two chopped cold potatoes in 2
Tbs. vegetable oil. Add 1/4 cup leached, cooked, cooled
and strained acorns*, and 3-4 beaten eggs (or egg whites).
Mix together then top with shredded cheese and cover.
When cheese is melted it’s done. Variations: Instead of
potatoes add 1 can drained corn. Be creative with this and
use green onions, parsley...spices like sweet basil, sage,
celery, paprika...hot peppers, green peppers, mushrooms,
chives, cilantro, etc.
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Acorn Cinnamon Pancakes
sift together, mix well with forlk
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
stir in mixing well:
2 egg whites
1-1/2 cups cold milk
2 tbs. honey
1/3 cup pre-cooked, cooled strained acorns; *
1 tbs. vegetable oil
Heat griddle only moderately hot. If the griddle is too high,
pancakes will be too mottled with dark and light patches, if
too low, you’ll get pale pancakes that might be heavy and
tough. The perfect pancake will bake quickly and evenly
with a smooth golden- brown surface. These pancakes
have a little bit different texture, but they are very good.
They may be a bit more moist inside than your usual
recipe. Top with yogurt, maple syrup or fresh fruit like
straw- berries, blackberries, blueberries or cherries.
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Acorn Griddle Cakes
3 tbl melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1/3 unbleached flour
1 teas bakeing powder
1/3 teas salt
1 tbl honey
1 egg beaten
2/3 cup finley ground leached acorn meal; (*)
Combine dry ingredients. Mix together.. egg & milk then
beat into dry ingredients, forming a smooth batter. Add
butter. Drop batter unto hot greased griddle. Bake turning
each cake, when it is browned on underside,puffed and
slightly set on top. makes 12-15 cakes.
(*) Grind acorns. Spread meal 1/2' thick on porous cloth
and pour HOT water over the meal. repeat several times
OR boil acorns for 2 HOURS, pour off Black water. Soak
in cold water 3-4 days, then grind into a paste or pulverize
acorns. Allow water to trickle thru meal ( put meal in
Muslin bag and place bag in clear running stream ) for 20
hours. dry & grind again.
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Acorn Griddle Cakes 2
2/3 c finely ground leached acorn meal
1/3 c unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 tsp. salt
1 tbl honey
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c milk
3 tbl melted butter
Combine dry ingredients. Mix together egg and milk, then
beat into dry ingredients, forming a smooth batter. Add
butter. Drop batter onto hot, greased griddle. Bake, turning
each cake when it is browned on underside and puffed and
slightly set on top.
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Acorn Pancakes
1 cup acorn meal
1 cup flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, beaten
11/2 cups milk
3 tbsp oil
Sift together dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl mix
together eggs, milk and oil. Then, combine dry ingredients
with liquid mixture. Spread batter thinly on a hot griddle.
When edges begin to bubble, flip and brown other side.
Serve with maple syrup or jelly.
105
Acorn Pancakes
acorn bread recipe
I use the acorn bread recipe for making pancakes simply by
adding more milk or water until the consistency is correct
for pancake batter. They are excellent when served with
gooseberry topping.
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Acorn Pancakes
1/2 c. white flour
1 c. acorn flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/4 c. milk
3 T. butter
In a bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and salt. In another
bowl mix egg, milk, and butter. Pour milk mixture into dry
ingredients and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
Spoon onto greased hot grill or frying pan. Turn once.
Serve with maple syrup or wild jellies.
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Acorn Pancakes I
1 cup acorn meal
1 cup flour
2 tbl baking powder
1 tbl Salt
3 tbl Sugar
2 pc egg; beaten
1 1/2 cup milk
3 tbl oil
Mix together dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl mix
together eggs, milk and oil. Then, combine dry ingredients
with liquid mixture. Spread batter thinly on a hot griddle.
When edges begin to bubble, flip and brown other side.
Serve with maple syrup or jelly.
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Acorn Pancakes II
1 cup white flour
1 c. acorn flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/4 c. milk
3 t. butter
In a bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and salt. In another
bowl mix egg, milk, and butter. Pour milk mixture into dry
ingredients and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
Spoon onto greased hot grill or frying pan. Turn once.
Serve with maple syrup or wild jellies.
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Acorn Tofu Breakfast
sauté until tender:
1/4 diced yellow onion
1 fresh chili pepper (i use either 1 serran; o or 1/4 to 1
jalapeno)
1 tbs. vegetable oil
1 tbs. water
remove from heat and add:
1/4 pound cubed and broken (fine as possible); tofu
1/4 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled and str; ained
acorns*
1/4 cup leached, cooked, cooled strained; acorns*
Return to heat mixing well with chilis and onions then
remove from heat and add 2 egg whites, mixing well. Cook
this mixture as you would scrambled eggs. When almost
done, add sliced tomatoes on top and your favorite cheese.
Cover until cheese melts. I like tamari (soy sauce) on top.
Variations: Add any of the following spices when sautéing
onions basil, rosemary, thyme, paprika, cilantro.
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Acorn and Cornmeal Pancakes
1 egg break an egg into a bowl. add:
1 teaspoon salad oil
1 teaspoon of honey or sugar
1/2 cup of ground and leached acorns
1/2 cup of corn meal
1/2 cup of whole wheat or white flour
2 teaspoons of double action baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of milk
Beat all together. If the batter is too thick to pour, thin it
with milk. Pour pancakes into a hot, greased griddle and
cook slowly until brown on both sides.
Serve with butter and syrup or wild blackberry jam.
Delicious!!
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Grandma's Acorn Griddle Bread With Syrup
3 c cornmeal
3 c acorn flour
1/4 c flour
2 ts baking soda
3 c milk
3 ea eggs beaten
1 1/2 ts salt
1 1/2 ts vanilla
Mix dry ingredients, add milk and stir until all ingredients
are moist. Then add beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir until
mixed well. Ladle on a hot greased griddle (I use a no stick
one now and cut out the grease.)
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Cake/cookie
113
Acorn Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut
Cookies
1 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled, & stra; ined
acorns*
1/2 cup honey
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
add & mix well:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
l tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup milk
then add this too & mix well:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnut pieces
There is no added oil in this recipe. Fats in here are in the
chocolate chips, walnuts and in the acorns. Mix with
spatula: Drop by rounded teaspoons onto un-greased
cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes. Always
watch your cookies, oven temperatures vary.
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Acorn Cookies
1 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 cup pecans, chopped fine,*
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
* divided in 3/4 cup portions
This is an easy yet elegant butter-acorn cookie shaped to
resemble an acorn and dipped in melted chocolate chips
and chopped acorns.
Preheat oven to 375ø.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, 3/4 cup
chopped acorns and vanilla on medium speed until well
blended. Add flour and baking powder and mix well, using
low speed.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Slightly flatten by pressing
balls onto ungreased cookie sheets; pinch tops to point to
resemble acorns. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375ø. Remove
from oven and cool on wire racks.
In top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt
chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat;
keep double boiler over water. Dip large ends of cooled
cookies into melted chocolate, then roll in chopped pecans.
Cool to set chocolate.
Yield: 3 dozen.
115
Cakes
116
Acorn Cheesecake
crust
2 cups finely crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup vegetable oil (to save calories, om; it oil)
filling
8 oz. package cream cheese
1/4 cup honey
3 egg whites
1/2 cup leached, ground & strained acorns*
1/2 cup sweetened apple sauce
crust Blend well, then press this mixture into a pie pan. Let
cream cheese soften at room temperature, then mix filling,
blending well. I use a potato masher. Add filling to crust
and bake in a hot oven (425 F) for 10 minutes. Turn oven
down to 350° and bake 25 more minutes. This should set
very firmly. If your oven is already warmed up, you might
bake at 350° for about 30 minutes. Refrigerate and top with
your favorite fruit; blueberries or strawberries, etc. Or eat
the cheesecake with vanilla ice cream.
117
Acorn Hominy Cake
2 cups homony; drained
2 tbl sorghum syrup
2 tbl oil
milk; to make loose paste
1/2 cup masa
1/2 cup homony paste
1/2 cup acor flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 pc egg
1 tbl sorghum syrup
1 tbl oil
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tbl guten flour
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1. Blend first four (4) ingredients in a blender set at puree
until a smmoth loose paste is accomlished.
2. Mix the remaing ingredients with 1/2 cup of the homony
paste and beat with about 50 to 70 strokes adding more
milk if to tight.
Devide into 3x5 oiled (spray) pans bake at preheated oven
375 F for 30 minutes or a tooth pick comes out clean.
Serve with vanilla ice cream drizzle with a huckleberry or
blueberry sauce.
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Acorn Meal Cakes
acorn meal
Acorns are ground, sieved, and pressed (all while still
'wet'). You must dry it well, and it will last one year.
Reconstitute when ready to use. Use as needed. Pie crusts
can be 1/3 meal cake. Can toast, and use as regular meal
for nuttier flavor.
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Acorn Pound Cake
1 cup sugar blend together in a bowl
1/2 cup of cooking oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup of acorn masa
in another bowl, sift together:
1-1/4 cups of flour
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon of soda
Stir the second mixture into the first (a small amount at a
time) alternately with 1/4 cup of milk. (NOTE: You can
substitute one cup of honey for the cup of sugar specified
above . . . but, if you do, you should also substitute a
quarter cup of dried milk for the quarter cup of milk just
listed.) Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4
teaspoon of mace and beat well. Pour the batter into an
oiled and floured circular pan (8' inside diameter) and bake
at 350° for about one hour. No need to make frosting . . .
this is one cake that's plenty good 'as is'!
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Apache Acorn Cakes:
1 cup acorn meal, ground fine
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup honey
pinch of salt
Mix the ingredients with enough warm water to make a
moist, not sticky dough. Divide into 12 balls. Let rest,
covered, for 10 minutes or so. With slightly moist hands,
pat the balls down into thick tortilla-shaped breads. Bake
on an ungreased cast iron griddle over campfire coals or on
clean large rocks, propped up slightly before the coals. If
using the stones, have them hot when you place the cakes
on them. You’ll have to lightly peel an edge to peek and
see if they are done. They will be slightly brown. Turn
them over and bake on the other side, if necessary.
