Acorns?

Nancy Young said:

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find
acorns to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

nancy

Native Americans cooked with acorns all the time. They used ground acorns like flour. Nope, there
isn't an "acorn store" 🙂 But squirrels apparently know something we don't.

ACORN STEW
a.. 1 lb stewing beef

b.. 1/2 C finely ground acorn meal (tannin removed)

c.. Salt and pepper to taste

Place beef 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.

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.

Acorn Bread
d.. 6 Tbl. cornmeal

e.. 1/2 C cold water

f.. 1 C boiling water

g.. 1 tsp sale

h.. 1 Tbl butter

i.. 1 pkg active dry yeast

j.. 1/4 C lukewarm water

k.. 1 C mashed potatoes

l.. 2 C all-purpose flour

m.. 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.

[ Top ] Acorn Griddle Cakes
n.. 2/3 C finely ground leached acorn meal

o.. 1/3 C unbleached flour

p.. 1 tsp. baking powder

q.. 1/3 tsp. salt

r.. 1 Tbl honey

s.. 1 egg, beaten

t.. 3/4 C milk

u.. 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. Makes 12 to 15.

Venison-Acorn Stew
v.. 2 lbs venison, cut up

w.. 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.

Nancy Young <[email hidden]> wrote in news:3FE60F8D.DE8A0EA8
@mail.monmouth.com:

Quoted message said:

I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and decorated
them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated with ... ACORNS.
Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were prepared as chestnuts
might be, and peeled, of course.

The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive to
the acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the middle
of the cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find
acorns to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

nancy

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They seemed
overly bitter.

Wayne

Nancy Young said:

I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and decorated
them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated with ... ACORNS.
Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were prepared as chestnuts
might be, and peeled, of course.

The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive to the
acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the middle of the
cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find acorns
to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

Acorns were once a major food source of Native Americans... you do realize that long, long ago [censored]
sapiens learned which things were fit to eat by observing fauna.

Here: food4.epicurious.com23307.htmlOpen ↗

---
acorn Acorns are the fruit of the oak tree. Some varieties are edible and, like chestnuts, may be
eaten raw, roasted or baked. They may also be ground and used as a substitute for coffee.

© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd
edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =--- ---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =--- Sheldon
```````````` "Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."

jmcquown said:

Nancy Young said:

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find
acorns to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

Quoted message said:

Native Americans cooked with acorns all the time. They used ground acorns like flour. Nope, there
isn't an "acorn store" 🙂 But squirrels apparently know something we don't.

(laughing) Well, yeah, I'm sure they did, those Native Americans, but that was then. Why offer up a
recipe with no indication of how one would prepare them or where you'd get them. I have acorns
sitting on my computer, I collect them, but I sure wouldn't think 'let me ... boil? them?' This is a
semi-homemade show, where did she get the acorns?

nancy

Nancy Young said:

I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and decorated
them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated with ... ACORNS.
Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were prepared as chestnuts
might be, and peeled, of course.

The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive to
the acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the middle
of the cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find
acorns to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

nancy

Not as a general rule... I don't understand how she could possibly be considering eating whole,
fresh acorns, unless of course they had been prepared/leached first.

For one thing, they are bitter as he** (I remember trying them as a kid) and they are full of tannic
acid so are mildly toxic as well. Although squirrels seem to eat them ok. :-)

From what little I've read on native american lore, acorns have to be soaked and leached to clear
the tannins from them before being used. They then dried them and made acorn flour for baking
with them.

This site looked good:

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edusquirrel.htmlOpen ↗

K.
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In article said:

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They seemed
overly bitter.

They have a lot of tannin. Euell Gibbon's book "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" has a discussion of how
to prepare them in a variety of ways so they *aren't* bitter. It's an odd book, but fun to browse
through. He was really dedicated to the wild food schtick.

Amazingly enough, it's still in print.

Mike Beede

Mike Beede said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Wayne Boatwright

Quoted message said:

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They seemed
overly bitter.

They have a lot of tannin. Euell Gibbon's book "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" has a discussion of
how to prepare them in a variety of ways so they *aren't* bitter. It's an odd book, but fun to
browse through. He was really dedicated to the wild food schtick.

Amazingly enough, it's still in print.

Mike Beede

I ate 'em once when I was younger and on survival training. You may be able to live on 'em
but blech!

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Katra said:

Nancy Young said:

I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and decorated
them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated with ... ACORNS.
Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were prepared as chestnuts
might be, and peeled, of course.

The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive to
the acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the middle
of the cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

Quoted message said:

For one thing, they are bitter as he** (I remember trying them as a kid) and they are full of
tannic acid so are mildly toxic as well. Although squirrels seem to eat them ok. :-)

From what little I've read on native american lore, acorns have to be soaked and leached to clear
the tannins from them before being used. They then dried them and made acorn flour for baking
with them.

Exactly my point. (laugh) Cracked me up. Just sprinkle some acorns on the cake. HUH???? With no
indication of where you would get the acorns, how you would prepare them. Just sprinkle some acorns.

Anyway, if I was inclined to recreate her cake, I would use chestnuts.

And no apple pie filling.

nancy

Nancy Young said:

Katra said:

Nancy Young said:

I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and
decorated them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated with
... ACORNS. Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were prepared
as chestnuts might be, and peeled, of course.

The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive
to the acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the
middle of the cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

Quoted message said:

For one thing, they are bitter as he** (I remember trying them as a kid) and they are full of
tannic acid so are mildly toxic as well. Although squirrels seem to eat them ok. :-)

From what little I've read on native american lore, acorns have to be soaked and leached to
clear the tannins from them before being used. They then dried them and made acorn flour for
baking with them.

Exactly my point. (laugh) Cracked me up. Just sprinkle some acorns on the cake. HUH???? With
no indication of where you would get the acorns, how you would prepare them. Just sprinkle
some acorns.

Anyway, if I was inclined to recreate her cake, I would use chestnuts.

That would be good, but Macadamia might be better... <grins>

Quoted message said:

And no apple pie filling.

nancy

What kind of cake was it, flavor-wise?

K.

--

Quoted message said:

^,,^< Cats-haven Hobby Farm >^,,^< [email hidden] >^,,^<

"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are all owned by
cats" -- Asimov

Custom handcrafts, Sterling silver beaded jewelry
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Katra <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young said:

Katra said:

Nancy Young wrote:
>
> I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and
> decorated them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated
> with ... ACORNS. Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were
> prepared as chestnuts might be, and peeled, of course.
>
> The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive
