A nutty adventure

Did you know you can eat acorns? Did you know there are 14 different varieties? Did you know there are at least a dozen recipes using acorns? I, like most people never really saw past their cute little hats but these nuts are a secret of the forest that one should explore, understand, and if feeling adventurous enough, eat. But first a disclaimer: Do not eat Acorns raw. All acorns contain a toxin call Tannin. All though the amount of tannin in acorns varies (the bigger the cap the more tannin it has) it has to be leeched out no matter what. Tannin if ingested will not be fatal but it will make you very very sick. Leeching out the tannin is as easy as soaking the nut meat for 24 hours and switching out the water every 8 hours. This story ends with Acorn pancakes (I know right?) But lets start at the beginning...

The mighty Oak

I was able to walk a neighbor's property and scour like a squirrel for acorns. At first I was looking too hard and quickly became discouraged but soon I realized they were right under my nose...er feet. 

How many acorns can you spot?

The stages of acorns: new, ripe and over ripe.

My sweet acorn busting helpers!

After the searching, the busting, and the leeching came the roasting or drying. I did not get a lot of acorn meat from my scavenge but it was a great first time experience for me. If you crack the acorns open and the pale beige meat has an brown spots or lines it can contain worms so these were tossed right away.  Drying the acorns takes a lot longer than you would think. I found no guideline as to how long I should dry them in a low oven so lesson learned here dry them longer than you'd think. I dried mine in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes.

 I then put them in my coffee grinder to which they turned in to a thick mush. After that I decided to dry the mush for another 30 minutes which made it dry and crispy and much easier to grind.

The second time around of grinding I got the flour consistency I was looking for. I then got to pancake-making. I used this recipe from PBS. This recipe did not call for any sweetener and that is one thing I would change next time. A little honey, maple syrup or brown sugar would be delish!

Mix it up baby now!

Wah-la silver dollar sized acorn pancakes!

Now you want to know how they tasted right? Well they tasted like acorns.. No it wasn't a bad flavor it was just different and would be very easy to get used to especially with the added sweetener. Though I haven't ever tasted a whole wheat or buckwheat pancake I would imagine they taste very similar to these. So in short, it takes a little effort but if you're willing to put it in and do a little hard work you'll be well rewarded with a product you've probably never tried before. My next acorn recipe? Maple Acorn bread!