These cakes were carried on journeys dry and eaten alone
or with shredded meat. We cheat and add homemade
butter, too. But then, we are spoiled. Multi-grain bread
with acorn meal:
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Quick Acorn Cheesecake
filling:
1 pkg. 8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 cup leached & drained acorns*
This is the first cheesecake that I made. It was very firm, as
I didn’t use the sweetened applesauce. I rather liked it,
almost better than the other version. I think it’s worth
including. Use any crust recipe you like. I didn’t have any
graham crackers on hand so I made a whole wheat pie
crust. It was fine. Follow directions from former
cheesecake recipe.
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Desserts
123
Acorn Brownies
2 cups drained but wet cold water leached; acorn
flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup fruit juice concentrate or honey
1/2 cup water with
1 teaspoon baking soda
Mix water and baking soda first then mix with other
ingredients. Bake in a greased pan at 350F for 45 min.
Cool and serve.
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Acorn Shortbread
4 oz butter -- (1 stick)
4 oz margarine -- (1 stick)
2 1/2 cups white (all-purpose) flour
1/2 cup acorn starch
3 tbls sugar
Melt the butter and margarine very slowly in a large
saucepan. Sieve/sift the dry ingredients and add them to the
melted butter and margarine. Mix to a dough using a
wooden spoon.
Press the dough into a greased Swiss roll tin/high-sided
cookie sheet. Smooth it with a knife and prick it all over
with a carving fork.
Bake at 190°C/375°F for about 25 minutes or until brown.
Mark the shortbread into fingers while it is warm and
dredge with caster (superfine) sugar. Turn onto a wire rack
when it is nearly cold.
Description: 'Shortbread used to be made slower, even
painfully, by rubbing and kneading. This new melting
method is far quicker and easier, and the shortbread could
not be better. Delicious, melting and crumbly.'
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Peanut And Acorn Yogurt Dessert
recipe
This recipe calls for leached dried acorns*, slightly baked.
They are mixed with raw peanuts that have been slightly
roasted. Spread the acorns on a cookie sheet and bake them
at about 325° for only about 5 minutes. Be careful when
baking the ground acorns, just bake lightly. You want them
to be crunchy, too much baking will make them hard. 3/4
cup roasted and ground peanuts 1/4 cup leached, dried and
slightly baked acorns* Mix the ground peanuts with the
baked acorns and serve with plain yogurt or use as a
topping for ice cream..
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Persimmon Acorn Cinnamon Rolls
dough
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2-3 tablespoons sugar (brown or granulated)
1 1/2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup persimmon pulp
1 egg white
3/4 cup acorn flour
filling
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
glaze
1/3 cup maple syrup
a.. To make the dough, mix unbleached flour, sugar, yeast,
and salt, and set aside. b.. Place the persimmon pulp in a
small saucepan, and heat until 125-130 degrees F. Add
applesauce to flour mixture, and stir for 1 minute. Stir in
the egg white. c.. Add 2 tablespoons of the acorn flour to
the dough, and stir well. Continue to add the flour in 2-
tablespoons portions until a stiff dough is formed. d..
Knead dough for 5 minutes on a flat surface sprinkled with
2 tablespoons of flour. Gradually add enough of the
remaining flour to form a smooth, satiny ball of dough. e..
Scrape the surface, and sprinkle it with flour. Return the
dough to the surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough
into a 10-x-12-inch rectangle. Combine 2 tablespoons of
maple syrup and the cinnamon, and spread the mixture
over the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Sprinkle the
cranberries over the syrup, and roll the rectangle up jelly-
roll style. f.. Lightly coat a 9-inch round pan with nonstick
cooking spray (nonfat), and pour 1/3 cup of maple syrup
over the bottom of the pan. Cut rolled-up dough into 1-inch
slices. Lay slices in the pan, cut side up, spacing them 1/2
inch part. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel, and let rise
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in a warm place for about 30-35 minutes. g.. Bake at 350
degrees F for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. To
loosen the rolls, run a knife around the edge of the pan.
Immediately place the rolls onto a plate. Serve warm.
128
Pumpkin Acorn Pudding
for cake
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup acorn flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grape seed oil
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not pie; filling)*
2 large eggs
for custard
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not pie; filling)*
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
8 large egg yolks
1 tbl acorn starch
Accompaniment: vanilla ice cream (optional)
*1 (15-ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin = 1 3/4 cups, just
enough for the cake and the pudding.
preparation Make cake Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 17-
by 12-inch rimmed baking sheet. Line bottom with
parchment paper.
In large bowl, whisk together flour, acorn flour, baking
soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves,
nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
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In bowl of electric mixer, combine brown and granulated
sugars, oil, and pumpkin. Beat at medium speed until fully
combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and
gradually add flour mixture. Beat until combined, scraping
down sides of bowl occasionally. Add eggs one at a time,
beating well after each addition.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake until
toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 to
30 minutes. Transfer cake to rack and cool completely in
pan.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Run knife around pan sides to
loosen, then turn cake out onto rack (do not clean pan) and
remove parchment paper. Using long, serrated knife, cut
cake into 1/2-inch cubes. Return cubes to pan and bake,
turning over halfway through baking, until light brown on
all sides, about 15 minutes total. Transfer cubes to rack and
cool completely in pan.
Make puddings Preheat oven to 325°F.
Divide toasted cubes among 8 (4-ounce) ramekins. In
medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk, salt, maple
syrup, and egg yolks. Pour mixture over cake cubes, filling
ramekins to tops and gently pressing on cubes to
completely coat with liquid. Cover and refrigerate until
liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
Arrange ramekins in roasting pan. Add enough hot water to
pan to reach halfway up sides of ramekins. Cover pan
tightly with foil and bake until puddings are set and firm to
the touch, about 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove ramekins from pan and serve warm with vanilla
ice cream, if desired.
130
Dressing
131
White Sage Acorn Dressing
6 bags seasoned croutons
2 satlks celery; slices
2 large onioind; diced
1 cup dried acorns; chopped
1 no. 10 can water chestnuts; sliced
1 tblsp fennel seed
1 flat medium eggs; beaten
2 tblsp white sage; pulverized
turkey stock to moisten
1 cup hickory nuts; choped
Mix all dry ingreadients add eggs stir well then add turkey
stock. Bake in slow oven covered until done.
132
Game
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Acorn Pemmican:
1 lb. lean stewing meat, cut quite small
1/2 cup dehydrated wild plums
1/2 cup acorn meal
Boil the lean stewing meat. When it is tender, drain and
allow it to dry in a bowl. Grind all of the ingredients
together in a meat grinder using a fine blade. Grind again,
mixing finely, distributing the ingredients very well. Place
in a covered dish and refrigerate overnight. (Or you can eat
right away, but like many foods, the refrigerating allows
the flavors to blend nicely.) You can serve this on any
flatbread, such as a tortilla. It is best served warm, or you
can reheat it in the pan in the oven like a meatloaf.
Acorn meal can also be used in place of a good portion (or
all) of the nuts in most desserts, from brownies to cookies.
It does depend on the variety of acorn you have available
and the taste after leaching. Some acorn meal never gets
“nutty,” only mild, while the meal of other acorns, such as
those of the Emory oak, are so sweet that you can eat them
without leaching, or with very little leaching.
You will have to experiment a bit here. But the end results
are usually surprising.
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Acorn/Pemmican Preparation
info
Originally distributed in 1997... There are some very
important FACTS that should be made known before
anyone rushed out to try eating acorns.
Here is the process that 99% of California's Indians use to
process Acorns:
For those of you who have asked for recipes and/or
information on how we Californians gather, process, and
cook our acorns, this is for you. I take sole responsibility
for any and all typos and grammatical errors and will
hereby blame it on the server, processor, or which ever
innocent piece of hardwhere or software that wasn't on its
toes today. However, I don't take responsibility for anyone
who tries these recipes and gets deathly ill because of some
unknown allergy to members of the Quercus family or
tannic acid if you don't leach thoroughly or Sambucus
nightmares because you get nervous about that itty bitty
stem you didn't notice, o.k.?
This is what I do, what I was taught, and what hundreds of
other sentimental traditional native Californians do often,
or once in a while, or when we're hired by a school district
or state park to give the organically naive a taste of the old
life. I also failed to mention that when I'm grinding up 2 to
5 lbs of acorn meal for the consumption of others, I use a
coffee grinder bought specially for that purpose. If I'm
going to eat it myself, or serve it to close friends or family,
AFTER I finish grinding it in the coffee grinder, I will
probably grind it further in a mortar with a pestle.
Sometimes I'm convinced that I can do a better job with the
135
electric grinder. Sometimes I'm sure I can do a better job in
a bedrock mortar.... It's all a matter of preference, energy,
and time.... Six kids with six mortars can definitely go
faster than one little coffee grinder, BUT, it is good to
remember that the holes you see in a bedrock mortar got
deeper by grinding away the rock as you ground up your
acorn or other nuts. Where did the stone go to? I don't
really believe that just got deeper in the middle of the night
while the resident Indians slept. The sloughed-off stone
probably went into the acorn meal ... gulp. So, when
cooking for school kids, I do most of the grinding at home
with my coffee grinder, and let the kids do a little in the
mortars just to 'get the feel of it.'
For those who don't care about the acorn process, please
disregard all of this and go on to your next mail message.
Happy Grinding!
Lyn
ACORNS: A MAJOR North American Indian Food
California Indians did not have to be farmers, and for the
most part were hunters and gatherers. There was a ready
supply of deer, fish, rabbits, foul, native plants for
vegetables, native fruits, and even sea weed. Even so,
acorns are said to have been the main food of as many as
3/4 of our native Californians. Acorns were everywhere,
are easy to gather and store fairly well ... as long as your
storage places are squirrel tight. Some groups buried
baskets of nuts until they were needed. Some claim that
white acorns were the most preferred because they were
sweet and often eaten without leaching. I have never eaten
white acorns so I can't say anything about them.
136
The most common oaks found in the San Francisco Bay
area are the Tan Oak, Black Oak, California Live Oak, and
Valley Oak. Many of these have been seriously endangered
through the process of turning pasture land into housing
developments, with the Live Oak being the least threatened
-- since this oak is not deciduous, it offers 'building
development appeal' by remaining 'green and healthy
looking' all year.
Many of the Pomos prefer the Tan Oak because they feel it
has more flavor. Many of the MiWuks prefer the Black
Oak because it takes less leaching to get rid of the tannin.
