Harvesting the wild acorns
Being wild food enthusiasts, we have had many interesting experiences with attempting to eat acorns. Many of them ended up wormy and bitter.
In an attempt to make our own acorn flour in Philadelphia 17 years ago we harvested a couple trash bags full of acorns from a city park. If I recall, I then found out I was pregnant and the acorns rotted in our apartment living room. A few other attempts we just couldn’t get the leaching process right and fed the acorns to our chickens instead. (They don’t mind the tannins or the worms.)
We have actually planted oak trees that are low in tannins so that we can harvest a sweeter nut. But in the mean time, here are a few acorn harvesting and preparing tips from those who have had better success than us.
Lots of acorn info from Green Deane at eattheweeds.com can be found if you click the link, including preparation information and a bread recipe that uses acorn flour and cattail flour.We haven’t tried harvesting acorns recently. We certainly plan to harvest them again. The reward of knowing you can survive on wild foods is pretty great, but in the mean time, we found a way to eat them with less work involved.
Acorn flour
Whether you have success with the wild harvest or not, you can still try out acorn breads and other recipes. Acorn flour is actually available to purchase at some stores or online. I picked up my acorn flour (“acorn powder”) at the korean store near my old home.
Acorn flour tortilla recipe
Lately I am making a lot of tortillas. Following is my acorn flour tortilla recipe. Most recipes with acorn flour use half acorn half wheat. Being gluten free, this recipe is a little different. The result is a nutty, chewy tortilla. Enjoy.
This gluten-free, grain-free tortilla has a nutty flavor and is great for tacos and wraps.
- 1 cup acorn flour
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup organic masa flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
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Mix all ingredients together. If needed add a little more water to help make a soft dough ball.
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Divide dough into 1.5 inch dough balls or larger if you want a larger tortilla.
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Press tortillas in an electric tortilla press to cook for 1-2 minutes or whatever is recommended by your electric press.
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Or roll dough between 2 pieces of saran wrap and cook on pre-heated cast iron skillet, flipping over half way through.
Stay tuned for more acorn flour recipes. I still have to use the rest of my bag of acorn flour!
Reading the “contains cancer causing chemicals” warning on your Acorn Powder, why would you use it? What chemicals are they warning about?
Hi Ann. Thanks for reading my post on acorn flour tortillas. It is high levels of tannins that have been linked to cancer. Acorns used in flour and other recipes are leached of their tannins in preparation. If the tannins are high, the acorn flour would be really bitter. With that information, I was comfortable using prepared acorn powder in my cooking.