EATING ACORNS

Compiled by Native Tree Burning Grill

Table of Contents
Acorn............................................................................... 7 About Acorns............................................................... 8 Acorn 2 ........................................................................ 9 Acorn Flake ............................................................... 10 Acorn Flour................................................................ 11 Acorn Flour................................................................ 12 Acorn Flour 2............................................................. 13 Acorn Gathering & Preparation .................................. 14 Acorn Information...................................................... 16 Acorn Meal ................................................................ 17 Acorn Meal Or Flour.................................................. 18 Acorn Milk ................................................................ 19 Acorn Notes ............................................................... 20 Acorn Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers ....................... 21 Acorn Substtutes ........................................................ 22 Acorn Tips ................................................................. 23 Acorns ....................................................................... 25 Acorns ....................................................................... 27 Acorns A.................................................................... 28 Acorns B .................................................................... 29 Acorns, Acorns, Acorns ............................................. 30 California Acorns....................................................... 33 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Recipes .................................... 34 Collecting And Storing Acorns And Meal .................. 36 Harvest And Eat The Acorns ...................................... 40 Harvesting The Wild: Acorns ..................................... 41 How To Use Acorn Meal ........................................... 49 How To Use Acorns For Food And Bread .................. 50 Preparation Of Ground Acorn Meal............................ 53 Processing Acorns...................................................... 54 Turning Acorns Into Meal .......................................... 55 Appetizers...................................................................... 57 Acorn Crunchies ........................................................ 58 Acorn Shred ............................................................... 59 2

Acorn Slivers ............................................................. 60 Breads............................................................................ 61 Acorn Baking............................................................. 62 Acorn Bread............................................................... 63 Acorn Bread............................................................... 64 Acorn Bread............................................................... 65 Acorn Bread............................................................... 67 Acorn Bread............................................................... 68 Acorn Bread............................................................... 69 Acorn Bread............................................................... 70 Acorn Bread............................................................... 71 Acorn Bread............................................................... 72 Acorn Bread............................................................... 73 Acorn Bread (Modern) ............................................... 74 Acorn Bread 3............................................................ 75 Acorn Bread 33 .......................................................... 76 Acorn Bread 5............................................................ 78 Acorn Bread Apache .................................................. 79 Acorn Bread With Cattail Flour.................................. 80 Acorn Pan-Bread........................................................ 81 Acorn Pumpkin Bread ................................................ 82 Acorn Soda Biscuits ................................................... 83 Acorn Spice Bread ..................................................... 84 Acorn Tortillas ........................................................... 85 Acorn Yeast Bread ..................................................... 86 Acorn-Corn Bread...................................................... 87 Bread Acorn.............................................................. 88 Burning Tree Acorn Bread ......................................... 89 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Bread Recipes .......................... 90 Christopher's Acorn Bread ......................................... 91 Contemporary Acorn Bread........................................ 92 Honey Acorn Bread ................................................... 93 Mixed Grain Acorn Bread .......................................... 94 Multi-Grain Bread With Acorn Meal:......................... 96 Tom & Judy Brown's Famous Acorn Yeast Bread...... 98 Breakfast........................................................................ 99 Acorn & Egg Breakfast .............................................100 3

Acorn Cinnamon Pancakes........................................101 Acorn Griddle Cakes.................................................102 Acorn Griddle Cakes 2 ..............................................103 Acorn Pancakes.........................................................104 Acorn Pancakes.........................................................105 Acorn Pancakes.........................................................106 Acorn Pancakes I ......................................................107 Acorn Pancakes II .....................................................108 Acorn Tofu Breakfast................................................109 Acorn and Cornmeal Pancakes ..................................110 Grandma's Acorn Griddle Bread With Syrup.............111 Cake/cookie ..................................................................112 Acorn Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Cookies ..........113 Acorn Cookies ..........................................................114 Cakes ............................................................................115 Acorn Cheesecake.....................................................116 Acorn Hominy Cake .................................................117 Acorn Meal Cakes.....................................................118 Acorn Pound Cake ....................................................119 Apache Acorn Cakes:................................................120 Quick Acorn Cheesecake ..........................................121 Desserts ........................................................................122 Acorn Brownies ........................................................123 Acorn Shortbread ......................................................124 Peanut And Acorn Yogurt Dessert ............................125 Persimmon Acorn Cinnamon Rolls ...........................126 Pumpkin Acorn Pudding ...........................................128 Dressing........................................................................130 White Sage Acorn Dressing ......................................131 Game ............................................................................132 Acorn Pemmican:......................................................133 Acorn/Pemmican Preparation ....................................134 Modern Pemmican: ...................................................141 Main Dish .....................................................................142 Acorn Casserole ........................................................143 Acorn Cheese Pies ....................................................144 Acorn Enchiladas ......................................................145 4

Acorn Lasagna ..........................................................146 Acorn Veggie Loaf....................................................147 Acorns & Rice ..........................................................148 Acorns With Black Bean Broth & Pasta ....................149 Chicken With Jalapeo Acorn Sauce .........................150 Elk Stew With Acorn Dumplings ..............................151 Split Pea Acorn Dinner .............................................152 Muffins .........................................................................153 Acorn Muffins ..........................................................154 Acorn Muffins ..........................................................155 Acorn Muffins 1........................................................157 Russ Cohen's Acorn Muffins .....................................158 Savory Acorn Muffins...............................................160 Pies ...............................................................................161 Acorn Pie ..................................................................162 Relishes/preserves.........................................................163 Acorn Pickles............................................................164 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Pickles ....................................165 Salads ...........................................................................166 Acorns & Pasta .........................................................167 Kidney Bean Acorn Salad .........................................168 Korean Acorn Noodle Salad......................................169 Sandwiches ...................................................................170 Acorn Burgers...........................................................171 Acorn Salad Sandwich ..............................................172 Acorn Spinach Burgers .............................................173 Beets & Acorns .........................................................174 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Burgers ...................................175 Sauce ............................................................................176 Acorn Spaghetti Sauce ..............................................177 Sauces/dips ...................................................................178 Acorn Dip .................................................................179 Acorn Dip 2 ..............................................................180 Baked & Browned Eggplant Acorn Dip & Spread .....181 Refried Acorns ..........................................................182 Soups/stews ..................................................................183 Acorn Mush ..............................................................184 5

Acorn Mush In A Shawee .........................................185 Acorn Soup or Mush .................................................186 Acorn Stew ...............................................................187 Acorn Stew ...............................................................188 Acorn Stew ...............................................................189 Acorn Stew ...............................................................190 Acorn Stew ...............................................................191 Acorn Stew Apache ..................................................193 Acorn Stew Seminole................................................194 Acorn Veggie Soup...................................................195 Acorn, Carrot & Dock Soup ......................................196 Apache Acorn Ravioli In Clear Broth........................197 Apache Acorn Soup ..................................................199 Apache Acorn Soup ..................................................200 Apache Acorn Soup ..................................................201 Apache Acorn-Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers .........202 Burning Tree Golden Acorn Soup .............................203 Cornmeal And Acorn Mush ......................................204 Nativeway Apache Acorn Stew.................................205 Nupa Acorn Soup Part 1............................................206 Nupa Acorn Soup Part 2............................................210 Ohlone Acorn Mush ..................................................213 Ohlones Acorn Mush ................................................214 Seminole Acorn Stew................................................216 Venison-Acorn Stew .................................................217 Wiwish Cahuillaacorn Mush .....................................218 Vegetables ....................................................................219 Sauted Mushrooms & Acorns....................................220

Acorn

About Acorns

1 acorns

There are more than 60 species of oak trees throughout North America, and all produce edible acorns. Oaks are broadly divided into two groups: red (or black) oaks, which produce nuts with a bitter taste (a result of high tannin content), and white oaks, which contain less tannin and are considerably sweeter. The annual nut crop from oak trees in North America surpasses the combined yearly yield of all other nut trees, both wild and cultivated. Acorns provide a complete vegetable protein, up to 7 percent by weight in some species of oak. More than half their bulk consists of energy-rich carbohydrates. From: "Manyfeathers1" <manyfeathers1@yadate: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:07:16 ~0000

Acorn 2

I have made flour from acorns for years but never boiled them. I always use the acorns from the white oak and soak them for three days. I change the water every day. Then I lay them on a screen to dry for sometimes two weeks or roast them in the oven (which has a distinct nutty odor). It always depends on how much time I have. I would think that boiling them would remove some of the flavor.

Acorn Flake

These are sliced thin (when wet) with a slicing blade. Somewhat resembles small potato chips when dry. Used for casseroles, 'meat loaf,' and any type of heavier baked product. Can be toasted, used as chips, etc.

10

Acorn Flour

1 text file

Lee Peterson, Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Although a few white oaks have acorns sweet enough to be eaten raw or roasted, most oaks have extremely bitter acorns. Happily, the bitterness is due to an abundance of tannin which is readily soluble in water. Whole kernels, stripped of their shells and boiled in repeated changes of water until the water no longer turns brown, can be roasted and eaten as nuts or dipped in sugar syrup and eaten as candy. Dried and crushed acorns can be placed in porous bags and put through same boiling process to remove the tannin. They can then be redried, ground into meal, and used to make excellent breads and muffins. Rich in protein and fat. From: Neysa Dormish Date: 16 Jan 97 National Cooking Echo

11

Acorn Flour

The acorns are fisrt collected. We then take a hand crank coffee grinder and loosen it so that it does not produce a fine grind. We keep the grinder loose enough to just crack the acorn shells open. The Apache women then simply pick through the acorns while telling stories amongst each other and the younger girls. This is usually or traditionally considered womens work with in the community/tribe. This process is time consuming and usually you can hear the women talking and laughing in the camp as they pick through the acorn. After the acorns have been carefully picked, picked and repicked to remove any small shells, the small yellow acorns are then put back into the hand grinder and gound into flour. I love the smell of fresh ground acorn. It is best to store it in airtight containers like a cleaned glass jar. Because of the labor involved it is expensive when sold in the community. It is a prized food product that people will pay the high price for. I like the flavor for its initial sweet flavor followed by the sharp bitterness at end. It is great in Apache Acorn Stew. -Nephi Craig

12

Acorn Flour 2

Here is the process that I used. - shelled them by putting then in a pillow case and pounded then with a stick against a board and sorted the meat out. - ground them. It was the first that I used the grinder so they didn't grind evenly they went in to a 1/2 gallon jar full of water and I did water changes once or twice a day for 2 weeks. When I did the water changes I poured the liquid from the jar into another to make sure that I didn't lose any nut meat or flour. Any that did get in the second jar would settle out over night and get mixed back in. - put the 'slush' in a dehydrator to remove the liquid - today I am going to grind the meat finely - tomorrow we have pancakes with 50% wheat flour and 50% acorn flour!!!! things I will do differently next time. - shell them against a cement/concrete stone - chop instead of grind them before I soak them. I think they leech better with the smaller pieces but it was annoying having to be so careful that I didn't lose flour while pouring off the water. - gather more acorns!!!