Many of us don't like the California live oak because 'its
too much work for the amount of meal you get compared
to the amount of leaching you have to do,' 'its got no
character,' 'too wormy,' or 'its too easy to get -- nothing that
plentiful can be very good.' The list goes on and on. My
favorite is the Black Oak ... with a little Tan Oak added for
character.
Acorns are gathered in the fall after they are ripe, Early in
the season you will occasionally find acorns without their
'little hats' lying on the ground. These are usually buggy.
(If the acorn is so heavy that it pulls itself from its cap, it is
usually because there is a worm flipping itself about inside
the acorn, and all this activity is what breaks the nut free
from its cap and the tree.) When the acorns are actually
ripe, they fall from the tree, cap intact. If you see any holes
in them, throw them away. They are sometimes stored first,
to dry them out, and then shelled. Other groups shell them
first, and then dry them out by placing them someplace
safe, yet warm, to dry. For the ultimate in information on
processing acorn, refer to a new book about Yosemite's
Julia Parker, written by Park Naturalist Bev Ortiz which
came out in 1992 or 1993. It was published by the same
group that produces News from Native California, headed
by Malcolm Margolin.
137
There is first and foremost, the original recipe: AFTER
THE ACORNS ARE **COMPLETELY DRY** &
REMOVED FROM THEIR SHELLS, the Acorns are
ground until the meal is so fine that 'it will stick to the
basket sifter' when it is turned upside down. When you
have determined that you have ground the acorns to 'primo'
consistency, you must then leach it. This was traditionally
accomplished (before we had woven cloth to work with)
by building a mound of fine sand, near a spring or the
river, and then scooping out the center. The meal you
wished to leach was placed in the center of this mound and
water poured over a clean cedar bough which was placed
or held above the acorn meal. The tannin would leach out
of the acorn meal and harmlessly down into the sand.
When tasting it showed the tannin had been removed, the
meal was carefully removed from its sand 'colander' and
put into a cooking basket. Water is added -- the correct
amount for the amount of acorn meal you are going to use,
which is something that takes a while to adjust to. Too
much water will require cooking longer to get the
consistency you want. Not enough water and the acorn will
burn. Then special cooking rocks were heated in a fire,
rinsed off, and using special stirring sticks, the rocks were
stirred in the basket to heat the acorn solution thoroughly.
As each rock cooled down, it was removed, and another
hot clean rock took its place in the cooking basket. The
rock that had been removed was washed off and placed
back in the fire to reheat and await its turn to become a
cooking implement once again. In what seems like no time
at all, the acorn soup is boiling, and the stirring continues
until the soup is of the desired consistency -- either thin to
eat with a spoon, or thicker to eat with a fork, depending
on what the 'cook' has in mind. Though the above 'soup'
was eaten straight by the traditional people, I usually add a
little salt, and occasionally some dried currents or blue
138
elderberries, or even raisins. Some people like to add a
little cinnamon.
The rocks are saved for the next time, since finding perfect
rocks that won't explode when subjected to heat, or won't
crumble into the food, or give a bad taste, etc., are not as
easy to find as you might think. The baskets, tools,
implements, rocks, etc. used to cook acorn are considered a
family legacy and kept within a family to be passed down
from generation to generation. What makes a good cooking
basket is the subject of another dissertation and shall not be
gone into at this time. Ask the next expert basket weaver
you meet to explain to you how a cooking basket is made.
ALTERNATIVE LEACHING METHODS, & NATURAL
DYING USES
The alternative method of leaching, which I personally use
(as do most of the people I have spoken to about this
subject) is to take my winnowing basket (or a broad-
bottomed basket), place a clean, 'white' UNBLEACHED
cloth (like a tea towel used just for this purpose....which
will never be white again) in the bottom of the basket, and
then place your finely ground acorn meal on top of the
cloth. Then I get a piece of cedar branch (new growth
preferred and place it on top of the acorn meal and run
water on it, VERY SLOWLY. I place my basket on top of
a large cooking pot (so that I can save the tannin water) in
such a way that when the pot fills up, my basket won't be
sitting in the water, and the pot can overflow. I check on
the leaching process periodically, so I can empty the soup
kettle as it fills.
Since I am also a weaver and spinner, who does natural
dying on occasion, a day or two before I know I'm going to
be leaching acorn, I wash any uncolored wool fleece I may
have on hand that I will want to dye later, or any white
139
yarn I want to dye in the near future...IF I REMEMBER.
Sometimes I don't plan ahead. Anyway, as the acorn
leaching pot fills, I will pour this tannin-filled water into
the washing machine, where I later place up to 3 or 4 lbs of
clean white wool or yarn to soak up the tannic acid
solution. When I am ready to dye the wool at a later date,
the color will come out much more dramatically that it
would if I had used 'untreated fleece'.
Another way I have heard of to leach acorn, which I have
NEVER tried and probably never will, is to SCRUB the
water tank on your toilet to remove any algae, and use this
'sanitary' part of your toilet to leach your acorn meal. It
makes sense to use water that otherwise is wasted but it
doesn't seem like a very aesthetic topic of conversation for
a public gathering ... I can hear it now: 'Gee, this acorn
mush isn't half bad .... you must have leached it really
thoroughly.' 'Why yes I do; I let it sit in a clean muslin bag
in my toilet tank for a week or so...' Then watch your
dinner guests put their food down, never to eat at your
camp fire again. The girl that shared this bit of information
with us had just remodeled her house, had a brand new
toilet, and hence no green film in the tank, so she thought it
was the perfect opportunity to try out a method she had
heard of, or had a theory about. She also went on to say,
that she was glad her new toilet was a pale brown color
because the tannin discolored her the toilet bowl for quite
some time....
Below is a recipe that I have used as recently as last year
which is a good one to serve to those who stubbornly
believe that acorn meal is yucky ... they'll never even know
its there unless you tell them later -- and then they'll say
things like 'oh, that's why it was so bland,' or 'oh, that's
why I didn't like it,' or 'that's why it got hungry an hour
later.' If you want to be sure you are actually tasting the
meal, use the recipe exactly as is. Once you feel confident
140
that you wish to include the meal, but you want to add
more character to the stew, feel free to add garlic, green
pepper, carrots, etc. The acorn then replaces the starch of
the potato, and provides you with more nutrition than the
potato would provide.
141
Modern Pemmican:
1 lb. lean stewing meat, cut quite small
1/2 cup dehydrated wild plums
1/2 cup acorn meal
Boil the lean stewing meat. When it is tender, drain and
allow it to dry in a bowl. Grind all of the ingredients
together in a meat grinder using a fine blade. Grind again,
mixing finely, distributing the ingredients very well. Place
in a covered dish and refrigerate overnight. (Or you can eat
right away, but like many foods, the refrigerating allows
the flavors to blend nicely.) You can serve this on any
flatbread, such as a tortilla. It is best served warm, or you
can reheat it in the pan in the oven like a meatloaf.
Acorn meal can also be used in place of a good portion (or
all) of the nuts in most desserts, from brownies to cookies.
It does depend on the variety of acorn you have available
and the taste after leaching. Some acorn meal never gets
“nutty,” only mild, while the meal of other acorns, such as
those of the Emory oak, are so sweet that you can eat them
without leaching, or with very little leaching.
You will have to experiment a bit here. But the end results
are usually surprising.
142
Main Dish
143
Acorn Casserole
2/3 cup acorns; leached
1 1/2 cups Water
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tble Salsa
2 tble Tamari
6 pcs bread whole wheat; chopped
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp sweet basil
1/4 tsp marjoram
3 pcs eggs
3/4 cup leached acorns* Boil in 1-1/2 cups water about 10
minutes, until acorns thicken just a little. Remove from
heat and add 1/2 cup ketchup and 2 tablespoons prepared
salsa and 2 tablespoons tamari. Stir well and set aside.
Chop up 6 pieces of whole wheat (or other) bread and put
in a medium sized casserole dish. Sprinkle with paprika,
sweet basil and marjoram. Add 2 egg whites and one
whole egg (or just 3 egg whites), and mix. Add the acorn
sauce and mix well. Cover with cheddar cheese and top
with black olives. Bake 20-30 minutes at 350°
144
Acorn Cheese Pies
6 pcs acorn bisquits
1/2 cup jack cheese; shredded
1 cup acorn spagehtti sauce
Make acorn biscuits (see recipe). Make them the size of
muffins. Put about 6 of them in a large rectangle casserole
dish and cover with acorn spaghetti sauce (see recipe). Top
with jack cheese and warm in a 250° oven about 30
minutes, melting cheese. This makes a fantastic main dish.
Good for a pot luck.
145
Acorn Enchiladas
1 dozen corn tortillas
1 medium size can of tomato puree
1 cup pre-cooked acorns*
1-2 tbs. chili powder
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbs. soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
pinch of sugar
1 tbs. olive oil
Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. Add tomato puree,
chili powder and soy sauce and simmer 5-10 minutes,
stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn. Steam tortillas, or
microwave to soften. Add remaining ingredients to sauce,
and spoon into tortillas. Mixture should be thick, not
runny. Place in a large casserole dish, cover with shredded
cheese and bake in oven at 350° for 20 minutes.
146
Acorn Lasagna
chop and sauté in olive oil
2 tablespoons olive oil:
1/2 onion
2 stalks celery
handful of mushrooms
1/4 tsp. dried basil
pinch oregano
pinch black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
when onions are soft remove from he; at and add,
mixing well:
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (5 3/4 oz) drained pitted black olives
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1-10 oz. pkg. chopped spinach
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 cup leached & drained acorns*
1 tsp. honey
In a large casserole dish (13x9x2), layer this whole mixture
with uncooked lasagna noodles, alternating noodles then
above mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with an
inverted cookie sheet (saves valuable natural resources like
tin foil) making sure that the lasagna pasta is covered with
enough liquid so it cooks as it bubbles and bakes. Bake for
45 minutes at 350°.
147
Acorn Veggie Loaf
1 1/2 pounds leached & drained acorns*
1 1/2 pounds shredded zucchini
1/4 pound shredded cauliflower
2 large chopped green onions
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups water
1 tsp. chopped garlic
2 tbs. olive oil
4 tbs. nutritional yeast
1 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 tsp basil
This is one of my earlier recipes. I found it on a note.
