I spent my childhood in the mountains of Northern California. I had no running water, or electricity and we lived off the land for the most part. My grandmother was Cherokee and very traditional in her ways. One thing she did every year was gather acorns. She used the acorns to make her breads and as a small child I can remember waiting impatiently for the bread to come out of the oven side of our wood stove. I can still smell it baking in our little cabin. My father took this a step further and would gather acorns by the truck load. He used it to feed our animals, he claimed it was the acorns that made our pork famous with the locals.
Fresh acorns are full of tannin which makes them inedible to humans. You leach the tannin out by soaking them in water, changing the water until it runs clear. My grandmother did this a couple ways depending on if she planned on using the leach water or not. Her main supply of acorns were buried in the creek and stored there for up to a year. She claimed the longer they were in the river the sweeter they got. I remember them being black in color when she took them out and I enjoyed them as a snack before and after they were dried. If she planned on using the leach water she would take a couple buckets of fresh acorns, put them in a basket and soak them in a larger container of water. She would then save the water of the first drain as a dye for her cloth.
Acorns are also rich in nutrients and vary in degree from species to species, they contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat, they also have calcium, phosphorus, potassium and niacin. Acorns are a high energy food and in a pinch can save your life.
For more detailed and modern ways to process acorns check out this site: http://www.eattheweeds.com/nuts-for-acorns/
- Acorn Pancakes, Dandelion Salad, and 38 Other Wild Recipes
- The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants
- Handbook of the Indians of California, with 419 Illustrations and 40 Maps (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 78)
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I found this article very interesting, especially as I am a citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Somehow, in all of my reading, I totally missed anything about the acorn. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm not sure how often this was used there. My grandmother moved from Oklahoma to Northern California when she married my grandfather. If I remember correctly she was taught by the natives there how to use the acorns. If you haven't read up on the Native Americans of Northern California it's worth a read.
DeleteThis is so interesting! A couple of months ago I had ask someone it they thought acorns were edible. My great grandmother was of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. She was adopted however, as a young girl and all records were lost. Thank you so much for sharing your story. It reminded me of my grandmother and some of the things she used to do.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome. These remind me of my grandmother too. Another thing she did was draw a face on an acorn and keep it in her pocket for luck. I'm not sure where she got that idea. ;0)
DeleteI am trying the acorn thing but am unsure of how long it takes to get the acorns ready to dry or roast or pound into flour. I have been testing a bowl full for the past three months and I change the water twice a week. Each time I change it, it is black as smut. Anyone know how long this process has to continue?
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
DeleteI would change the water more often. That might be why it is taking so long. Try changing the water once a day. It really depends on the acorns you are using to how long it will take. 3 months is much longer than I would expect but maybe your acorns are higher in tannins. When the water turns clear they are ready to roast. you can also taste them too. Tannin is bitter, the acorns will start tasting more like a bland pistachio as the tannin is leached.
You can also speed up the leaching process by doing a rough grind or chop of the acorns before leaching. Hope this helps
Scarlett