13

Acorn Gathering & Preparation

There are various types of oak trees in the United States and Canada and the taste is varied as well. Some are more bitter, so it's a good idea to learn which trees produce the sweet acorns. This will save time boiling and reboiling to get rid of the tannin in them. White Oaks have the sweetest acorns and need little boiling to remove the bitter taste. Their leaves do not have the little sharp hairs on the ends of each leaf lobe like say, a Red Oak. Note that if your oak trees do not have many acorns, that all nut trees have bountiful years and lean years. Preparing acorns for use in recipes Boil acorns in a pot of water and snap off out coats. Boil again several times, until water stays clear. Then roast in a 200 degree oven until nutlike and brittle. You can eat them as a snack or put them through a coffee grinder and make acorn flour. from: ACORN PANCAKES, DANDELION SALAD AND 38 OTHER WILD RECIPES by Jean Craighead George and illustrated by Paul Mirocha See also: Nuts & Grains for recipes using Acorns

Northeren Nut Growers Association Northern Nut Growers Association Indigenous Plants to learn more about the plant itself. 14

From: 'Star' Subject: Acorns I am surprised to hear how many other tribes use acorns. I was born and raised on the San Carlos Apache reservation and haven't really had a chance to learn about other tribes. In the fall my people gather acorn. The acorn we gather is very small. They are about the size of a pinon nut. The way we prepare it is to dry it in the sun for several days then we grind it into course pieces. Then we put it in a large bowl and shake it into the wind. The wind blows away the shell and leaves the nut in the bowl. I know there is a name for this but it escapes me at the moment. The remaining nut is then ground into a fine powder. We use this powder to make acorn stew with corn and squash, acorn hash and acorn soup with dumplings. Acorn flour and starch can be purchased from any Korean market.

15

Acorn Information

To me the most interesting part of using acorns as food is that acorns were a crucial part of California's Native American diet and Koreans and Native Americans share the same preparations to make acorns edible. I know this only anecdotally so I may be wrong about the details but it's interesting to note that our ancestors were equally resourceful on this one way of surviving. To make the acorns edible, you'd have to peel and soak or soak and peel. I think soaking gets rid of some chemical that's poisonous. Tannin? Then you dry them and grind them to powder.

16

Acorn Meal

1 acorns 1 water

Make meal by grinding dry, raw acorn kernels (after shelling). Mix with boiling water and press out liquid through a cheesecloth. With very bitter acorns, repeat this process several times. Spread meal on a tray and thoroughly dry in oven at 250F. This meal will cake during the drying process. Regrind using a food chopper. Then, seal in containers, preferably glass jars. Note: All acorns contain tannic acid or tannin. This is what causes the bitter taste, the same as the soft brown lining in pecans that we have all tasted if we have cracked open pecans and eaten them raw. The white oak family has less tannin than the black oak family. THe white oak family acorns I have tried are White Oak, Burr Oak, and Club Oak. There are many varieties. White oaks have rounded leaves. Black oaks have pointed leaves. Squirrels go for white oak acorns first. They're not dumb. They don't like the tannin either. Black oak acorns will make you pucker up just like eating unripe persimmons. John Hartman Indianapolis, IN

17

Acorn Meal Or Flour

text

Gather acorns after they are ripe. Soak the acorns overnight, and the shells will split open. The shells can then be removed from the kernels.Spread the kernels (acorn nuts) out to dry. When the kernels are completely dry, they can be crushed with a stone mortar into meal or flour.After the acorn meal or flour is ground it should be leached to take out the bitterness. A frame can be made with cedar twigs overlapped tightly as shingles on a roof. Spread the acorn meal on this frame, then pour water through it repeatedly until the meal turns pink. The meal can then be dried and stored until used. You may also buy acorn flour and acorn starch in a Korean store

18

Acorn Milk

acorns

English colonist who describes how the Powhaten people of Va would pound acorns in a mortar with a little water to create a milk like liquid which was used in cooking

19

Acorn Notes

info acorn

As to acorns, they all can be eaten, but some require a lot of boiling and soaking to remove the tannins. You have to shell them and taste them as you go along. The ones that take the most treatment are rather bland tasting by the time they are edible. You can restore some flavor by toasting them in a low oven. Hope this helps, and I am curious what the list turns up for those two tribes. When I did my ethnic cookbook, I couldn't find enough recipes for either tribe to make the book (which has 22 other native groups), and couldn't assign the water crackers, since the Wind River reservation is both northern Cheyenne and Arapaho, with separate governments. -Mark H. Zanger author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for Students

20

Acorn Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers

1 T. unsalted butter 1 c. pinyon nuts 4 T. shelled acorns or unsalted pistachi; o nuts 6 T. chopped wild onions or leeks 9 c. rabbit stock or chicken stock 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1 1/2 qt. half and half snipped wild onions, mint sprigs an; d wild edible flowers for

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and saute the pinons, acorns and onions 4 minutes until the onions are translucent and the nuts golden brown. Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook until the mixture is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Add the half and half and reduce the mixture again by half to 6 cups. Remove from the heat and blend in a blender or food processor until the mixture is smooth. Push through a fine sieve; discard the contents of the sieve. Garnish with the mint, wild onions, and edible flowers and serve.

21

Acorn Substtutes

Acorns

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.

22

Acorn Tips

acorns

The pale faces seem to want to boil leach them, but the indians of my area and Koreans use cold water methods for a good reason. I find that cold water processing is better that boil leaching because on some acorns the meal thickens up 1 time when cooked. If you boil leach this happens during leaching not the cooking when you want it to happen. That is why the acorn brownie recipe on my web page has no eggs. If your acorns do not thicken up when cooked add eggs to the recipe to get good brownies that hold together. Now for some tips on gathering acorns (California black oak (Quercus kelloggii)) that might work with your species. 1 The first drop of acorns has most of the bugs and worms. Perhaps the tree rejects these acorns so they fall off early? 2 Most good fresh off the tree acorns sink if put in a bucket of water. Most buggy acorns float in a bucket of water. Well dried good acorns float too. 3 Most acorn bugs develop inside the acorn and burrow out. They do not get buggy normally from sitting around in a dry place. This does not mean that outside bugs do not like them though. 4 High tannin content seams to preserve the acorn from going rancid. I find that they keep for several years if kept dry. However they will go rancid. I have gotten them from building walls and most were still good after who knows 23

how long. But some were rancid so each acorn must be smelled for rancidity. Because of the preserving effect of the tannin most acorns were processed as needed or within a week or so of when they were needed. This was a daily process of many indian tribes. At rabbitstick this year we had a success at leaching acorns the cold water method based on the method described on my web page. A time or two we tried to process too much meal for the amount of water we used and the leaching was not finished. I have processed acorn meal in 1 day by this method by changing the water often. From: John Goude <john.Goude@verizon.Ne

24

Acorns

Acorns

Here's how i processed them (i started with about a half a plastic grocery sack). I'm not sure if this is 'the best' way to do it or not. I eventually found that if i heated up a small handful in a frypan they would shell much easier. It steamed them a bit inside and using a pair of nutcrackers the meat would come out pretty eaisily (squeeze it once on the cap end to break the shell then once on the oposite end to pop it out). It was important not to heat up more than i could shell before they got cold again. After they were all shelled i went with the boil and drain method. I think it was 4 times total that i boiled them before the the water was clear. After the last boil, they went into the food dehydrator over night. I had to watch them carefully so they would dry evenly. Once they were dry I went to grind them. I don't have a food processor and was not committed enough to do it by hand... first i tried the coffee grinder and that kept getting clogged. Then i used a blender and that worked ok but a had to run the meal through a strainer the keep grinding. It took a long time! I'll be investing in a food processor for the next batch. lol Once i got it all ground i spread it out on cookie sheets and finished drying it on very low heat in the oven. Total yeild was just over a quart. I was quite pleased with the end result and it has made an awsome addition to apple crisp!

25

I've never worked with acorn before so i'm not sure how it compares. I like it and so far nobody has gotten sick :-)

26

Acorns

Acorns

There are various types of oak trees in the United States and Canada and the taste is varied as well. Some are more bitter, so it's a good idea to learn which trees produce the sweet acorns. This will save time boiling and reboiling to get rid of the tannin in them. White Oaks have the sweetest acorns and need little boiling to remove the bitter taste. Their leaves do not have the little sharp hairs on the ends of each leaf lobe like say, a Red Oak. Note that if your oak trees do not have many acorns, that all nut trees have bountiful years and lean years. Preparing acorns Boil acorns in a pot of water and snap off out coats. Boil again several times, until water stays clear. Then roast in a 200 degree oven until nutlike and brittle. You can eat them as a snack or put them through a coffee grinder and make acorn flour.

27

Acorns A

text

Made flour from acorns for years but never boiled them. I always use the acorns from the white oak and soak them for three days. I change the water every day. Then I lay them on a screen to dry for sometimes two weeks or roast them in the oven (which has a distinct nutty odor). It always depends on how much time I have. I would think that boiling them would remove some of the flavor.

28

Acorns B

text

There are various types of oak trees in the United States and Canada and the taste is varied as well. Some are more bitter, so it's a good idea to learn which trees produce the sweet acorns. This will save time boiling and reboiling to get rid of the tannin in them. White Oaks have the sweetest acorns and need little boiling to remove the bitter taste. Their leaves do not have the little sharp hairs on the ends of each leaf lobe like say, a Red Oak. Note that if your oak trees do not have many acorns, that all nut trees have bountiful years and lean years. Preparing acorns Boil acorns in a pot of water and snap off out coats. Boil again several times, until water stays clear. Then roast in a 200 degree oven until nutlike and brittle. You can eat them as a snack or put them through a coffee grinder and make acorn flour.