Unless you have a scale, you’ll have to “guess” at the
weights. I thought it was worth including. Mix this all
together. If it is too thick and dry add more water. If it is
too watery add more flour. Place in an oiled glass bread
pan and bake at 325° for approximately 30 minutes.
Baking time may vary. Slice and serve with lots of red
miso.
148
Acorns & Rice
sauté together in 1 tablespoon vege; table oil until
mushrooms are tender:
1-1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
pinch garlic salt
1/4 minced fresh jalapeno pepper
1/4 tsp five-spice (used in chinese cooking; )
pinch of celery seed (or 1/4 cup fr; esh diced celery)
1/8 tsp. dried sage
1/8 tsp. paprika
1 tbs. soy sauce
1 tbs. water
add to above mixture mixing well:
5 cups pre-cooked and cooled brown rice
1/2 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled and str; ained
acorns*
1/4 cup soy sauce
Place entire mixture in a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish. Top
with 1/4 cup chopped green onions. Cover and microwave
on high for 10 minutes or bake at 325° for 20 minutes
149
Acorns With Black Bean Broth & Pasta
3 cups broth from cooking black beans
1-1/4 cup dried elbow pasta
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup pre-cooked, leached & strained acor; ns*
tamari (soy sauce)
Cook the pasta in the broth until done. After it has cooked
to desired texture, add remaining ingredients. This is very
good. It tastes as if you had added cheese to it.
150
Chicken With Jalapeño Acorn Sauce
1/4 cup green bell pepper -- chopped
2 jalapeño peppers -- finely chopped
1 large clove garlic -- minced
1 tablespoons canola oil
4 boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon acorn starch
1 1/2 cup milk
few drops hot pepper sauce or to ta; ste, or a dash
of ground
1/4 teaspoons salt
ground black pepper
jalapeño pepper rings
fry bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the bell
pepper, jalapeño pepper, garlic and oil. Place chicken
breasts in a shallow baking pan sprayed lightly with non-
stick cooking spray; add pepper and oil mixture. Bake
uncovered for 20 minutes.
While the chicken bakes, melt butter or margarine in
saucepan. Add the flour and acorn starch and stir for 1
minute. Whisk in milk, stirring until sauce starts to thicken.
Remove from heat; hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Pour
the sauce over the chicken. Continue baking, uncovered,
for 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until chicken is done and
juices run clear. Remove the chicken from oven and then
set the oven to broil. Return the chicken to the oven; broil
just until lightly browned. Arrange on a serving platter
with sauce spooned over chicken breast halves. Garnish
with jalapeño pepper rings and serve with fry bread, if
desired.
151
Elk Stew With Acorn Dumplings
4 slices bacon, halved
1 1/2 lb elk or beef chuck steak, trimmed an; d cubes
1 quart water plus 1/2 cup
1 1/4 cup chopped onions
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large turnip, diced
1/4 cup acorn meal or finely ground hazelnu; ts
----ACORN DUMPLINGS----
1/2 cup acorn meal or finely ground hazelnu; ts
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until some
of its fat is rendered. Add elk and brown with the bacon.
Add 1 quart of water, onion, bey leaves, and salt. Cover
and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add potatoes, carrot and
turnop and ocok 30 minutes longer. Combine remaining
water with acorn meal and stir into the simmering stew. In
a bowl, combine dumpling ingredients and beat until
smooth. Drop by tablespoonfuls into the simmering stew.
Cover tightly and steam 12 to 15 minutes.
From " Spirit of The Harvest: North American Indian
Cooking," by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs.
152
Split Pea Acorn Dinner
Recipe
Rinse dried split peas. Cover with twice as much water and
cook until done. Don’t let them get too thick. Add 1/4 cup
leached acorns* for every cup of split peas you cook, and
simmer slowly for 1/2 hour with chopped green onions,
garlic and sweet basil. Season with miso or tamari (soy
sauce). Serve with a salad. Split peas and acorns are so
good together you can omit the spices, garlic and onion,
and it will still be tasty. I add a little soy sauce to each
bowl of soup. It is an easy meal and very hearty.
153
Muffins
154
Acorn Muffins
1 cup acorn flour (leached)
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp salad oil
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1cup milk
Here are some modern bread recipes using some of our
native nuts and beans. We also prepare them the old way
for special occasions. Mix well and put into small greased
baking dish Bake at 350 for 20 - 30 minutes
155
Acorn Muffins
1 1/3 cup flour
or 1/2 and 1/2 with corn meal
2/3 cup acorn flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2/3 tsp Salt
2 pcs eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup Butter; melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup apples; peeled chopped
1 cup cranberries; raw sliced
1/2 cup hickory nuts; chopped
You'll want to use acorns from the so-called "soft" oak
species (White Oak, Swamp White Oak, Chestnut Oak,
Post Oak, Bur Oak, etc,. i.e., the species with rounded
lobes on their leaves), as they are lower in tannic acid and
therefore less bitter than acorns from the so-called "hard"
oak species (Black Oak, Scarlet Oak, Northern Oak, Pin
Oak, etc., all of which have leaves with pointy lobes). To
make acorn flour, shell the acorns, and (if their bitterness is
still too strong for your taste) leach some of the tannic acid
out by boiling the shelled nuts for a few minutes in several
changes of water. Dry the nut meats out (e.g., by spreading
them out on a cookie sheet and sticking them in a warm
oven for a few hours), then pulverize in a food processor
until it's the consistency of flour or a fine-grained meal.
The delicious and distinctive flavor of the acorn flour will
be quite evident in the muffins despite the fact that it
makes up only 1/3 of the flour used in this recipe.
Dry ingredients: 1 1/3 cup white flour (OK to mix 1/2 and
1/2 with corn meal) 2/3 cup acorn flour (prepared as
156
described above) 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup light brown
sugar 3/4 tsp. salt
Wet ingredients: 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
Fruit and nuts: 1 cup peeled, chopped apples 1 cup sliced
raw cranberries 1/2 cup chopped hickory nuts
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Get well-greased muffin
tins ready. Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl; mix
wet ingredients together in another bowl (beat eggs before
adding); then mix dry and wet ingredients together with
just a few strokes (do not overmix; lumps are OK), quickly
fold in fruit and nuts, then spoon mixture into muffin tins,
filling up each compartment about halfway (add water to
any surplus compartments to protect the pan and help keep
the muffins moist while baking).
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes 18 small or 12
large muffins.
157
Acorn Muffins 1
1 cup (packed) acorn mush
1 cup plain white flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/6 cup maple syrup (real stuff, not the fl; avoured
crap)
1/2 an egg (whisked gently, so you *can* h; alve it)
1/4 cup milk
1.5 tsp vegetable oil
Combine the acorn mush, flour and baking powder in a
mixing bowl. Stir to combine - crumb if necessary to get a
homogenous mixture.
Create a well in the mixture, and add the maple syrup, egg,
milk and vegetable oil. Combine gently.
Spoon into lightly greased muffin trays and cook for 15
minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Test by inserting a wooden
skewer - if it comes out clean: they're done.
158
Russ Cohen's Acorn Muffins
1 1/3 c white flour (1/2 and 1/2 with corn; meal)
2/3 c acorn flour
2 ts baking powder
1/2 c light brown sugar
3/4 ts salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/3 c melted butter
1/4 c maple syrup
fruit and nuts:
1 c peeled, chopped apples
1 c sliced raw cranberries
1/2 c chopped hickory nuts
You'll want to use acorns from the so-called 'soft' oak
species (White Oak, Swamp White Oak, Chestnut Oak,
Post Oak, Bur Oak, etc,.( the species with rounded lobes on
their leaves), as they are lower in tannic acid and therefore
less bitter than acorns from the so-called 'hard' oak species
(Black Oak, Scarlet Oak, Northern Oak, Pin Oak, etc., all
of which have leaves with pointy lobes). To make acorn
flour, shell the acorns, and (if their bitterness is still too
strong for your taste) leach some of the tannic acid out by
boiling the shelled nuts for a few minutes in several
changes of water. Dry the nut meats out (e.g., by spreading
them out on a cookie sheet and sticking them in a warm
oven for a few hours), then pulverize in a food processor
until it's the consistency of flour or a fine-grained meal.
The delicious and distinctive flavor of the acorn flour will
be quite evident in the muffins despite the fact that it
makes up only 1/3 of the flour used in this recipe.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Get well-greased muffin
tins ready. Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl; mix
wet ingredients together in another bowl (beat eggs before
159
adding); then mix dry and wet ingredients together with
just a few strokes (do not overmix; lumps are OK), quickly
fold in fruit and nuts, then spoon mixture into muffin tins,
filling up each compartment about halfway (add water to
any surplus compartments to protect the pan and help keep
the muffins moist while baking).
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
Makes 18 small or 12 large muffins.
160
Savory Acorn Muffins
1 c. acorn flour
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. flour
3 t. baking powder
1 t. garlic or onion salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
11/2 c. milk
2 T. bacon drippings, melted
This was once a hard-times bread because acorns are so
plentiful and cost nothing. Sweet or nut muffins can be
made from this recipe by adding 4 tablespoons sugar to the
dry ingredients, omitting the garlic or onion salt (substitute
1 T. plain salt), and substituting melted shortening for the
bacon fat. Add ½ cup walnuts or pecans to the batter, if
you like. Preheat oven to 425F. Sift together the acorn
flour, corn meal, flour, baking powder, and the onion or
garlic salt. Beat egg and milk together; stir in bacon
drippings. Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir just until
moistened; don’t overmix. Pour into well-greased muffin
tins and bake 15 minutes, or until brown and crusty.
161
Pies
162
Acorn Pie
3 egg whites, beaten stiff
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
20 soda crackers; coarsely broken
1/2 cup sweet acorns, chopped
Beat egg whites until stiff; add baking powder and beat
more. Add sugar and vanilla; beat again. Fold in crackers
and acorns. Put in buttered pie plate and bake at 300
degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool and top with Cool Whip
and chopped pecans. Randy Rigg
163
Relishes/preserves
164
Acorn Pickles
2 cups whole acorns, leached
5-6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
Sterilize jar and lid, pack with acorns, bay leaf and mustard
seed. Heat vinegar and honey, add to jar, add boiling water.
