That's awesome!!
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Remind me about photo uploads...
Ummm...Being IT -Challenged, I've forgotten how to upload photos. Can someone remind me?? Please...
Stage One...
1-First, the nuts have to be ejected from their cups, which are woody and thick--and often curve up around the nut. Tried pliers, slow. Used a hammer on a piece of concrete block, much faster and more effective.
I made the mistake of trying to dry them in the sun earlier today. The cups come off much faster if damp.
2-Then stood the acorns up on their flat ends and hit the pointy end with the hammer. Cracked the shell quite well.
Since I gathered these so late in the season, about 20% were bad (rotted or very wormy. EatTheWeeds says the worms are tasty too:xeye But the good ones were beautiful. White ivory-like meats as big as chestnuts. (Have to put them in water as soon as you hull them, or they discolor.)
3-There is also an inner dark brown skin. It fell away from some nuts, but with others I had to scrape it off with the edge of a teaspoon.
4/5-They're boiling in the second water now. First was cloudy brown. This one so far is clear reddish brown. Smells a tad like vinegar (tannic acid?)
More later...
1-First, the nuts have to be ejected from their cups, which are woody and thick--and often curve up around the nut. Tried pliers, slow. Used a hammer on a piece of concrete block, much faster and more effective.
I made the mistake of trying to dry them in the sun earlier today. The cups come off much faster if damp.
2-Then stood the acorns up on their flat ends and hit the pointy end with the hammer. Cracked the shell quite well.
Since I gathered these so late in the season, about 20% were bad (rotted or very wormy. EatTheWeeds says the worms are tasty too:xeye
But the good ones were beautiful. White ivory-like meats as big as chestnuts. (Have to put them in water as soon as you hull them, or they discolor.) 3-There is also an inner dark brown skin. It fell away from some nuts, but with others I had to scrape it off with the edge of a teaspoon.
4/5-They're boiling in the second water now. First was cloudy brown. This one so far is clear reddish brown. Smells a tad like vinegar (tannic acid?)
More later...
Results
Boiled the chopped acorns in the third water and tasted it. The finely chopped stuff was neutral but the larger chunks were still a tad bitter. Put it all back into boiling water again and cheated--added a heaping teaspoon of baking soda to two quarts of boiling water (to neutralize the acid.) It foamed up and the acorns turned red. (They were pasty white up til this point.)
Drained and rinsed. Dried in the oven. Tasteless, more or less, but so is flour. A very faint odor/flavor like the old-fashioned Bandaids??? (Maybe like iodine? but faint.) I ate a few teaspoons with a little salt on top. Not bad! If I get 500 calories from a cup of this it will enhance the food supply.
Now gotta do the rest of the 5 gallon bucket...tomorrow:. BTW I only picked up about one quadrant around the tree. That means 3 more 5 gallon buckets...Aaaargh!
Boiled the chopped acorns in the third water and tasted it. The finely chopped stuff was neutral but the larger chunks were still a tad bitter. Put it all back into boiling water again and cheated--added a heaping teaspoon of baking soda to two quarts of boiling water (to neutralize the acid.) It foamed up and the acorns turned red. (They were pasty white up til this point.)
Drained and rinsed. Dried in the oven. Tasteless, more or less, but so is flour. A very faint odor/flavor like the old-fashioned Bandaids??? (Maybe like iodine? but faint.) I ate a few teaspoons with a little salt on top. Not bad! If I get 500 calories from a cup of this it will enhance the food supply.
Now gotta do the rest of the 5 gallon bucket...tomorrow
:. BTW I only picked up about one quadrant around the tree. That means 3 more 5 gallon buckets...Aaaargh!
I have other oak trees, but this one sounds really neat. My food forest plans are long-term.
Taste
I put the dried, leached, chopped acorns from yesterday into the fridge overnight. Ate some today, just with a spoon out of a small bowl. Again, a sprinkle of salt made them really good.
The flavor is what might be called 'earthy'. I like it! A little toward some mushrooms. More hopefully tomorrow or Saturday with photos.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode....
I put the dried, leached, chopped acorns from yesterday into the fridge overnight. Ate some today, just with a spoon out of a small bowl. Again, a sprinkle of salt made them really good.
The flavor is what might be called 'earthy'. I like it! A little toward some mushrooms. More hopefully tomorrow or Saturday with photos.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode....
Tiny update
Well, didn't get any more done on the acorns yet. Sorry, ladies! Life intervenes.
But did something important: Called the state DOT and our town Road Dept to make sure the area hadn't been sprayed with herbicide. (The tree is on the edge of the woods along a wide, grassy hwy right-of-way. That is how I first noticed those huge fuzzy acorns lying in the grass and leaf litter.)
So glad to know neither of them spray that area. This isn't the old days, and we need to be sure of what's going on with the food supply.
(A few hundred years ago, we didn't have to think about these issues. But, I admit, starting 75 years ago we DO. My Grandpa used to spray everything with DDT--pest bugs, veggies, everything. It's a wonder my Mom lived to be an adult...)
Will get on the rest of those acorns and post photos hopefully tomorrow...really!
Well, didn't get any more done on the acorns yet. Sorry, ladies! Life intervenes.
But did something important: Called the state DOT and our town Road Dept to make sure the area hadn't been sprayed with herbicide. (The tree is on the edge of the woods along a wide, grassy hwy right-of-way. That is how I first noticed those huge fuzzy acorns lying in the grass and leaf litter.)
So glad to know neither of them spray that area. This isn't the old days, and we need to be sure of what's going on with the food supply.
(A few hundred years ago, we didn't have to think about these issues. But, I admit, starting 75 years ago we DO. My Grandpa used to spray everything with DDT--pest bugs, veggies, everything. It's a wonder my Mom lived to be an adult...)
Will get on the rest of those acorns and post photos hopefully tomorrow...really!
2
How I processed the Acorns
Ready, Set, Go! Did it on my deck for the first segments of processing: Hammer, concrete block chunk, acorns and 1 bowl for caps after removal, 1 bowl for shelled acorns. (Didn't need the pliers.) Theoretically, you could do this with a couple of rocks.
Whack the acorn with the hammer. The woody cap will fracture and pop the acorn out. Better if the cap is a little damp, not too dry.
Ready, Set, Go! Did it on my deck for the first segments of processing: Hammer, concrete block chunk, acorns and 1 bowl for caps after removal, 1 bowl for shelled acorns. (Didn't need the pliers.) Theoretically, you could do this with a couple of rocks.
Whack the acorn with the hammer. The woody cap will fracture and pop the acorn out. Better if the cap is a little damp, not too dry.
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