29

Acorns, Acorns, Acorns

info

A food staple, delectable treats, and cute lil buggers, acorns have been processed on a wide scale in the Wintu area since sometime around 700 or 900 AD or so when climactic changes forced the shift of food sources from grasses to acorns, which of course along with this we see the introduction and increased use of specialized implements for processing this 'new' food source. Or so an ethnologist would say mano's to mortars. Oak Trees (Quercus) are found throughout north America but some species are unique to northern California climates such as the California Valley Oak , or California White Oak. Which produces very good acorns for all around Wintu food acorn preparation. ie. breads, and soup, or Yuit in wintu. Also unique to the California area are the Coast Live Oak and the Tan Oak, which actually falls in to genus Lithocarpus Densiflorus who's fruit more closely resemble that of chinquapin nut or chestnuts. Of which the tan oak are far preferred but rare in the wintu territory. Live oak acorns make fair yuit but are poor for traditional bread techniques. Various other oak species flourish across the rest of the country, but unfortunately am not knowledgeable about the techniques required to remove the otherwise bitter tannic acids from these eastern species (Northern red, scarlet, blackjack, pin oak). In the olden days there used to be hereditarily inherited rights to favorable acorn harvesting locations all around 30

our territory, sometimes adjacent to the village or miles away in a valley or on a slope neighboring another band or entire tribes territory. There along a prominent ridge or a conspicuous tree, sticks may be laid to mark areas reserved for the sole use of the owner of the marker. In times of famine the neighbors might come to perform the Sune' dance asking for contributions of acorns and other food stores which would be reciprocated or debt paid in aboriginal form. One such place used to be down the road from my house outside Redding, the people from cotton wood creek owned those acorns and that was about 12 miles away from the Rancheria at Reading's Spanish rancho. The highly specialized art of basketweaving and the collection and processing of these vegetable foods were a chief duty of the Wintu female. To prepare acorns collect first a gunny sack or so of whole unshelled acorns, from the branch, when ripe in late September or October. They used to be collected in the day by lots of wintu women. At the end of a long day of gathering acorns, grass, seeds, berries, hazel and pine nuts, they would come back into the village and empty all their burden baskets into granaries, large woven cradles sometimes 12-14 feet high and 4-5 feet across. I've seen others made from green (living) Buckbrush and bent to form a cradle as it grows about 6 feet across and 4 feet high. Like the buckeyes I usually collect about a 5 gallon bucket full. To prepare, hull the acorns, using the traditional method of cracking between the teeth. Sift on an open work basket to remove skin. Pound out to fine and / or coarse meal. And leech out. Again the key to this method is to find a suitable spot along a fresh water creek with an appropriate type of sand. The sand is pushed up to form a dish and the meal placed in the 'dish' and water poured over repeatedly, repeatedly leech with water for one day. You can try using a cloth to separate the sand and meal. 31

Remove meal, coarse and fine meal will be completed separately, fine meal can be made into yuit (soup) by adding to a large acorn basket and introducing small preheated stones and stirring to avoid scarring the basket. Don't forget your plied willow stone fork for handling the red hot cooking stones. Usually stirred with a nice oak paddle. Once the acorns are warm they can be set to cool. Once cool it is ready to serve in individual serving baskets. The coarser meal can be made into coarse yuit or into bread, add pinch of red clay soil (iron oxide) and mix with water to doughy consistency. Preheat stone oven made over a ground fire, or cook evenly over coals. Flipped, comes out a scorched consistency on surface. Cool, slice, (some ppl salt), serve along with deer or salmon, but always remember don't put the puufiich in the aama basket, because you won't get anymore.

32

California Acorns

info

We usually gather the acorns up in the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains in fall. Store them in a dry place for a few months or till the next year and then crack, shell, remove skin and grind into flour. We prefer Black Oaks and have to leach the ground flour out with warm water. Then you can make it into a porridge, weewish (thick enough to cut into squares and stands like Jell-O), dumplings or use in bread or muffin recipes. For the mesquite I have a friend who gathers it down in the Coachella Valley area and she grinds the dry yellow bean pods in a blender. I have bought the ground flour from Native seed search in Tucson, AZ. When I couldn't get it here. To make our traditional bread you just add water to the flour, kneed it into dough, pat it out into small cakes, sun dry and there you go. It is honey mesquite and it is like a dried candy treat.

33

Chris Nyerge's Acorn Recipes

1 soup or mush

Southern California Indians commonly used the leached and ground acorns as a base for soup or mush. To use as a soup base, mix approximately two cups of the meal with 8 cups of water. Add diced onions, potatoes, carrots, wild greens, and seasonings to suit your taste. To use as a breakfast mush, add milk and/or water to the acorn meal to your desired thickness. Serve with whatever you'd add to oatmeal: such things as raisins, sliced fruit,honey, butter, and cream. MEAL CAKES Acorns are ground, sieved, and pressed (all while still "wet"). You must dry it well, and it will last one year. Reconstitute when ready to use. Use as needed. Pie crusts can be 1/3 meal cake. Can toast, and use as regular meal for nuttier flavor. SLIVER These are leached, and then ground with a special blade (a la salad shooter) which results in thin slivers. Use in pie, on toast, and as you'd use toasted coconut on top of foods. Gives a nutty flavor. Use where you don't want or need body. Can use with cheese balls. Ideally, toast before using. FLAKE These are sliced thin (when wet) with a slicing blade. Somewhat resembles small potato chips when dry. Used 34

for casseroles, "meat loaf," and any type of heavier baked product. Can be toasted, used as chips, etc. SHRED Made with a larger blade, results in thin shreds. Can season with chili powder, soy sauce, etc. Used as fried things. Add oil to skillet, add onions, meat, vegetables, etc. Like pilaf. Can use in cheese balls. From: "Linda Roberts" <lrobe684@bellsou

35

Collecting And Storing Acorns And Meal

acorns acorn meal acorn flour

Acorns will generally be at least somewhat green when picked from trees, but they normally turn brown in storage. Not every acorn is sound. Several different insects, including filbert weevils and the filbert worm lay their eggs on the cap end of developing acorns. When the eggs hatch, the larvae begin to feed on the inside of the developing acorn. Larvae reach maturity at about the same time as the acorns do. When mature, weevils and worms bore their way out of the acorn. Exit holes made by the larvae are about the size of a pencil lead. Most acorns that have these small open exit holes have a lot of internal damage and should be discarded. Not all eggs develop into larvae, so acorns with closed pimple-like marks, may be perfectly sound. Acorns that are shriveled, lightweight, or cracked have often dried out excessively, and these should be discarded. Insect and weevil damage can be minimized in the second year of harvesting by raking up and removing all old windfalls. Collection of Acorns Acorns are ready when the caps are removed easily without damage to the acorns. Usually when acorns start dropping to the ground, most of the acorns remaining on the tree are ripe. Acorns may be picked directly from the 36

tree when they are ripe. The freshest nuts are collected this way. Nuts may also be gathered from the ground if they haven't been there too long. Choose the acorns that are green or dark brown. Light brown color usually indicates that the acorns have been on the ground longer and are more likely to have become dehydrated. Select the largest acorns, and avoid those with obvious cracks, holes, or damage from rodents or worms, and those that feel unusually light or hollow. A blue-gray mold also damages fallen seed. Acorns covered for about 2 months by wet leaves show mold at the blunt ends that gets well within the nuts. Gather only freshly fallen acorns to avoid the mold. Storage of Raw Acorns The primary goal of storage is to reduce the metabolic activity (i.e. keep the seed dormant). The acorn is perishable, and the other goals of storage are to prevent the acorns from drying out or becoming moldy Do not wash or soak acorns before storage, as the water and room temperature will start the germination process. Freshly harvested acorns should be stored at 33-41F as soon as possible. A home refrigerator is adequate. The easiest way to store acorns is in 1-gallon zip-lock-type plastic bags. Fill them only half full with acorns. Add a handful of dry peat moss. Peat moss is slightly acidic, which inhibits bacterial growth, and it absorbs excess moisture given off by the acorns, which helps prevent mold growth. Do not seal the bags. Leave them completely open, and lay them on their sides to allow air circulation so the acorns do not become moldy. 37

Some external mold growth on stored acorns can occur, but is generally not a cause for concern. However, if acorns are oddly discolored and feel soft when squeezed, they may be decayed. You can check a few acorns by cutting them open. The inside (the "meat") of a healthy acorn is whitish or yellowish. Decayed acorns will be dark brown or sometimes nearly black internally. Acorn Meal and Flour Leaching can be effectively accomplished by cold water. Crack and shell the acorns, then grind them into a coarse meal. Place the meal in a cloth sack or tightly woven, lidded basket and anchor the sack or basket in a clean flowing stream. Every several hours, taste the meal and when the bitterness and astringency are gone the leaching is complete. The meal is then spread out into flat, broad baskets and stirred frequently until sun-dried. To assure dryness for storage of the flour, it is best to then parch the meal on a flat rock over fire, or in a cast iron skillet. When doing this, a light roasting of the meal imparts a fine, nutty flavor to the finished flour. The leached, dried, parched meal can be used at this point, or ground once more into a fine flour. Dry storage for the flour is essential. Acorn flour can easily become moldy with the right combination of moist conditions and a few warm winter days. When going into the storage container, smell the flour before using. If a musty smell has developed, discard the flour. Acorns can serve as a host for the aflatoxin mold, as can peanuts, rye and other grains; most frequently, aflatoxin poisoning comes from the mold aspergillus flavus. Acorn flour often lasts into February or March before "going off," when stored at room temperature on the kitchen shelf in a ceramic container. Freezing prolongs the shelf life; but the 38

flour loses the richness of its flavor 8-10 months after freezing.

39

Harvest And Eat The Acorns

question: do you know of any recipe; s using acorns?

The reason I ask this: When I was a child, my grandfather had me pick up a small bucketful of acorns from under our pin oak tree. A day or two later, he asked me to come over to his house and he fed me acorns. The only problem I have is he never told anyone how in the world he prepared them. Here is some information about eating acorns or rather acorn meal. The tannins have to be removed to avoid the bitterness. I don't know what your grandfather might have done to remove the tannins in whole acorns unless the type of acorn had less tannins to begin with and could have been removed by soaking the whole acorn.