Leave 1/2 ' head room. Refrigerate 3 months.
165
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Pickles
2 cup whole acorns, leached
6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
Sterilize jar and lid, pack with acorns, bay leaf and mustard
seed. Heat vinegar and honey, add to jar, add boiling water.
Leave 1/2 " head room. Refrigerate 3 months.
These recipes are from an article by Christopher Nyerges
(www.self-reliance.net) in COUNTRYSIDE & SMALL
STOCK JOURNAL, Vol. 85 No.6, November/December
2001. "Christopher is the author of GUIDE TO WILD
FOODS and ENTER THE FOREST. He has led Wild
Food Outings since 1974. He and his wife operate the
School of Self-reliance, teaching classes in wild plant
identification and cooking. From: "Linda Roberts"
<lrobe684@bellsou
166
Salads
167
Acorns & Pasta
1 pound cooked whole wheat macaroni shells
1/2 to 1 cup cooked acorns*
1 tbs. soy sauce
olive oil or butter to taste
Mix ingredients together and sprinkle with Parmesan
cheese. You can get creative with this by adding hot
peppers, mushrooms, olives, red peppers, etc.
168
Kidney Bean Acorn Salad
1-15 oz. can red kidney beans (or of course; you can
cook up fresh bea
1- hard-boiled egg
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup leached, cooked, cooled and straine; d
acorns*
1 tsp. vinegar
Mash the egg with the mayonnaise, vinegar & acorns.
Drain beans, reserving liquid. Use the liquid if it’s too dry.
If desired add, chopped parsley, scallions or diced red
onion, salt & pepper. Surprisingly good!!
169
Korean Acorn Noodle Salad
Acorn Noodles
This is a very unique salad using noodles made of a starch
that comes from acorns. Acorn starch used to be an
emergency food during the Korean War when people there
were suffering from hunger. In recent years, however,
acorn noodles have come to be considered a healthy food
because acorns are a good source of high quality vegetable
protein. Although acorns contain a high level of tannin and
in their natural state are quite bitter, chefs refine the taste
by carefully removing the bitterness before creating this
tasty dish. Eating these firm dotori (acorn) noodles and lots
of vegetables with house hot sauce based dressing is very
refreshing for both your body and mind. This item is
strongly recommended.
170
Sandwiches
171
Acorn Burgers
1/2 cup coarse meal
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter
1 onion, chopped
1 egg
Combine meal, water, and salt, boil 15 minutes to soften.
Melt the butter, and sauté one chopped onion. Mix with
acorn meal, and egg, season to taste, make patties and
cook/fry.
172
Acorn Salad Sandwich
mix together:
1 cup leached, cooked & cooled acorns*
5-6 tbs. light mayonnaise
dash hot sauce
salt & pepper
2 tbs. chopped dill pickle
Serve on whole wheat toast with crisp lettuce, or alfalfa
sprouts.
173
Acorn Spinach Burgers
1 small box chopped frozen spinach
1-1/2 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled &; strained
acorns*
2 eggs or just egg whites
1/2 cup flour
Mix, then shape into patties and brown in vegetable oil or
put on lightly greased cookie sheet and brown in a
350°oven until done. Variations: Substitute the same
amount of your favorite vegetable instead of spinach, ie;
corn, broccoli, etc.
174
Beets & Acorns
2-1/4 cups leached acorns* in a small amount o; f
water with:
3 good-sized raw shredded beets
1/2 chopped white onion
pinch each of basil and sage
The beets are nice because they’re alkaline. Cook until
beets are done. Serve on a bed of lettuce, or on pita bread,
whole wheat or rye toast.
175
Chris Nyerge's Acorn Burgers
1/2 cup coarse meal
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter
1 onion, chopped
1 egg
Combine meal, water, and salt, boil 15 minutes to soften.
Melt the butter, and saut‚ one chopped onion. Mix with
acorn meal, and egg, season to taste, make patties and
cook/fry. From: "Linda Roberts" <lrobe684@bellsou
176
Sauce
177
Acorn Spaghetti Sauce
1 medium sized chopped yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. dried sweet basil
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
1/8 tsp. dried paprika
pinch of dried celery seed
1/8 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. oregano
pinch dried rosemary
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar or honey
saute in
2 tablespoons olive oil.
after sautéing, add
1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes.
stir in
1/2 cup uncooked leached and drained acorn*; meal.
Cook on high heat 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly, then
simmer for 20 minutes. Preferably cool and put in
refrigerator overnight to develop flavors. Serve over
cooked whole wheat spaghetti. Serve with garlic bread and
salad. Sprinkle each plate of pasta with tamari or parmesan
cheese or add sour cream
178
Sauces/dips
179
Acorn Dip
1 pint sour cream
3/4 cup pre-cooked, cooled and strained aco; rns*
1 heaping tsp. dried sweet basil
1/2 cup dried onion flakes
Refrigerate overnight for full flavor.
180
Acorn Dip 2
1 quart sour cream
2 large cloves diced garlic
1 cup cooked, cooled, strained acorns
pinch of cumin
1 tsp. dried sweet basil
pinch paprika
1 tbs. fresh parsley
This is a big recipe for entertaining. Mix together: Blend
and serve with blue corn chips, celery, broccoli and
cauliflower sticks, they’ll love it!
181
Baked & Browned Eggplant Acorn Dip &
Spread
bake a whole eggplant at 400°about; 45 minutes. cut
and discard stem. blend in blender; with
3/4 cup cottage cheese,
1/2 cup mayonnaise,
1/4 cup leached and pre-cooked acorns*,
2 pinches marjoram,
pinch cayenne,
1/4 tsp garlic powder,
pinch black pepper,
1/4 tsp. salt and
1 cup diced celery tops
This is served as a sandwich spread or a dip for chips and
veggies & pita bread.
It’s ready!Keep refrigerated.
182
Refried Acorns
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cup leached acorns
1 medium-size onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
4 small chiles, seeds and ribs
1 removed, chopped
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or
1 parsley leaves
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried sage, finely crumbled
1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano, finely
1 crumbled
2 tablespoon bragg's liquid aminos or
1 tamari soy sauce
This recipe is a wild alternative to Mexican refried beans,
with acorns replacing the beans. Serve it as a side dish with
other Mexican foods.
1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add all the ingredients except the Bragg's Liquid Aminos
and cook, stirring, for 15 minutes.
2. Stir in the Bragg's Liquid Aminos and serve.
Serves 6 to 8 From: Wildman Steve Brill <wildmansteve
183
Soups/stews
184
Acorn Mush
acorn
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Put approximately 2 cups
of processed acorn flour in a large bowl. Stir it with a
spoon to release the oil in the acorn. It is important to add
cold water to the acorn flour so that it pours easily into
boiling water- acorn flour will clump in the boiling water if
it is not mixed with water first. The cold water and acorn
mixture should be the consistency of thin gravy. Continue
to mix while pouring meal into boiling water. The acorn
flour will start to thicken as soon as it hits the boiling water
so stir constantly- a whisk works best. Turn down heat and
bring the mixture to a roiling boil. Cook the acorn for 20
minutes until you see bubbles and mix puckers on top and
starts to rise and water has evaporated.
Acorn mush is traditionally eaten with salty foods like fish,
seaweed or venison.
That is a very interesting method for cookery. I have one
question though. What type of acorns do you use? The
Acorns that are traditionally used here on my White
Mountain Apache Rez are pretty bitter. When we use acorn
it is not processed, we usually hand grind it ourselves.
Nephi Craig
185
Acorn Mush In A Shawee
recipe
The small gift basket is called 'Xilu.' The kind of flat tray I
make is used for cleaning or winnowing acorns, and it's
called 'Lawil.' Every November or December, we get the
acorns, hitting the tree to get the acorns out and then we
pick them up from ground. We put them in a basket and
dry for one or two days in the sun; I use a molino, an old
meat grinder, to grind my acorns. I put it through four
different times to get it really fine. I put the flour in my
brown basket.
I wash the flour in the sink, by putting material held with
clothespins. A long time ago people used leaves inside the
pine basket for washing the acorn. The acorns in San
Diego are more bitter than the ones in Baja. They have to
be washed 12 times. I wash them with hot water. The acorn
tastes good. There are large baskets for cooking acorn
mush. My cousin made one. When the acorn is washed, we
put it in the basket, then put a rock that is hot from the fire.
When the rock is red we put it in the basket. We get it with
a stick and wash the rock first.
When the acorn is ready for eating, the bowl basket we eat
it from is called 'Shawee.' You can eat it warm, or you can
eat it cold. You can put it on a tortilla with salt. A lot of
people use acorn mush like soup, but in San Diego we eat
it more like pie, like tofu.
186
Acorn Soup or Mush
acorns
California Indians commonly used the leached and ground
acorns as a base for soup or mush. To use as a soup base,
mix approximately two cups of the meal with 8 cups of
water. Add diced onions, potatoes, carrots, wild greens,
and seasonings to suit your taste. To use as a breakfast
mush, add milk and/or water to the acorn meal to your
desired thickness. Serve with whatever you'd add to
oatmeal: such things as raisins, sliced fruit, honey, butter,
and cream.
187
Acorn Stew
1 lb. stewing meat
1/2 c. finely ground acorn meal; (tannin removed)
salt and pepper to taste
Place meat in heavy pan and add water to cover. Cover
with lid and simmer until very tender. Remove from liquid
and cut meat into very fine pieces. Return meat to the
liquid. Stir in the acorn meal. Add salt and pepper as
desired. Heat until thickened and serve.
188
Acorn Stew
2 1/2 lb stew meat, cubed
1 1/2 quart water, or more as needed
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 salt and pepper to taste
1 2-3 pounds acorns (enough to make 1; cup of
acorn meal)
Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil,
reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very
tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be
about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt
and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the
acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a
very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and
onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the
acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it
over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by
adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately
with Indian Fry Bread. Serves 6
189
Acorn Stew
2 1/2 lb stew meat, cubed
1 1/2 qt water, or more as needed
2 lg onions, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
3 lb acorns (enough to make
1 c acorn meal)
Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil,
reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very
tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be
about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt
and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the
acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a
very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and
onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the
acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it
over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by
adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately
with Fry Bread.