> to the acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the
> middle of the cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

Quoted message said:

For one thing, they are bitter as he** (I remember trying them as a kid) and they are full of
tannic acid so are mildly toxic as well. Although squirrels seem to eat them ok. :-)

From what little I've read on native american lore, acorns have to be soaked and leached to
clear the tannins from them before being used. They then dried them and made acorn flour for
baking with them.

Exactly my point. (laugh) Cracked me up. Just sprinkle some acorns on the cake. HUH???? With no
indication of where you would get the acorns, how you would prepare them. Just sprinkle some
acorns.

Anyway, if I was inclined to recreate her cake, I would use chestnuts.

Yep, I would also use chestnuts. Both the texture and flavor would be great!

Quoted message said:

That would be good, but Macadamia might be better... <grins>

Quoted message said:

And no apple pie filling.

I'm for skipping that, too. Canned apple pie filling isn't really very good. The apples are usually
too hard, and I think they taste watery.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

nancy

What kind of cake was it, flavor-wise?

K.

Wayne Boatwright <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young <[email hidden]> wrote in news:3FE60F8D.DE8A0EA8 @mail.monmouth.com:

Quoted message said:

I saw that Semi-Homemade show, she made cakes out of store bought angel food cakes and decorated
them for 3 different holidays. The one she made for Kwaanza (sp), she decorated with ... ACORNS.
Hello, I never heard of people eating acorns. They looked as if they were prepared as chestnuts
might be, and peeled, of course.

The way she presented it, it was like, just put some acorns on it! as if we could just drive to
the acorn store and pick some up. I don't think so. Then she put apple pie filling in the middle
of the cake, that didn't exactly turn me on, either, but that's another story.

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find
acorns to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

nancy

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They seemed
overly bitter.

Wayne

This will really date me but wild food expert Euell Gibbons ("Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are
edible."😉 has detailed instructions in his book "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" on how to treat acorns
to remove the bitterness (tannin). If I remember correctly, he boiled them in a succession of fresh
waters and then he dried them in the oven before grinding them into meal. I think he also "candied"
them like chestnuts.

Lynn from Fargo

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

From what little I've read on native american lore, acorns have to be soaked and leached to
clear the tannins from them before being used. They then dried them and made acorn flour for
baking with them.

Exactly my point. (laugh) Cracked me up. Just sprinkle some acorns on the cake. HUH???? With
no indication of where you would get the acorns, how you would prepare them. Just sprinkle
some acorns.

The acorns my kids used to drag home were full of white worms. I suppose some blanching would take
care of them ...? LOL.

N.

Wayne Boatwright said:

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They seemed
overly bitter.

Wayne

Boil, two or 3 times, tossing the water between each heating. allow to dry, then grind into
meal or flour.

Maybe roasting at this stage would be more appetizing.

maxine in ri who will not starve if she can beat the sqirrels to the acorns.

"maxine in ri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They
seemed overly bitter.

Wayne

Boil, two or 3 times, tossing the water between each heating. allow to dry, then grind into meal
or flour.

Maybe roasting at this stage would be more appetizing.

maxine in ri who will not starve if she can beat the sqirrels to the

acorns.

I have it on good authority that squirrels taste better than acorns!

--
Peter Aitken

Remove the [censored] from my email address before using.

Nancy Dooley said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

From what little I've read on native american lore, acorns have to be soaked and leached to
clear the tannins from them before being used. They then dried them and made acorn flour for
baking with them.

Exactly my point. (laugh) Cracked me up. Just sprinkle some acorns on the cake. HUH???? With no
indication of where you would get the acorns, how you would prepare them. Just sprinkle some
acorns.

The acorns my kids used to drag home were full of white worms. I suppose some blanching would take
care of them ...? LOL.

N.

EWWWW!!!!! ;-D

K

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Quoted message said:

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"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are all owned by
cats" -- Asimov

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Peter Aitken said:

"maxine in ri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

We had thousands of acorns from our trees when we lived in NE Ohio. One year we tried roasting
some in the oven. They are certainly edible, but we didn't find them very appetizing. They
seemed overly bitter.

Wayne

Boil, two or 3 times, tossing the water between each heating. allow to dry, then grind into meal
or flour.

Maybe roasting at this stage would be more appetizing.

maxine in ri who will not starve if she can beat the sqirrels to the

acorns.

I have it on good authority that squirrels taste better than acorns!

--
Peter Aitken

Damn! That was funny..... ;-D

And too true!

K. (who eats any squirrels that harasses her pigeons.....)

--

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"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are all owned by
cats" -- Asimov

Custom handcrafts, Sterling silver beaded jewelry
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In article <[email hidden]>,

Nancy Young said:

I don't want anyone running around looking up a source of acorns for me, but do you all find acorns
to be a common ingredient that I have been missing?

Hmph. If you *do* decide you want some acorns, you can have all you want out of my front yard. The
only catch is that you have to pick them up yourself.

There's probably a few hundred pounds at least. They're a pest.

--
Mark Shaw contact info at homepage --> panix.com~mshawOpen ↗
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