40

Harvesting The Wild: Acorns

Information

When I was just a little girl, I used to collect acorns by the boxfull as they fell in the fall. I didnt know why. They just felt nice in the hand and somehow a big bunch of them felt satisfying. Could that be because somewhere in my ancestors time, acorns were a very important food? Native Americans all across oak-growing North and South America harvested acorns, which were nearly as important a food as corn or beans. Such tribes as the Cherokee, Apache, Pima, and Ojibwa routinely harvested and used the acorn. These Indian gatherers taught early settlers how to harvest and use acorns in their cooking, as they did corn and other traditional foods. Even today, many Indians gather acorns, both to use themselves and to sell in Mexican markets.

And those bright, shining round acorns are very good for you, besides tasting great. Health benefits of acorns

Acorns have been tested and found to be possibly the best food for effectively controlling blood sugar levels. They have a low sugar content, but leave a sweetish aftertaste, making them very good in stews, as well as in breads of all types. Ground, leached acorn meal, ready to dry. The bitterness is gone.

41

They are rich in complex carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins while they are lower in fat than most other nuts. They are also a good source of fiber.

An additional benefit from eating acorns is in the gathering. Acorns, although they fall from trees, must be picked and processed before eating, which requires a walk, then bending and picking up. All of these are good exercise. In fact, that is why many primitive foods are so healthy. They require exercise just to put them on the table, not just a short trip to the convenience store or fast food joint. But acorns taste bitter!

One of the first things I learned as a little girl harvesting acorns was that they tasted awful. Unfortunately, many acorns do taste bitter. This is because they contain tannin, a bitter substance in oaks which is used to tan leather. Real pucker power here. Some varieties of acorns contain more tannin than others. They range from the Emory oak of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, which is so mild it can be used without processing, to some black oaks with very bitter acorns, requiring lengthy processing to render edible.

Generally, the best acorns to harvest are those of the white oaks, such as the swamp oak, Oregon white oak, and burr oak, as they contain less bitter tannin. Luckily, nearly all acorns can be made usable with natural processing which renders them nutty and sweet. From the mighty oak

Acorns are one grain that literally grows on trees. Even a small oak tree can produce a bushel or more of tasty, nutritious acorns. And that grandaddy oak out in the 42

pasture could produce nearly a thousand pounds. Now that is a lot of eating from a small area.

There are now several varieties of grafted oak trees, which bear nearly double the harvest of wild trees. These trees are available for purchase from specialty nursery companies. Nice fat, ripe acorns, ready to be used for acorn meal or flour

Not only are acorns great food for us, but for many birds and animals as well. Any deer hunter can tell you that one of the best spots to ambush a wily buck is on a trail to a big oak tree. Deer and wild turkeys harvest these nutritious acorns to fatten up for winter.

Early settlers must have noticed this, as they soon began to turn their hogs out into the oak woods to fatten on the bounty of acorns. I accidently had this happen to two of my own pigs. I had a litter of weaner pigs, six in number in an outside pen. While we were in town, a stray dog came by and had great fun, chasing the little porkers around the pen. None were injured, but two of them vaulted the pen wall next to the shed and took off for the woods as fast as their little legs would run.

We hunted, called, and scoured the woods for days. Weeks. No piggies. By then, we figured a black bear, which were numerous in our woods, had a midnight snack of pork on the hoof.

43

Then one November, I was riding my horse down one of the wooded trails through huge old oaks, when I noticed turned-up fresh soil. Bear? Nope, my bear had left pig tracks. I tied my horse and scouted further, discovering seemingly acres of ground dug up underneath those bounteous oak trees. My lost piggies were found. But those tracks looked pretty big.

To make a long story short, we corralled those errant porkers and hauled them home. On putting them in the pen next to their brothers and sisters, we were shocked. Out in the woods, they really looked big, but now they looked huge. They were a third again as big. On butchering, the woods raised hogs weighed 290 pounds, while the grain fed hogs barely made 200 dressed. So much for modern feeding. Of course the pigs had access to roots, grasses, insects, and more. But I credit much of their hearty size to those fat acorns they were gorging themselves upon.

As acorns hold a long time under the tree, the hogs were feasting on last years crop all summer, then the fresh crop come fall. Not a bad natural feed. Harvesting

First of all, youll have to check out your local oaks during the spring when the leaves and underbrush are not as dense. Get a little pocket tree book and try to identify the oaks you find. In many areas, there are several varieties of oaks available to the acorn harvester. Some are quite mild and sweet and others pretty darned bitter. If you have a choice, try to find a variety with mild meat and only a little initial tang of tannin. My son, Bill Spauldings hunting shack sits right in the middle of white oaks, which produce grain from trees, as 44

some Indian tribes refer to acorns, and also lure big deer, which come to feed on sweet, fat acorns.

You may have to simply nibble and check, come fall. Different varieties of oak have different shaped acorns. Crack a nice fat acorn with no worm hole. Examine the meat. It should be yellowish, not black and dusty (insects). Now, simply nibble and chew up a part of the nut. If it is very bitter, spit it out and try another kind of acorn. When you find a grove of relatively mild acorns, note this for next year and harvest away.

As the understory is usually very thin below a decent sized oak tree, the acorns are quite easy to pick up. Depending on the variety of oak, your acorns will drop between late September and October, more or less, depending on your climate zone. The best way Ive found to pick up acorns is to simply pick a nice dry, sunny day as soon as the acorns begin to drop and take baskets and sacks to the woods and sit down and pick them up. If you wait too long, the handy dandy squirrels and other wild critters will beat you to them, leaving only the worm-riddled hulls behind. Processing

The term processing brings to mind machines and chemical additives. With acorns, processing simply means making them ready to eat.

When I get home with my bounteous haul, I spread them out a layer thick on an old sheet which I have laid on a roof, corner of the yard, or some other out-of-the-way dry, sunny place. This lets them sun dry and prevents any possible molding before I get them shelled. It will also kill 45

any insect eggs or larvae, which might be inside. If you cannot lay the acorns out in the sun, spread them in a single layer on cookie sheets in a very slow oven for an hour.

Some acorns, such as those of the Emory oak, require no more processing than cracking them open and eating them. Like most nuts, acorns of all types benefit from toasting on a cookie sheet in an oven at 175 F. Stir to prevent scorching.

However, most acorns do contain enough tannin to make leaching this bitter substance out necessary. To do this, simply sit down and crack a big bowlful of acorns, carefully examining each nut for black holes, which indicates a worm is inside rather than a wholesome plump yellowish-beige nut. Acorns are very easy to crack. The shell is pliable and quite thin. Pop the cap off, then simply grasp it with a pair of pliers and give a squeeze. Dont mash the kernel. Simply crack the shell. Then peel it off and toss the kernel into a bowl.

When all are done, get out your food grinder. Put a fine knife on the grinder and run the shelled acorns through it. This makes a coarse meal. Place this in a large crock or glass bowl. Then add boiling water to cover and let stand an hour. Drain and throw away the brownish, unappetizing water. Repeat. Then taste the meal. It should have a bit of a bitter tang, then taste sweet as you chew a piece. Continue leaching out the tannin as long as necessary.

When the acorn meal is mild tasting, it is ready to dry. I usually lay out a piece of old white sheet in a basket and 46

pour the wet meal on it. Then, gathering up the edges, jelly bag style, I press and squeeze, getting out as much of the water (and tannin) as possible. Author grinding shelled acorns in a hand grinder

One caution?dont let wet acorn meal lie about for hours, or it will surely mold. Keep at the leaching process.

Spread the damp meal out in a shallow layer on a cookie sheet or on sheets of your dehydrator. Then begin to dry it. In the oven, you only need the pilot light or the very lowest oven setting. As it begins to dry, take your hands and very carefully crumble any chunks which hold moisture. Slowly your meal will begin to look quite good.

When the meal is completely dry, run it through a fine setting on your grain mill. The traditional method was to use a stone (mano in the southwest) hand grinder to crush the meal on a large, flat stone (metate). It is now ready for use in your recipes. If you produced more meal than you need right now, you can store the meal in the freezer or refrigerator in an airtight bag or jar. The dry, ground meal will last a week or so, stored in an airtight jar on the shelf. But, because of the oil, the meal will begin to go rancid, as will whole wheat flour and homeground cornmeal.

You can also grind your meal in a food processor or blender a little at a time. I smile, thinking of the vast difference between grinding acorns between stones and using a food mill. What would our ancestors think? Using acorn meal 47

Some Native Peoples called acorns grain from the tree, indicating the use they had for it as a grain in cakes, breads, and thickening for stews and soups. Today folks use cream of this and that soups for the same thing.

I think processed acorns taste like a cross between hazelnuts and sunflower seeds, and I often include acorn meal in my multi-grain bread recipes. Adding half a cup of acorn meal to a two-loaf bread recipe and reducing the flour, as needed, works quite well. Because the acorn meal is a natural sweetener, I only use a bit of honey to feed the yeast while softening it, relying on the acorn meal to give sweetness to the bread. No complaints yet.

As acorn meal is very dense, you will have to take care to get your bread to rise when adding it. One way to ensure this is to use hot liquid and beat in your flour, making a batter. Then cool so you can add the yeast and the rest of the ingredients. This helps release wheat gluten to let the bread rise, despite heavy ingredients. Indian bread was always very dense and heavy, as there was seldom, if ever, wheat or yeast added to the recipe. It takes wheat gluten, as well as yeast, to make bread rise properly. Indian breads were often small, thin cakes baked before the fire on large, reflecting rocks. They were not puffy, large loaves as we are accustomed to today.