190
Acorn Stew
3 lbs round steak elk or deer; cut ino bite size
3/4 cup acorn flour
1/4 Tsp Salt
Cook beef in about 1 quart of water. Let it simmer for
about 3 hours or until meat is well done. Salt to taste. Shell
acorns and grind them into very fine flour until you have
approximately 3/4 cup of flour. Strain the broth from the
meat (it will be used later). Shred the meat and, placing it
in a wooden bowl, mix it with the acorn flour. (Note: metal
utensils or bowl will discolor the flour) Pour hot broth over
the mixture and stir. It is now ready to serve in individual
bowls. Usually served with fry bread.
191
Acorn Stew
beef stew meat
ground acorn
flour
h20
salt
Mignonne made me think about a favorite Apache dish of
mine which is very simple. Traditionally, Apache Acorn
Stew has only five ingredients. There is a method for
maximizing the flavor potential of this simple dish. Using a
deep cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, heat cooking oil
(shortning, Olive Oil, Lard) to just below the smoking
point. Lightly dust the meat with flour and a small amount
of salt. Add to the smoking oil and sear, slightly move
from the heat (lower the heat) and allow the meat to
caramelize slowly, but DO NOT overcrowd the pan so that
the meat begins to steam in its own juices. This will
entirely defeat the purpose of dusting and proper meat
carmelization. You may need to carmalize the meat in
batches. Once the beef is a perfect dark, dark brown(Proper
Carmelization) 'deglaze' the pot with just enough water to
cover the meat and add two tablespoons of ground acorn.
Allow to simmer until meat is tender. Approx 45 min to an
hour. During this time you can prepare the simple
dumplings for the stew. Take a med size bowl add two
cups of flour and salt as well as enough water to produce a
semi-smooth dough. Roll into 1 1/2 inch strips, dust with
flour and set aside. When the meat is tender, add your
precut dumplings and allow to cook for approx. 20-25
minutes. Season to taste with extra Acorn Flour and salt.
This stew goes best with some nice fluffy flour American
Indian Tortillas. You know the kind Grandma used to
192
make when we were out of Lard or Shortening. Acorn
Stew and Flour Tortilllas are the perfect match.
NOTE: Acorn is quite bitter so use good judgment when
adding the acorn at the end. Acorn is 'an acquired taste'.
*Remember you can always add more, but you cant take
it out. This 'recipe' is based on ratio. Use your cooking
experience and best judgment when combining the
ingredients. Also, the Acorn in some Apache tribes is
meant to be the highlight of the dish making it quite bitter.
However, you can use the acorn as you would a
vinegar/acid, to accent and bring sharpness to your stew.
This is most likely the best route to take if you have never
had Apache Acorn Stew before. On the REZ the stew is
quite bitter, but the 'champ' flour tortillas balance the
bitterness. That is why the bread is so important in this
dish. Enjoy.
193
Acorn Stew Apache
3 lbs elk or deer round steak; cut into bite size pieces
3/4 cup acorn flour
1/4 tsp Salt
Cook beef in about 1 quart of water. Let it simmer for
about 3 hours or until meat is well done. Salt to taste. Shell
acorns and grind them into very fine flour until you have
approximately 3/4 cup of flour. Strain the broth from the
meat (it will be used later). Shred the meat and, placing it
in a wooden bowl, mix it with the acorn flour. (Note: metal
utensils or bowl will discolor the flour) Pour hot broth over
the mixture and stir. It is now ready to serve in individual
bowls. Usually served with fry bread.
194
Acorn Stew Seminole
2 1/2 lb. stew meat, cubed
1 1/2 qt. water, or more as needed
2 lg. onions, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 lbs acorns (enough to make 1 cup meal)
Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil,
reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very
tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be
about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt
and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the
acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a
very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and
onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the
acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it
over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by
adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately
with Fry Bread.
195
Acorn Veggie Soup
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup uncooked barley
1 cup leached acorns*
2 tbs. dried sweet basil
1-1/2 quarts water
Simmer until vegetables are tender, and barley is cooked.
Season with tamari (soy sauce). Variations: Add garlic,
fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, eggplant
etc.
196
Acorn, Carrot & Dock Soup
1 handfull dock leaves
1/8 cup acorn starch
1 1/2 cups Water
2 pcs carrots; shredded
1 clove garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sweet basil
1 tsp paprika
1 dash oil
Pick a handful of Dock leaves, (they’re a weed), or
substitute your favorite greens, steam and chop. Discard
Dock water. Add 1/8 cup leached acorns* with the
chopped Dock, in 1-1/2 cups water and 2 large shredded
carrots. Add 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon
sweet basil, paprika, and a dash of vegetable oil. Simmer
20 minutes. Salt to taste. Very delicious.
197
Apache Acorn Ravioli In Clear Broth
2 green anaheim chiles
1 tb unsalted butter
1 tb shelled and finely chopped acorns o
3 oz to 4 oz soft white goat -cheese
1 recipe basic egg ravioli -dough
2 ts kosher salt
1 qt water
clear broth
6 c chicken stock
1 scallion, green part only,-diagonal; ly sliced
1/2 ts azafran
Roast the chiles then peel, seed, devein and coarsely chop
them,
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat and
add the acorns. Saute 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add
the green chiles and saute another minute. Remove from
the heat, mix together with the goat cheese and set aside.
Prepare a stencil by cutting a design out of a piece of
cardboard. For the ravioli in the photograph, we cut a
stencil 5 inches in length, 3 inches in height, with 1-inch
steps.
Roll out the ravioli dough as thinly as possible. Fold the
dough in half, place the stencil over the dough and, with a
sharp knife, cut around it. Repeat this process 11 times to
make 24 identical pieces of dough.
Lay 12 cut out pieces of dough on a board and place about
1 tablespoon of the acorn filling in the center of each.
Moisten the outer edges of each piece of the dough. Place
the other 12 pieces on top, and press the edges together
198
with your fingers. If the edges are slightly uneven, trim
them. Set aside.
Add the salt to the water in a wide, large saucepan, and
bring to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook 3
minutes, until tender and translucent around the edges.
Drain and set aside.
Bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-
high heat. Add the scallions and azafran and simmer,
uncovered, over medium-low heat 5 minutes. Remove
from the heat and pour 1 cup of the broth into each bowl.
Add some ravioli and serve.
199
Apache Acorn Soup
2-1/2 -3 lbslbs. round steak sweet acorns
(enough to make 3/4 cups of acorn f; lour)
salt
PLEASE USE A PLASTIC BOWL/ OR WOODEN
ONLY...
CUT THE ROUND STEAK INTO SMALL BITE SIZE
PIECES & COOK IN ABOUT ONE QUART
WATER.LET IT SIMMER FOR ABOUT 3 HRS. OR
UNTIL MEAT IS WELL DONE.SALT TO
TASTE,SHELL THE SWEET ACORNS & GRIND
THEM INTO VERY FINE FLOUR UNTIL YOU HAVE
ABOUT 3/4 CUP FLOUR. STRAIN THE BROTH FROM
THE MEAT IT WILL BE USED LATER. SHRED THE
MEAT & PLACING IT IN A WOODEN OR PLASTIC
BOWL MIX IT WITH THE ACORN FLOUR
{{aluminum discolors the flour.}}POUR THE HOT
BROTH OVER THIS MIXTURE & STIR.IT IS NOW
READY TO SERVE IN INDIVIDUAL BOWLS.
**I USUALLY MAKE FRY BREAD TO GO WITH
THIS CAN ALSO MAKE ACORN MUFFINS OR A
BREAD TO GO WITH THIS...VERY TASTEY...
200
Apache Acorn Soup
1 (2 1/2 pound) beef roast
2 quarts water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup ground acorn meal
Peel the acorns and grind them. The outer part of the acorn
is not used. Cover beef with water and bring to boil in a
heavy pot. Simmer several hours until beef is very tender,
adding salt and pepper. Remove the beef, while letting the
pot continue to boil. Shred the beef, then mix it with the
acorn meal. Add this mixture to the broth and simmer
together until the broth bubbles creamy-white with yellow
flecks.
201
Apache Acorn Soup
3 lb stew beef
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup ground acorn meal
2 quart water
1 teaspoon salt
Cover beef with water and bring to boil in a heavy pot.
Simmer until done; add salt and pepper as meat cooks
tender. Remove beef and chop on a flat stone until split in
shreds. The meat broth continues to cook vigorously while
meat and acorn flour (meal) are mixed together. Apaches
stress that their food is always well done; no instant
cooking. Broth, meat and meal simmer together until the
broth bubbles creamy white with yellow flecks, pleasantly
acorn scented and flavored. Formatted for Meal Master by
Lori Fuller
202
Apache Acorn-Pinon Soup With Wild
Flowers
1 t. unsalted butter
1 c. pinons (pine nuts)
4 t. acorns, or unsalted pistachios;
shelled
6 t. chopped wild onions or leeks
9 c. chicken or rabbit stock
1/4 tsp.. salt
1/2 tsp.. black pepper
1-1/2 qt. half and half
snipped wild onions, mint sprigs;
and wild edible flowers
Traditionally, this recipe is prepared with the small, brown
acorns of the Emery oaks that are indigenous to the
Chiricahua Mountains in the southeastern part of Arizona.
The Apache tribes originally lived in this region before
they were relocated northeast to San Carlos. Melt the butter
in a large saucepan over medium heat and sauté the pinons,
acorns, and onions 4 minutes, until the onions are
translucent and the nuts golden brown.
Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce
the heat to medium and cook until the mixture is reduced
by half, about 20 minutes. Add the cream and reduce the
mixture again by half, to 6 cups.
Remove from the heat and blend in a blender until the
mixture is smooth. Push through a fine sieve; discard the
contents of the sieve. Garnish and serve.
203
Burning Tree Golden Acorn Soup
part A
1/4 cup roasted corn (parched); grind in blender
1/4 cup pine nuts; add to blender
1/2 cup sunflower seeds; add to blender
1/2 cup pepitos; add to blender
1 tbl acorn starch; add to blender
1 part B
5 gallon water
3/4 cup chicken soup base
1 lb non dairy creamer
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup dry onion flakes
1/4 cup garlic powder
1 tbl black pepper
2 tbl pepper flakes
1 tbl cayenne
1/3 cup menudo mix
1 lb Butter
corn starch to thicken
Part A Grind Dry corn in blender. Add water and grind
again until smooth. Grind remaining nuts and seeds in
blender until smooth and mix with corn.