48

How To Use Acorn Meal

recipe the possibilities are almost endles; s! add acorn masa to mush acorn masa for cornmeal. or use the; pulp to replace part of be sure to cut down a bit on the li; quid and shorten the reci mildly flavor and makes breads and; cakes richer, moister, br of the acorn-masa delicacies descri; bed and see for yourself

49

How To Use Acorns For Food And Bread

Information

There are many species of oak trees. Oak trees are found throughout. They prefer open woods and bottom land. Normally, they are divided into two major groups: Red Oak - The red oaks have deeply scalloped leaves with very pointed tips. The acorns from the red oak are very bitter. The acorns require two growing seasons to mature, have a hairy lining on the inside of the shell, and the nutmeats are yellow in color. Red oaks are also members of the black oak family. (Photo: Oak Trees - Quercus spp. Provide Acorns Rich in Protein and Oils) White Oak - The white oak also has leaves with deep scallops, but the tips are rounded. The acorns of the white oak are less bitter than those of the red oak, and they require only one growing season. The inner portion of the white oak acorn shell is smooth, and the nutmeat is white in color. The chestnut oak is considered part of the white oak classification. NUTS: The nuts are gathered during the fall from September to October. When processed properly, acorns have a pleasant nutty flavor. Acorns are an excellent source of energy, protein, carbohydrate, and calcium. When collecting acorns, one should not be surprised that many of them must be discarded due to insects or mold, so more should be collected than are needed. If you spread a sheet 50

of plastic under the tree and use only those acorns that fall within a one-day period, this seems to reduce bug infestation, an especially important problem for acorns that are to be stored in their shell. The ripe tan-to-brown acorns, rather than the unripe green ones, should be gathered. The bitterness in acorns is caused by tannic acid which is water soluble. To remove this unpleasant taste, shell the brown, ripe acorns and remove any corky skin layers, dice the meat; and boil the chunks in water from 15 to 30 minutes until the water turns brown. Then pour off the water and repeat the process until the water clears, indicating that the tannic acid has been removed. Periodically taste a bit of the acorns until you no longer detect any bitterness. (Native Americans would let the crushed acorn meat soak in a fastmoving, clean stream for several weeks to remove the bitterness.) During the last boiling, salt water can be added; then the acorns can be deep fried or mixed in a soup. Also, finely chopped acorn meats can be added to bread and muffins, or the soft acorn nut can be added as a protein booster to cooked greens. After the leaching process, acorn meat can be frozen. To make flour, the boiled acorn meat can be split in two and dried by slowly baking in a 200 degree oven with the door cracked to allow moisture to escape. Or, they can be dried in the sun. They are then crushed or ground and used as a thickener or as flour. Another method is to roast the fresh acorns to work well in a grinder or blender. After grinding, the course flour is placed into a cloth bag and boiled to leach out the tannic acid. Acorn flour can be used alone to make an acorn bread, but it is not very pleasing to most tastes. Acorn flour is more palatable when mixed with wheat flour or corn meal-one part acorn meal mixed with four parts corn meal for corn bread, or one to four parts wheat for bread. The acorn meal can also be heated in water to make a nutritious mush. Or add enough water to make a thick batter. Add a dash of salt and sweetener to improve the taste. Allow the batter to stand for an hour (or until thick) then pat into 51

pancakes and cook or twist and bake on an open fire. The leached acorns, after they are roasted until brittle, can be ground and used as a marginal coffee substitute. In their shell, the dried acorns will store for a time. Some Native Americans stored acorns for several years in bags buried in boggy areas. CAUTION: In the identification and use of wild edibles as a food and herbal healing source, care and attention to details should be exercised, as some plants are toxic. Always use several field guides to insure proper identification. Better yet, you should be trained by and expert. The above informatio

52

Preparation Of Ground Acorn Meal

Information

1. Pick up several cupfuls of acorns. All kinds of oaks have edible acorns. Some have more tannin than others, but leaching will remove the tannin from all of them. 2. Shell the acorns with a nutcracker, a hammer, or a rock. 3. Grind them. If you are in the woods, smash them, a few at a time on a hard boulder with a smaller stone, Indian style. Do this until all the acorns are ground into a crumbly paste. If you are at home, it's faster and easier to use your mom's blender. Put the shelled acorns in the blender, fill it up with water, and grind at high speed for a minute or two. You will get a thick, cream-colored goo. It looks yummy, but tastes terrible. 4. Leach (wash) them. Line a big sieve with a dish towel and pour in the ground acorns. Hold the sieve under a faucet and slowly pour water through, stirring with one hand, for about five minutes. A lot of creamy stuff will come out. This is the tannin. When the water runs clear, stop and taste a little. When the meal is not bitter, you have washed it enough. Or, in camp, tie the meal up in a towel and swish it in several bucketfuls of clean drinking water, until it passes the taste test. 5. Squeeze out as much water as you can, with your hands. 6. Use the ground acorn mash right away, because it turns dark when it is left around. Or store in plastic for freezing if you want to make the pancakes later.

53

Processing Acorns

Acorns

After removing caps and shells, acorns can be eaten raw or roasted. To roast, nuts should be baked at 250B0 to 300B0F for 1 hour. For more bitter acorns, boil kernels whole for 15 minutes and pour off water. The discarded water will be brown with tannin. Add fresh water, boil another 15 minutes, and continue this process until the water is only slightly tinted. Once tannin is removed, roast nuts as described above. From: "Manyfeathers1" <manyfeathers1@yadate: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:07:16 -0000

54

Turning Acorns Into Meal

Information

The process of turning acorns into meal starts by going out into the oak groves in the fall and harvesting the acorns. Turning the acorns into meal is not easy. It often takes the entire village to find and gather them. Adding to the problem is the fact that oak trees produce good harvest every four or five years. Once the Chumash find a sufficient amount of acorns, they crack them one at a time to check for worms using a hammer stone. This same tool is used to grind the acorns once they have been removed from their shell. Then, when it is fine enough, they sift it through a basket and remove any unrefined pieces. They then lay leaves down on hot sand and spread the acorn meal all over the leaves. Water was boiled using hot rocks and poured on top of the acorn meal. They do this to get rid of the tannic acid which can cause stomach problems. A bitter taste to the acorn meal indicates that there is still some tannic acid left, and that it must be removed. The rinse water is a milky white color until all the tannic acid has rinsed off. The water will run clear when it is thoroughly cleaned. This is known as the leaching process. The Chumash allow the meal to dry in the sun for a while and the process ends by placing the acorn meal into tightly woven baskets and storing it in huts for the winter. A healthy gruel, or oatmeal type food, was made from the ground acorn meal. It could also be made into flat cakes and cooked on a steatite comal over a fire.

55

The whole village would be involved in gathering the acorns during the fall season. Granaries were used to store unshelled acorns until it was time to grind them. Coastal Live Oaks could drop as many as several hundred pounds of acorn nuts. The age of manos and pestles that are found today help date the site of grinding activity. Manos were used as long ago as 3000 years. The pestle shape evolved about 1500 years ago. Often, large groups of manos or pestles are found near grinding sites. It is thought that this was because they were too heavy to carry back to the village. Grinding sites were usually conveniently located near running water to assist in the leaching process. Each woman maintained her own work site even though there was no ownership of the land. This healthy flour formed the base of nutrition in the Santa Susanna area. The Chumash and Gabrielino did not farm, but gathered and hunted fresh food to accompany their acorn based diet.

56

Appetizers

57

Acorn Crunchies

After your acorns are leached, you can bread them using cornmeal, and whole wheat flour. Bake lightly, (until crunchy). You can get creative with this by adding spices, butter, seasoning salt, etc. Make sure you keep stirring this, and dont bake too long. Oven temperature 325.

58

Acorn Shred

acorns

Made with a larger blade, results in thin shreds. Can season with chili powder, soy sauce, etc. Used as fried things. Add oil to skillet, add onions, meat, vegetables, etc. Like pilaf. Can use in cheese balls.

59

Acorn Slivers

Acorn are leached, and then ground with a special blade (a la salad shooter) which results in thin slivers. Use in pie, on toast, and as you'd use toasted coconut on top of foods. Gives a nutty flavor. Use where you don't want or need body. Can use with cheese balls. Ideally, toast before using.

60

Breads

61

Acorn Baking

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. Used for a children's class in California Indian Culture which I do periodically.

62

Acorn Bread

2 cups of milk 2 tablespoons oil or butter 2 teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons dry yeast 4 2/3 cups acorn flour (see below) 1/3 cup honey 1/3 cup luke-warm water

To make Acorn flour: Use white, burr, or chestnut acorns collected in the fall when ripe. Remove shells Boil acorns for two - two and a half hours, changing the water each time it turns brown. Remove from water and layer on a sheet pan and roast for one hour then chop finely and grind in a flour grinder or processor. Dry again in oven for one half hour then put through the grinder again at least twice more until very smooth. Scald the milk then stir in oil or butter, honey, and salt. Pour into a large bowl and let cool to luke-warm. Dissolve yeast in warm water then add to mixture and gradually stir in the acorn flour. Cover bowl and let rise for two hours in a warm place, then knead for ten minutes and roll out like a thick pastery. Roll the dough like a jelly roll and shape into two loves. Place in buttered bread pans, cover and let rise for two hours. Bake for forty minutes at 375 degrees then remove and brush with melted butter. Serve warm.

63

Acorn Bread

1 cup acorn flour 1 cup whole wheat flour or 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup carob flour or 2 cup acorn flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp Salt 3 tbl honey 1 pc egg 1 cup milk 3 tbl oil

Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45 minutes at 300 degrees F.

64

Acorn Bread

1 cup acorn meal 1 cup flour 2 tablespoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons sugar 1 egg, beaten or egg substitute 1 cup milk (i use soy or rice milkworks; fine) 3 tablespoons oil

Very tasty, with a distinctive texture. Great for Thanksgiving! American colonists in the Northeast used all available food sources- acorn bread is an adaptation of a Native American recipe which was somewhat common in the late 17th century until the mid 19th among the poorer working classes. 1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. 2. Grease a loaf pan. 3. Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. 4. In a separate bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil. 5. Combine dry and liquid ingredients. 6. Stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. 7. Batter will be a bit lumpy. 8. Pour into a greased pan, bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. 9. Acorns are very easy to use, similar to chestnuts. 10. First examine the acorns as you pick/gather them. 11. Throw away any that are wormy/moldy/cracked/etc. 12. Next, shell them. 13. Early in the season (August-September) the shell is usually soft enough to cut through. 14. Later in the season acorns may require a nut cracker, though many times the shells are rather thin and brittle. 15. Taste the raw acornsif they are bitter, they need to be boiled. 16. Tannic acid causes the bitterness, and is easily leached out by boiling the acorns in successive pots of water. 17. When the water no longer turns brown (looks a lot like tea), the acorns are ready. 18. The next step is to roast the acorns slightly. 19. Use a warm oven, no more than 250 degrees. 20. Acorns that have not been boiled will take 60 minutes or so, boiled 65

acorns will take longer. 21. Once they're roasted, the acorns can be used in place of nuts in most recipes, although they are less oily than most nuts. 22. They can be glazed like chestnuts, simmered in a soup, ground and used as a flour extender.

66

Acorn Bread

1 cup acorn flour 1 cup flour 2 tbl baking potato 1/2 tsp Salt 3 tbl sugar 1 pc egg 1 cup milk 3 tbl oil

Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes. Native Indian Wild Game, Fish and Wild Foods Cookbook Fox Chapel Publishing Co. 1992 From: Bobby Queen Date: 08 Sep 99

67

Acorn Bread

3 tbs. cornmeal 1/4 cup cold water 1/2 cup boiling water 1/2 tso salt 2 tsps. butter 1/2 pkg active dry yeast (1 1/8 tsp.) 1/4 cup warm water 1/4 cup potato starch 1 c all-purpose unbleached flour 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour 1/2 cup acorn starch 1 tsp. sugar 3 tbs. water (about) to hold dough togethe

Mix cornmeal with cold water; add boiling water and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add salt 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 dough and form into loaf; place in bread pan (9 5/8 x 5 x 2 ), cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Adapted from http://www.siouxme.com/acorn.html

68

Acorn Bread

1 cup cup acorn flour 1 cup whole wheat flour (or 3/4 cup wheat; and 1/4 cup carob flour or just use a total of 2 cups acorn; flour 3 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons honey 1 egg 1 cup raw milk 3 tablespoons oil

Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45 minutes at 300 degrees F.

69

Acorn Bread

1 c acorn meal 1 c flour 2 T baking powder 1/2 ts salt 3 T sugar 1 egg, beaten 1 c milk 3 T oil

Sift together acorn meal, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and then mix egg, milk and oil and add to dry ingreadients and pan up.

70

Acorn Bread

1 cup acorn meal 1 cup flour 2 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon sugar 1 egg, beaten 1 cup milk 3 tablespoon oil

Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes.

71

Acorn Bread

2 cups flour 2 eggs, beaten 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp ginger 1 cup honey 2 cups milk 2 tsp salt 1 cup chopped acorns margarine 2 tsp baking soda

Grease two loaf pans with margarine. Mix together all dry ingredients, thoroughly. Beat eggs, gradually adding milk. Add egg mixture alternately with honey to dry ingredients. Beat well. Stir in acorns and pour evenly into loaf pans. Bake in cardboard oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden. If bread is done, it will come out of pan easily when pan is turned over and tapped gently. If not, bake for another 10-15 minutes. Remove bread from pan immediately when done and cool. This spicy bread always tastes better the second day when its .flavors have had a chance to mellow and blend.

72

Acorn Bread

The Indians mixed the acorn meal or flour with meat soup or water to make a stiff dough. Salt was added to the dough. The acorn dough was made into round loaves , wrapped in fern leaves, and placed in ashes for slow heat cooking that turned the bread black. Another method was to place the thick dough on a two forked stick and cook quickly over hot coals. If baking powder was available, the acorn meal was mixed with baking powder, salt, and water. This dough was either baked or fried in a pan. While not 'traditional' recipes these are still very good. Sent to us be SkyWarrior's Blood-Sister Lori.

73

Acorn Bread (Modern)

6 T. cornmeal 1/2 c. cold water 1 c. boiling water 1 tsp. salt 1 T. butter 1 pkg. active dry yeast 1/4 c. lukewarm water 1 c. mashed potatoes 2 c. all-purpose flour 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.

74

Acorn Bread 3

1-2/3 cup warm water 1/4 cup honey 1/4 tsp. salt 2 pkgs. dry baking yeast 2 tbs. whole wheat flour 1 cup acorns

Stir to melt honey, then cover and set in a warm place about 10 minutes until foamy. After yeast gets foamy and starts to grow add 4 cups whole wheat flour 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 cup leached & drained uncooked acorns*. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Fill two standard bread pans and bake at 350 for 30 minutes

75

Acorn Bread 33

1 cup (packed) acorn mush 1 cup plain white flour 1.5 tsp baking powder 1/6 cup maple syrup (real stuff, not the fl; avoured crap) 1/2 an egg (whisked gently, so you *can* h; alve it) 1/4 cup milk 1.5 tsp vegetable oil

The acorns can allegedly now be used as tasty snacks. I didn't see that happening, so I drained them as best I could and popped them in the food processor till I had a smooth acorn mush. From here, you can dry the paste out (so I'm told) and store the acorn flour, or use it immediately. I did the latter, and modified a recipe I found here to make sweet acorn bread in muffin sizes. Here's my shot at it: Combine the acorn mush, flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine - crumb if necessary to get a homogenous mixture. Create a well in the mixture, and add the maple syrup, egg, milk and vegetable oil. Combine gently. Spoon into lightly greased muffin trays and cook for 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Test by inserting a wooden skewer - if it comes out clean: they're done. Throughout the whole lengthy process I couldn't believe that the end result would be worth all the hassle. In fact, it is. The bread is slightly sweet with bitter hints, and the odd sweet aftertaste is natural to the acorns. It's dark and textured, but very light, and has serious snob value for 76

dinner parties. Despite its subtle sweetness, I hope to serve it with a meat dish someday, or perhaps a warming autumn soup.

77

Acorn Bread 5

4 cups whole wheat flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 cups leached & drained acorns* 1-2/3 cups milk to make a soft dough

Notice theres no sweetener in this. It doesnt need it. This recipe makes a beautifully colored brown bread. It is so good, I just eat it plain. It is a good bread with cheese, jelly or jam. It is soft and moist. Be creative with this bread. Slice it. Top it with salsa and cheese and melt it. This is a good meal served with fresh vegetables and a salad. Acorns mixed with flour make a wonderful bread. It is even better the next day. Refrigerate it then slice it real thin and toast in the oven. My adult son said it was awesome that way. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. Add acorns, milk, oil and mix well. Dough should be stiff but not dry. Bake at 325 for 25 or more minutes, (until done)

78

Acorn Bread Apache

1 cup acorn meal (from 2-4 cups acorns) 1/2 cup cornmeal 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 3 tablespoons salad oil 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 cup honey 1 egg 1 cup milk

Equipment: 8 by 8-inch brownie pan, food processor or blender, wire cake tester or toothpick. 1. Shell acorns with a nut-cracker and nut pick, discarding any with worms. 2. Chop nuts to a coarse meal in food processor. 3. Soak nuts in boiling water 30 minutes. Drain water, which will be reddish-brown. 4. Taste a little bit of the meal. If it is still bitter and astringent, repeat Step Three. 5. When nuts lose their bitter taste, spread meal out on a baking sheet and put it into a 300 degree oven, so that the meal dries out and toasts slightly, being careful not to let the meal burn. (you can skip this step, but it adds flavor.) 6. Measure one cup meal and combine with cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder. 7. Combine honey, beaten egg, and milk. 8. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and mix just until all dry ingredients are moistened. 9. Grease the 8 x 8 pan, and pour in the batter. Level off with a spatula if necessary. 10. Pour into greased 8 X 8 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. 11. Test for doneness with a wire cake tester or toothpick. Serve cut into squares.

79

Acorn Bread With Cattail Flour

2 cups acorn flour 2 cups cattail or white flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/3 cup maple syrup or sugar 1 egg 1/2 cup milk 3 tablespoons olive oil bake in pan for 30 minutes or until; done at 400 degrees

Using the ingredients given above will produce a sweet, moist, nutty bread. The ingredients can be varied to produce different types of bread or muffins or pancakes, etc. Acorn bread is highly nutritious. It has an energy giving combination of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. John Muir called dry acorn cakes 'the most compact and strength giving food' he had ever used. I use maple syrup from the trees in my woods instead of sugar. Not only do I enjoy the wild beauty and fiery colors of the maples and oaks that surround my farm, but I also savor the sweet acorn bread made from their nuts and sap. What better way is there to get to know the trees than to live under them and eat from their bounty? * 50% or less Acorn flour (if you use more than 50%, bread will be too crumbly) * 50% or more wheat (preferably whole wheat) flour * a bit of fat (olive oil, bear grease, butter, or whatever you have) * 1 teaspoon of baking powder for each cup of flour

80

Acorn Pan-Bread

1/2 cup acorn flour 1/2 cup corn meal 1 pcs eggs 1 pinch chili powder 1 tbl green onion; chopped 2 tsp Baking Powder

Acorn flour and cornmeal mixed 50:50, egg, and flavoured with a little chilli and spring onion. Cooked in small cast iron skillet. Raising agent baking powder. Details on preparing acorns in RWFG.

81

Acorn Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar 1 cup salad oil 4 pcs eggs; beaten 2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin or 16oz. can 2-1/2 cups flour 1 cup acorn flour 1 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 tsp. ground allspice 2/3 cup water 1 to 1 1/2 cup pecans; chopped

Combine sugar, oil, and eggs; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in Pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients, and stir into pumpkin mixture. Add Water and nuts; mixing well. Spoon batter into 2 well-greased 9x4 Loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 65-75 minutes.

82

Acorn Soda Biscuits

2 cups flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 4 tbs. vegetable oil (you can make without; oil, butarent as flaky 3/4 cup milk (soy milk is okay) 1/4 cup leached & drained acorns*

Sift flour, baking soda & salt thoroughly. Mix in oil. Add acorns and milk. Dough will be stiff, if wet add a little more flour. Knead a little, then roll into balls then shape biscuits and bake on un-greased baking sheet at least 10 minutes, until done, 350-400, or cook on a hot cast iron tortilla pan or skillet and turn, browning both sides. Make the biscuits the size of English muffins. When cool split and toast. These biscuits are so good! You can make minipizzas out of these too, or use the dough for a big pizza. Try rolling them into little balls and baking them in a muffin tin. These are pretty sliced in half and topped with tomatoes or onions or a spread (even cheese) and are easy to make for a party.