Part B Make cream of chicken with water, chicken base
and other ingreadients except peanut butter, butter and nut
mix. Bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning if needed add nut
mixture and peanut butter. Vontinue at a simmer until all is
mixed then thicken with corn starch water slurry to desired
thickness. Simmer to cook stach.
204
Cornmeal And Acorn Mush
4 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup acorn meal, ground
1 cup cornmeal
Bring salted water to a boil and sprinkle the acorn meal
into the boiling water, stirring briskly with a wire or twig
whisk. Then add the cornmeal. Add just enough cornmeal
to make a thick, bubbling batch in which a wood spoon
will stand up fairly well. Place the saucepan in a larger
container holding two inches or more of boiling water.
(Use a double boiler, if you have one.) Simmer the mush
until quite thick, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to
keep it from lumping.
Cornmeal and acorn mush is very good for breakfast on a
cold morning. It can be served with sweetened milk and a
dab of wild fruit jam or homemade butter. But it is also
great as a main course lunch or dinner. You can also add
salsa or bacon bits and grated cheese on top to get great
variety. This mush is very filling and will stick to your
ribs.
I often make a double batch and pour the “extra” in a
greased bread pan. When cooled in the fridge overnight, it
becomes quite solid and can be sliced in half inch thick
slices, dipped in flour and fried in oil, first one side, then
turn and fry the other. Fried acorn and cornmeal mush is
one of our absolutely favorite camp (or at-home)
breakfasts. Serve it with butter, salt, and thick fruit jam or
maple syrup. Of course, David likes his with catsup.
205
Nativeway Apache Acorn Stew
3 lb round steak, cut into bite; sized pieces
1 sweet acorns (enough to make
3/4 cup acorn flour)
1 salt
*Beef, elk or venison
Cook beef in about 1 quart of water. Let it simmer for
about 3 hours or until meat is well done. Salt to taste. Shell
acorns and grind them into very fine flour until you have
approximately 3/4 cup of flour. Strain the broth from the
meat (it will be used later). Shred the meat and, placing it
in a wooden bowl, mix it with the acorn flour. (Note: metal
utensils or bowl will discolor the flour) Pour hot broth over
the mixture and stir. It is now ready to serve in individual
bowls. Usually served with fry bread.
Classification: traditional Nation/Tribe: Apache
From: The Native Way Cookbook: The Cookbook Of The
Grandmothers At:
http://www.wisdomkeepers.org/nativeway "Visit the White
Buffalo Sites and the Native American Ring"
206
Nupa Acorn Soup Part 1
20 lbs black oak acorns - cleaned
water
cedar or redwood bows
Acorns are gathered in the fall, right now we are in the
peak of the season. Usually the first fall of acorns we
disregard. They are normally the wormy ones. Sometimes
we will gather these "Pehepes", and use them in our dance
regalia. These "Pehepes" are acorns that have been infested
with worm larve, and they make the acorns form looking
like hunchbacks. They make interesting necklaces and
there is a story about "Pehepes" and why we use them, but
that again is another chat...
My family and I have been known to gather tons of acorn.
In the past my Great Aunt Mary had a room in her house
where we would deposit all of the acorn we gathered. This
was a 10'x12' room, with a four foot board across the
doorway. This room was always full of acorn. As children
we used to fight for the right to jump into the acorn and stir
them up. Anyone bigger than a child would crack the hulls.
This had to be done twice a week so that moisture didn't
build up and that the acorn dried properly. Traditionally
our people stored acorn in 'Chukas', acorn graineries made
of cedar and California laurel. These are cylinder in shape
and raised above the ground on stakes about three feet.
Lacking a spare room for my acorn, I store mine in gunny
sacks and hang the filled bags from the rafters in my
garage. My sisters living on the rez, use the huge army
surplus bins my parents bought. They keep them covered
and stir them twice a week. No matter how you store your
acorn it is essential that you add a generous amount of
California laurel with the nuts. Laurel or bay leaf is a
207
natural insect repellent and keeps the bugs away from the
acorn.
We let the acorn dry or season at least for a year, this
assures that the nuts are well dried. We then crack and hull
the acorns. We then spread the acorn meats to allow any
additional drying. On the acorn is a red skin, the skin is
thicker in the crevices of the nut, it is very important that
all of this skin is removed. Otherwise when cooked it is
like trying to swallow the chewy part of popped corn.
When the nuts are dried this red skin has a tendency to
really cling to the nuts. If you sprinkle a little water on
them when they are dry it lifts the skin making it easier to
remove. We use an open twined winnowing tray in this
process of removing the husk skin.
Once the acorn is cleaned thoroughly and dry, we begin the
hard work. The acorn now needs to be pounded. It is not
ground. We do not have grinding rocks, we have pounding
rocks. We also have granite mortars and pestles. The
pestles are raised above the hole in the mortar rock and
allowed to slide through your hands into the acorn in the
mortar. Some folks use a 'hopper basket' which catches the
acorns as they hop up and allows them to roll back into the
mortar. The basket is a conical shape, like a funnel. Of
course this is a very time consuming process and you
develop wonderful arm muscles. But, let's face it folks, this
is 1998. Today for smaller batches you can use an electric
coffee grinder, a Veggiemeal, mill and juicer works
wonders for medium batches. For large batches like my
sister and I do, we use an electric flour mill. The acorn
flour should have the consistency of wheat flour mixed
with very fine corn meal.
Once you have your flour ground, you can begin your next
step. This process is called leaching. In this step you are
washing out the tannic acid in the flour. Tannic acid is
208
bitter to taste, if you can digest enough it is toxic. Only
cattle, pigs, deer and rodents are known to eat them raw.
Though in California there are documented cases where in
a heavy acorn fall cattle ate too much acorn and dropped
dead in the pasture.
Traditionally we would go to the nearest stream and find a
sandy area. Here we would form out a leaching bed and
spread out the acorn flour on top of the clean sand. We
would then form a channel bringing the water to the bed
and allowing a steady stream to flow over the acorn. Cedar
bows are used to allow the incoming water to flow evenly
over the flour. You would allow this to continue for at least
8-10 hours, depending on how much and how deep the
flour is, after 8 hours you would make a taste test to
determine if it was ready. Today we have a raised table
made of boards and chicken wire, which we cover with a
thick bed of fresh pine needles, and then a clean cotton
sheet. On top of this we spread the acorn flour and leach it
using a water hose placed on top of a spread of fresh cedar
bows. It still takes 8-10 hours. When the leaching process
is complete, the flour will no longer have a bitter taste, but
rather a slightly sweet taste. When it is ready we pick it up
off the leaching bed. It comes up like globs of wet clay.
Using the traditional method of a sand bed you would
gently wash off any sand with water. Because acorn is high
in oils not much adheres to it.
The leached acorn flour is then mixed with water, usually a
2-1 ratio for a thick soup or a 3-1 ratio for a thinner soup.
This is an approximate measure, as my sister and I mix the
flour and water with our hands and know what we are
looking for. My sister and I still cook acorn in the
traditional method, using baskets and hot rocks. The
baskets used for cooking are three rod coiled cooking
baskets. They are water tight. In order to use these baskets
for cooking they must be soaked in water overnight. This
209
allows the basket material to soak in the water and makes
the basket water tight. Before cooking acorn we take a
little of the leached flour and rub it into the weave of the
basket to assure no leakage. We then mix the leached acorn
flour with water in the basket. From: "Andre And Melana"
<kanawa@rocler From: Jim Weller Date: 02-08-02
210
Nupa Acorn Soup Part 2
continued
The morning we are going to cook the leached acorn we
build a large fire in the cooking fire pit. The fire is built
upon a stack of cooking rocks. They can be either basalt
rocks or soapstone any other type of rock will burst and
crumble. Whatever you choose to use, you always count
them before building your fire. Your fire is a clean fire,
built of clean wood. No use of petroleum products to start
your fire, and never, never throw trash of any sort into a
cooking fire. We use only oak or manzanita wood, as these
are hot burning woods and leave little ash. We keep this
fire burning hot for at least a couple of hours.
When we are ready to cook, the cook's helper will lift the
cooking rocks out of the fire one at a time, using large
sticks called 'pinita', they resemble oversized chop sticks,
made of young cedar or oak saplings. Each rock is dipped
into a vessel of water to wash off the ash, then a second
vessel to assure it's cleanliness. The rock is then placed on
the cooks waiting cooking paddle or stirring loop. The
cook then gently lowers the rock into the mixed acorn
flour, one at a time. It takes approximately four to six rocks
the size of an adult fist to bring a basket full of acorn soup
to a full rolling boil. The cook keeps the rocks in constant
motion. This assures that the basket is not scorched or
burned. This cooking process takes about 15-20 minutes.
The baskets used are about as large if not larger than a
large stock pot. This is a very efficient method of cooking.
When the acorn soup, or 'nupa' is done, the cook removes
the hot rocks from the soup. Sometimes the cook will drop
the rocks onto clean cedar bows and allow the acorn
adhered to it to bake, making what my kids call acorn
211
chips. Other times the cook dips her hand into clean water
and cleans off each rock as she takes it out of the soup then
drops it onto the earth to allow it to cool and bake clean
itself. This is how we cook acorn soup, or 'nupa'. The other
way we serve it is in little water dumplings or 'ulay'. For
this we cook the acorn into a very thick soup, when it is
done cooking we use a small basket and individually dip a
basketful of the thick acorn soup into very cold running
water. It immediately solidifies into like a gelatin
dumpling. Many elders prefer this older style of cooked
acorn. This is how my people, the Northern Sierra Mewuk
(Miwok) prepare acorn. Acorn is high in protein and
contains almost every essential vitamin. This we know
because we had to have it analyzed before the doctors at
Oak Knoll Naval hospital my grandmother was in prior to
her passing would allow her to have it.
Note: A little background on myself: Here in California I
am referred to as a Traditionalist, that is I still practice the
traditional ways and ceremonies of my people. I am a
basketweaver, I make coiled and twined Mewuk (Miwok)
baskets. I am a founding Board Member of the California
Indian Basketweavers Association, and served on the
Board for the last eight years. I am an artist, I work with
oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors, pencil and pen. I make
jewelry, a view of my work can be seen in the May 1997
issue of Ornament Magazine in an article announcing the
opening of a Beadwork show at the American Indian
Contemporary Arts Gallery in San Francisco. For those of
you who are wondering what I look like, if you have a
copy of the Time/Life Series, Indians of America, in the
Indians of California book, you can see me, on page 54,
there is a photo of me cooking acorn.