83

Acorn Spice Bread

1 cups flour 1/2 cup acorn flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup sweet potato flour 2 tbl Baking Powder 2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon ground 1 tsp nutmeg ground 1 tsp allspice ground 1 cup milk 1/3 cup oil 2 pcs eggs 3 tsp sunflour seeds; roasted or raw

Mix first nine (9) ingredients in large bowl and blend well by stirring or sifing them together. In a seperate bowl mix milk, oil and eggs until smooth. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir 50 to 70 strokes. Devide into three well oiled (spay) 3X5 loaf pans. Sprinkle with sunflour seeds and bake for about 35 minutes in a 375 F preheated oven or until inserted tooth pick comes out clean. If you wish to make one large loaf with a 8X4 or 9X5 pan increase your baking time to 45-55 minutes.

Cool for about 20 minutes and remove from pans. Dried cranberries or nuts may be added to batter. Serve with butter or cream cheese.

84

Acorn Tortillas

1/4 cup leached & cooked & cooled acorns 1/4 cup bran 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt

enough cool water to make a soft dough Heat an un-oiled cast iron skillet. Roll out dough to tortilla thickness on a lightly floured board. Heat first on one side, then flip and cook until done.

85

Acorn Yeast Bread

1 tablespoon of dried yeast 1/4 cup of cooking oil 1/4 cup of honey 2 eggs 2 cups of acorn masa 1 teaspoon of salt 1 tablespoon of brewer's yeast (optional) 6 cups of flour (white or whole wheat)

Pour the water into a large bowl and add the tablespoon of dried yeast. Let stand until the yeast is soft, then stir. Next, add all the remaining ingredients except the flour to the bowl and beat well. Then stir in about four cups of the flour and [1] pile one cup of flour onto a bread board, [2] make a well (a depression) in the center of the mound, and [3] turn the batter out into the well. Working from the outside in, gradually knead the mass, adding enough extra flour (about a cup total) as you go along to make a stiff dough. Knead for ten more minutes or until the dough is smooth and doesn't stick to your hands. (Add more flour, if necessary.) Now flour the bowl lightly, place the dough in it, cover with a cloth, and allow the bowl to stand in a warm place until its contents have doubled in size (about one hour). Turn the dough out, shape it into two loaves, and place the loaves into oiled bread pans . . . then lightly oil the tops of the loaves and set them in a warm place to rise. When they're almost double in size, bake the loaves at 350F for 40 minutes (or until well browned). Finally, turn the bread out onto a rack and let it cool before slicing. Acorn bread keeps very well, by the way . . . if you have any left over after your first 'tasting session'!

86

Acorn-Corn Bread

1/2 cup acorn meal 1/2 cup cornmeal 2 tablespoon flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon cooking oil 1/2 cup milk

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl beat egg, and add the liquid ingredients. Combine with a few swift strokes. Pour batter into a small square greased pan and bake at 425 for 20 min or until firm to the touch. Serve hot with butter. From: Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada, published by the National Museums of Canada, ISBN 0-660-00128-4 Posted by: Jim Weller Recipe By : Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada From: Marjorie Scofield Date: 11-08-95 (11:31) (160) Fido: Recipes

87

Bread Acorn

1 cup acorn flour 1 cup whole wheat flour (can be 3/4 cup w; heat and 1/4 cup carob fl or just use a total of 2 cups acorn; flour) 3 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons honey 1 egg 1 cup raw milk 3 tablespoons oil

Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45 minutes at 300 degrees F.

88

Burning Tree Acorn Bread

reads 1 cup acorn flour 1 cup all purpose flour 1 tbl baking powder 1/2 tsp Salt 3 tbl Sugar 1 pc egg; beaten 1 cup milk 1 tbl oil

Mix together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes. NOTE: Acorn flour purchased at any Korean Store.

89

Chris Nyerge's Acorn Bread Recipes

1 cup acorn flour 1 cup whole wheat flour or 3/4 cup wheat and 1/4 cup carob flour or just use a 1 total of 2 cup acorn flour 3 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon honey 1 egg 1 cup raw milk 3 tablespoon oil

Mix well and bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 to 45 minutes at 300 degrees F. PANCAKES I use the above recipe for making pancakes simply by adding more milk or water until the consistency is correct for pancake batter. They are excellent when served with gooseberry topping. From: "Linda Roberts" <lrobe684@bellsou

90

Christopher's Acorn Bread

1 cup acorn flour, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 3/4 cup carob flour, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. sea salt 3 tbs. honey, 1 egg, 1 cup raw milk, 3 tbs. oil.

Here's the recipe for my favorite acorn bread. Mix well and bake in greased pan for about 45 minutes (or longer) at 250F

91

Contemporary Acorn Bread

1 cup acorn meal 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon sugar 1 egg, beaten 1 cup milk 3 tablespoon oil

Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and oil. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes. From: "Mignonne " <mignonne-Al@e...> Date:

92

Honey Acorn Bread

4 cups flour 2 eggs, beaten 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp ginger 1 cup honey 2 cups milk 2 tsp salt 1 cup chopped acorns margarine 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon

Grease two loaf pans with margarine. Mix together all dry ingredients, thoroughly. Beat eggs, gradually adding milk. Add egg mixture alternately with honey to dry ingredients. Beat well. Stir in acorns and pour evenly into loaf pans. Bake in cardboard oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden. If bread is done, it will come out of pan easily when pan is turned over and tapped gently. If not, bake for another 10-15 minutes. Remove bread from pan immediately when done and cool. This spicy bread always tastes better the second day when its .flavors have had a chance to mellow and blend.

93

Mixed Grain Acorn Bread

1 1/2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup cornmeal 1/2 cup coarse ground, leached acorn meal 1 cup lukewarm water 2 tbsp. dry granulated yeast 2 1/2 cups boiling water 1 tbsp. salt 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs, beaten about 8 cups whole wheat flour 1/2 cup honey butter

Pour boiling water over oats, cornmeal, and acorn meal. Set aside. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. In a large mixing bowl, beat the hot oatmeal mixture with the rest of the ingredients, except for the yeast and butter, adding the flour a cup at a time until you get a medium batter. Cool to lukewarm. Then add the yeast. Mix well and add enough flour until you have a spongy dough that is not sticky. Knead, adding flour if necessary to keep from being sticky. Place in a greased bowl and grease the top of dough, then cover it with a moist, warm kitchen towel and set it in a warm place until it doubles in size. Punch down, knead several times, and let rise again. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans or on a greased cookie sheet.

This also makes great rolls, so you can use a cake pan, making golf ball sized rolls. Cover and let rise again until almost double. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for about 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush with butter and cool.

94

You can also make this bread in camp, using smaller loaves and a reflector oven or forming 1/2 inch thick by 1 inch wide by 8 inch long sticks and twisting the dough around a green stick and gently baking over medium coals?never a fire.

95

Multi-Grain Bread With Acorn Meal:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup cornmeal 1/2 cup coarse ground, leached acorn meal 1 cup lukewarm water 2 tbsp. dry granulated yeast 2 1/2 cups boiling water 1 tbsp. salt 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs, beaten about 8 cups whole wheat flour 1/2 cup honey butter

Lets take a look at one of my mixed grain breads with acorn meal to see how it differs from the Indian cakes above. Pour boiling water over oats, cornmeal, and acorn meal. Set aside. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. In a large mixing bowl, beat the hot oatmeal mixture with the rest of the ingredients, except for the yeast and butter, adding the flour a cup at a time until you get a medium batter. Cool to lukewarm. Then add the yeast. Mix well and add enough flour until you have a spongy dough that is not sticky. Knead, adding flour if necessary to keep from being sticky. Place in a greased bowl and grease the top of dough, then cover it with a moist, warm kitchen towel and set it in a warm place until it doubles in size. Punch down, knead several times, and let rise again. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans or on a greased cookie sheet. This also makes great rolls, so you can use a cake pan, making golf ball sized rolls. Cover and let rise again until almost double. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for about 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush with butter and cool. 96

You can also make this bread in camp, using smaller loaves and a reflector oven or forming 1/2 inch thick by 1 inch wide by 8 inch long sticks and twisting the dough around a green stick and gently baking over medium coalsnever a fire. So far, weve talked about using acorn meal as a grain. But the acorn is so much more versatile. Most Native Americans and early settlers used acorn meal as either an ingredient in mush, which is sort of a thick, mealy soup, or pounded with meat, fat, and berries, making pemmican. In a survival situation which requires lightweight, high calorie foods, pemmican would be a good choice. (But, of course, many of us really dont need the extra fat in our diets.) Here are a couple recipes for these uses of the acorn. When I say acorn meal, I mean ground, leached-till-mild acorn meal, not raw.

97

Tom & Judy Brown's Famous Acorn Yeast Bread

2 cups warm water 1 tbl dry yeast 1/4 cup honey or sugar 1/4 cup oil 2 eggs 2 cups acorn masa or 1 1/2 cups acorn flou; r plus one cup water 5 1/2 cups whole wheat (or white) flour

In bowl combine water, yeast, and honey or sugar. Stir. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Add 4 cups flour and stir. Place one cup flour on counter and place dough in center of it. Knead for 10-15 minutes, adding remaining flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking to counter. Oil large bowl and place dough in it, turning once so both top and bottom are oiled. Cover and let stand in warm area until doubled (about two hours). After doubling, punch down and let rest 10 minutes. Knead about 10 times and divide into two loaves. Place on cookie sheet or form into loaves and put in loaf pans. Let rise again until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

98

Breakfast

99

Acorn & Egg Breakfast

For this I have on hand cold boiled potatoes. Make sure the potatoes are cold, if they are warm theyll mush. Saut 3 Tbs. chopped onion with two chopped cold potatoes in 2 Tbs. vegetable oil. Add 1/4 cup leached, cooked, cooled and strained acorns*, and 3-4 beaten eggs (or egg whites). Mix together then top with shredded cheese and cover. When cheese is melted its done. Variations: Instead of potatoes add 1 can drained corn. Be creative with this and use green onions, parsley...spices like sweet basil, sage, celery, paprika...hot peppers, green peppers, mushrooms, chives, cilantro, etc.