Offered by Kimberly R. Stevenot (aka Billierose) Northern
Sierra Mewuk (Miwok) Tuolumne Rancheria, Tuolumne,
CA http://www.zianet.com/witchy/recipes/native/ From:
212
"Andre And Melana" <kanawa@rocler From: Jim Weller
Date: 02-08-02
213
Ohlone Acorn Mush
recipe
Hull several handfulls of acorns. Grind in mortar. Sift in
sifting basket. Now you have flour but it is too bitter to
eat.So- scoop out hole in sand of creek and line with fern
leaves. Put flour in hole and pour water over to leach out
tannin. Once leached, put in cooking basket and fill with
hot stones until boiling. Mush is now ready to eat. (It is
estimated that an indian family consumed 1000-2000
acorns per year.)
214
Ohlones Acorn Mush
Acorns
Not only have native peoples always eaten meat, they have
gone to considerable trouble and effort to cook their food.
Consider again the Ohlones: Acorns were a very
significant part of their diet. They were ground in a stone
mortar. The flour was then leached with water. This
removed the bitterness. After the leaching came the
cooking. A woman placed the flour and some water into
still another kind of basket--one so skillfully made that it
was completely watertight. Since she could not place the
basket directly onto the flames, she heated some round
stones in the fire. When a stone was hot, she removed it
from the fire with two sticks, dipped it quickly into some
water to wash off the ashes, and dropped it into the acorn
mush. She stirred constantly with a looped stick or wooden
paddle to keep the hot stone from burning a hole in the
basket. She then added more stones until the basket was
perhaps one quarter filled with stones, and and she kept
them all moving and rolling until--after only a few
minutes--the mush was boiling. In Bayshore villages that
were built on alluvial soil, stones had to be carried in form
far away; and good cooking stones--ones that would not
crack when heated--were highly valued.
When the mush was fully cooked, the woman served it,
sometimes in a watery form as a soup, often as a thick
porridge. If she wanted to make acorn bread, she boiled the
mush longer and then placed the batter into an earthen
oven or on top of a hot slab of rock. Acorn bread
(described as Òdeliciously rich and oilyÓ by early
explorers) was a favorite Ohlone food--a food to be taken
215
on trips or to be shared at the many feasts and festivals
throughout the year.9
We have dwelt at some length on the diet of the Ohlones
because no one will deny that they lived in profound
communion with nature. Their diet exemplifies that of
traditional peoples throughout the world.
216
Seminole Acorn Stew
2 1/2 lb. stew meat, cubed
1 1/2 qt. water, or more as needed
2 lg. onions, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 lbs acorns (enough to make 1 cup meal)
Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil,
reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very
tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be
about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt
and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the
acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a
very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and
onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the
acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it
over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by
adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately
with Fry Bread.
217
Venison-Acorn Stew
2 lbs venison, cut up
1 cup finely ground acorn meal
Cover venison with water in port or basket; Add hot rocks
to simmer until meat almost falls apart. Remove meat from
broth and chop into fine pieces. Return to pot with liquid
and stir in acorn meal.
218
Wiwish Cahuillaacorn Mush
1 cup acorn flour drained but wet cold wa; ter
leached
1 cup water (some acorns need more some l; ess)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt (to taste )
1/4 cup sweetener honey or fruit juice conc; entrate
optional
Mix ingredients together and bring to a boil, or until
wiwish thickens.
219
Vegetables
220
Sauted Mushrooms & Acorns
2 cups fresh chopped mushrooms
1/3 cup leached, pre-cooked and strained ac; orns*
1 tbs. dried onions or 2 tbs. fresh diced; onion
garlic (optional)
Sauté this in olive oil or butter. Add a dash of soy sauce.
Variations: Add steamed veggies and put over rice and add
soy sauce. or: Spread on whole wheat tortillas, put 1
tablespoon of shredded cheese on top and microwave until
cheese melts. Top with alfalfa sprouts.
221
Index
About Acorns................8
Acorn............................7
Acorn & Egg Breakfast
.............................100
Acorn 2.........................9
Acorn and Cornmeal
Pancakes ...............110
Acorn Baking..............62
Acorn Bread... 63, 64, 65,
67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72,
73
Acorn Bread (Modern) 74
Acorn Bread 3.............75
Acorn Bread 33...........76
Acorn Bread 5.............78
Acorn Bread Apache...79
Acorn Bread With Cattail
Flour .......................80
Acorn Brownies ........123
Acorn Burgers...........171
Acorn Casserole........143
Acorn Cheese Pies ....144
Acorn Cheesecake.....116
Acorn Chocolate Chip
Raisin Walnut Cookies
.............................113
Acorn Cinnamon
Pancakes ...............101
Acorn Cookies ..........114
Acorn Crunchies .........58
Acorn Dip .................179
Acorn Dip 2 ..............180
Acorn Enchiladas ......145
Acorn Flake ................10
Acorn Flour...........11, 12
Acorn Flour 2............. 13
Acorn Gathering &
Preparation ............. 14
Acorn Griddle Cakes .102
Acorn Griddle Cakes 2
..............................103
Acorn Hominy Cake..117
Acorn Information...... 16
Acorn Lasagna ..........146
Acorn Meal ................ 17
Acorn Meal Cakes.....118
Acorn Meal Or Flour .. 18
Acorn Milk................. 19
Acorn Muffins...154, 155
Acorn Muffins 1 ........157
Acorn Mush ..............184
Acorn Mush In A
Shawee ..................185
Acorn Notes ............... 20
Acorn Pan-Bread ........ 81
Acorn Pancakes 104, 105,
106
Acorn Pancakes I.......107
Acorn Pancakes II .....108
Acorn Pemmican: ......133
Acorn Pickles ............164
Acorn Pie ..................162
Acorn Pinon Soup With
Wild Flowers.......... 21
Acorn Pound Cake ....119
Acorn Pumpkin Bread 82
Acorn Salad Sandwich
..............................172
2
Acorn Shortbread......124
Acorn Shred................59
Acorn Slivers ..............60
Acorn Soda Biscuits....83
Acorn Soup or Mush .186
Acorn Spaghetti Sauce
.............................177
Acorn Spice Bread ......84
Acorn Spinach Burgers
.............................173
Acorn Stew...... 187, 188,
189, 190, 191
Acorn Stew Apache ..193
Acorn Stew Seminole194
Acorn Substtutes .........22
Acorn Tips ..................23
Acorn Tofu Breakfast109
Acorn Tortillas............85
Acorn Veggie Loaf ...147
Acorn Veggie Soup...195
Acorn Yeast Bread......86
Acorn, Carrot & Dock
Soup......................196
Acorn/Pemmican
Preparation............134
Acorn-Corn Bread.......87
Acorns .................. 25, 27
Acorns & Pasta .........167
Acorns & Rice ..........148
Acorns A ....................28
Acorns B.....................29
Acorns With Black Bean
Broth & Pasta........149
Acorns, Acorns, Acorns
...............................30
Apache Acorn Cakes:120
Apache Acorn Ravioli In
Clear Broth............197
Apache Acorn Soup..199,
200, 201
Apache Acorn-Pinon
Soup With Wild
Flowers .................202
Appetizers .................. 57
Baked & Browned
Eggplant Acorn Dip &
Spread ...................181
Beets & Acorns .........174
Bread Acorn .............. 88
Breads ........................ 61
Breakfast .................... 99
Burning Tree Acorn
Bread...................... 89
Burning Tree Golden
Acorn Soup ...........203
Cake/cookie ..............112
Cakes ........................115
California Acorns ....... 33
Chicken With Jalapeño
Acorn Sauce ..........150
Chris Nyerge's Acorn
Bread Recipes......... 90
Chris Nyerge's Acorn
Burgers..................175
Chris Nyerge's Acorn
Pickles...................165
Chris Nyerge's Acorn
Recipes................... 34
Christopher's Acorn
Bread...................... 91
Collecting And Storing
Acorns And Meal ... 36
3
Contemporary Acorn
Bread ......................92
Cornmeal And Acorn
Mush.....................204
Desserts ....................122
Dressing....................130
Elk Stew With Acorn
Dumplings ............151
Game ........................132
Grandma's Acorn Griddle
Bread With Syrup .111
Harvest And Eat The
Acorns ....................40
Harvesting The Wild
Acorns ....................41
Honey Acorn Bread ....93
How To Use Acorn Meal
...............................49
How To Use Acorns For
Food And Bread......50
Kidney Bean Acorn
Salad .....................168
Korean Acorn Noodle
Salad .....................169
Main Dish .................142
Mixed Grain Acorn
Bread ......................94
Modern Pemmican: ...141
Muffins .....................153
Multi-Grain Bread With
Acorn Meal: ............96
Nativeway Apache Acorn
Stew......................205
Nupa Acorn Soup Part 1
.............................206
Nupa Acorn Soup Part 2
.............................210
Ohlone Acorn Mush ..213
Ohlones Acorn Mush.214
Peanut And Acorn
Yogurt Dessert ......125
Persimmon Acorn
Cinnamon Rolls.....126
Pies ...........................161
Preparation Of Ground
Acorn Meal ............ 53
Processing Acorns ...... 54
Pumpkin Acorn Pudding
..............................128
Quick Acorn Cheesecake
..............................121
Refried Acorns ..........182
Relishes/preserves .....163
Russ Cohen's Acorn
Muffins .................158
Salads........................166
Sandwiches ...............170
Sauce.........................176
Sauces/dips................178
Sauted Mushrooms &
Acorns...................220
Savory Acorn Muffins
..............................160
Seminole Acorn Stew216
Soups/stews...............183
Split Pea Acorn Dinner
..............................152
Tom & Judy Brown's
Famous Acorn Yeast
Bread...................... 98
Turning Acorns Into
Meal ....................... 55
Vegetables.................219
Venison-Acorn Stew .217
4
White Sage Acorn
Dressing................131
Wiwish Cahuillaacorn
Mush .....................218