100

Acorn Cinnamon Pancakes

sift together, mix well with forlk 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon stir in mixing well: 2 egg whites 1-1/2 cups cold milk 2 tbs. honey 1/3 cup pre-cooked, cooled strained acorns; * 1 tbs. vegetable oil

Heat griddle only moderately hot. If the griddle is too high, pancakes will be too mottled with dark and light patches, if too low, youll get pale pancakes that might be heavy and tough. The perfect pancake will bake quickly and evenly with a smooth golden- brown surface. These pancakes have a little bit different texture, but they are very good. They may be a bit more moist inside than your usual recipe. Top with yogurt, maple syrup or fresh fruit like straw- berries, blackberries, blueberries or cherries.

101

Acorn Griddle Cakes

3 tbl melted butter 3/4 cup milk 1/3 unbleached flour 1 teas bakeing powder 1/3 teas salt 1 tbl honey 1 egg beaten 2/3 cup finley ground leached acorn meal; (*)

Combine dry ingredients. Mix together.. egg & milk then beat into dry ingredients, forming a smooth batter. Add butter. Drop batter unto hot greased griddle. Bake turning each cake, when it is browned on underside,puffed and slightly set on top. makes 12-15 cakes. (*) Grind acorns. Spread meal 1/2' thick on porous cloth and pour HOT water over the meal. repeat several times OR boil acorns for 2 HOURS, pour off Black water. Soak in cold water 3-4 days, then grind into a paste or pulverize acorns. Allow water to trickle thru meal ( put meal in Muslin bag and place bag in clear running stream ) for 20 hours. dry & grind again.

102

Acorn Griddle Cakes 2

2/3 c finely ground leached acorn meal 1/3 c unbleached flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/3 tsp. salt 1 tbl honey 1 egg, beaten 3/4 c milk 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.

103

Acorn Pancakes

1 cup acorn meal 1 cup flour 2 tbsp baking powder 1 tbsp salt 3 tbsp sugar 2 eggs, beaten 11/2 cups milk 3 tbsp oil

Sift together dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl mix together eggs, milk and oil. Then, combine dry ingredients with liquid mixture. Spread batter thinly on a hot griddle. When edges begin to bubble, flip and brown other side. Serve with maple syrup or jelly.

104

Acorn Pancakes

acorn bread recipe

I use the acorn bread recipe for making pancakes simply by adding more milk or water until the consistency is correct for pancake batter. They are excellent when served with gooseberry topping.

105

Acorn Pancakes

1/2 c. white flour 1 c. acorn flour 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1 egg, well beaten 1 1/4 c. milk 3 T. butter

In a bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl mix egg, milk, and butter. Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Spoon onto greased hot grill or frying pan. Turn once. Serve with maple syrup or wild jellies.

106

Acorn Pancakes I

1 cup acorn meal 1 cup flour 2 tbl baking powder 1 tbl Salt 3 tbl Sugar 2 pc egg; beaten 1 1/2 cup milk 3 tbl oil

Mix together dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl mix together eggs, milk and oil. Then, combine dry ingredients with liquid mixture. Spread batter thinly on a hot griddle. When edges begin to bubble, flip and brown other side. Serve with maple syrup or jelly.

107

Acorn Pancakes II

1 cup white flour 1 c. acorn flour 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1 egg, well beaten 1 1/4 c. milk 3 t. butter

In a bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl mix egg, milk, and butter. Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Spoon onto greased hot grill or frying pan. Turn once. Serve with maple syrup or wild jellies.

108

Acorn Tofu Breakfast

saut until tender: 1/4 diced yellow onion 1 fresh chili pepper (i use either 1 serran; o or 1/4 to 1 jalapeno) 1 tbs. vegetable oil 1 tbs. water remove from heat and add: 1/4 pound cubed and broken (fine as possible); tofu 1/4 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled and str; ained acorns* 1/4 cup leached, cooked, cooled strained; acorns*

Return to heat mixing well with chilis and onions then remove from heat and add 2 egg whites, mixing well. Cook this mixture as you would scrambled eggs. When almost done, add sliced tomatoes on top and your favorite cheese. Cover until cheese melts. I like tamari (soy sauce) on top. Variations: Add any of the following spices when sauting onions basil, rosemary, thyme, paprika, cilantro.

109

Acorn and Cornmeal Pancakes

1 egg break an egg into a bowl. add: 1 teaspoon salad oil 1 teaspoon of honey or sugar 1/2 cup of ground and leached acorns 1/2 cup of corn meal 1/2 cup of whole wheat or white flour 2 teaspoons of double action baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/2 cup of milk

Beat all together. If the batter is too thick to pour, thin it with milk. Pour pancakes into a hot, greased griddle and cook slowly until brown on both sides. Serve with butter and syrup or wild blackberry jam. Delicious!!

110

Grandma's Acorn Griddle Bread With Syrup

3 c cornmeal 3 c acorn flour 1/4 c flour 2 ts baking soda 3 c milk 3 ea eggs beaten 1 1/2 ts salt 1 1/2 ts vanilla

Mix dry ingredients, add milk and stir until all ingredients are moist. Then add beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir until mixed well. Ladle on a hot greased griddle (I use a no stick one now and cut out the grease.)

111

Cake/cookie

112

Acorn Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Cookies

1 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled, & stra; ined acorns* 1/2 cup honey 2 egg whites 1 tsp. vanilla add & mix well: 2 cups whole wheat flour 1/2 tsp. salt l tsp. baking soda 2/3 cup milk then add this too & mix well: 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup raisins 1 cup walnut pieces

There is no added oil in this recipe. Fats in here are in the chocolate chips, walnuts and in the acorns. Mix with spatula: Drop by rounded teaspoons onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. Always watch your cookies, oven temperatures vary.

113

Acorn Cookies

1 cup butter, melted 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1 1/2 cup pecans, chopped fine,* 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

* divided in 3/4 cup portions This is an easy yet elegant butter-acorn cookie shaped to resemble an acorn and dipped in melted chocolate chips and chopped acorns. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, 3/4 cup chopped acorns and vanilla on medium speed until well blended. Add flour and baking powder and mix well, using low speed. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Slightly flatten by pressing balls onto ungreased cookie sheets; pinch tops to point to resemble acorns. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks. In top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; keep double boiler over water. Dip large ends of cooled cookies into melted chocolate, then roll in chopped pecans. Cool to set chocolate. Yield: 3 dozen.

114

Cakes

115

Acorn Cheesecake

crust 2 cups finely crushed graham crackers 1/4 cup vegetable oil (to save calories, om; it oil) filling 8 oz. package cream cheese 1/4 cup honey 3 egg whites 1/2 cup leached, ground & strained acorns* 1/2 cup sweetened apple sauce

crust Blend well, then press this mixture into a pie pan. Let cream cheese soften at room temperature, then mix filling, blending well. I use a potato masher. Add filling to crust and bake in a hot oven (425 F) for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 and bake 25 more minutes. This should set very firmly. If your oven is already warmed up, you might bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Refrigerate and top with your favorite fruit; blueberries or strawberries, etc. Or eat the cheesecake with vanilla ice cream.

116

Acorn Hominy Ca ke

2 cups homony; drained 2 tbl sorghum syrup 2 tbl oil milk; to make loose paste 1/2 cup masa 1/2 cup homony paste 1/2 cup acor flour 2 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Salt 1 pc egg 1 tbl sorghum syrup 1 tbl oil 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice 1 tbl guten flour 2/3 cup milk 1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Blend first four (4) ingredients in a blender set at puree until a smmoth loose paste is accomlished. 2. Mix the remaing ingredients with 1/2 cup of the homony paste and beat with about 50 to 70 strokes adding more milk if to tight. Devide into 3x5 oiled (spray) pans bake at preheated oven 375 F for 30 minutes or a tooth pick comes out clean. Serve with vanilla ice cream drizzle with a huckleberry or blueberry sauce.

117

Acorn Meal Cakes

acorn meal

Acorns are ground, sieved, and pressed (all while still 'wet'). You must dry it well, and it will last one year. Reconstitute when ready to use. Use as needed. Pie crusts can be 1/3 meal cake. Can toast, and use as regular meal for nuttier flavor.

118

Acorn Pound Cake

1 cup sugar blend together in a bowl 1/2 cup of cooking oil 2 eggs 1/2 cup of acorn masa in another bowl, sift together: 1-1/4 cups of flour 1/8 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar 1/4 teaspoon of soda

Stir the second mixture into the first (a small amount at a time) alternately with 1/4 cup of milk. (NOTE: You can substitute one cup of honey for the cup of sugar specified above . . . but, if you do, you should also substitute a quarter cup of dried milk for the quarter cup of milk just listed.) Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon of mace and beat well. Pour the batter into an oiled and floured circular pan (8' inside diameter) and bake at 350 for about one hour. No need to make frosting . . . this is one cake that's plenty good 'as is'!

119

Apache Acorn Cakes:

1 cup acorn meal, ground fine 1 cup cornmeal 1/4 cup honey pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients with enough warm water to make a moist, not sticky dough. Divide into 12 balls. Let rest, covered, for 10 minutes or so. With slightly moist hands, pat the balls down into thick tortilla-shaped breads. Bake on an ungreased cast iron griddle over campfire coals or on clean large rocks, propped up slightly before the coals. If using the stones, have them hot when you place the cakes on them. Youll have to lightly peel an edge to peek and see if they are done. They will be slightly brown. Turn them over and bake on the other side, if necessary.

These cakes were carried on journeys dry and eaten alone or with shredded meat. We cheat and add homemade butter, too. But then, we are spoiled. Multi-grain bread with acorn meal:

120

Quick Acorn Cheesecake

filling: 1 pkg. 8 oz. cream cheese 1/2 cup brown sugar 3 egg whites 1/2 cup leached & drained acorns*

This is the first cheesecake that I made. It was very firm, as I didnt use the sweetened applesauce. I rather liked it, almost better than the other version. I think its worth including. Use any crust recipe you like. I didnt have any graham crackers on hand so I made a whole wheat pie crust. It was fine. Follow directions from former cheesecake recipe.

121

Desserts

122

Acorn Brownies

2 cups drained but wet cold water leached; acorn flour 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup fruit juice concentrate or honey 1/2 cup water with 1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix water and baking soda first then mix with other ingredients. Bake in a greased pan at 350F for 45 min. Cool and serve.

123

Acorn Shortbread

4 oz butter -- (1 stick) 4 oz margarine -- (1 stick) 2 1/2 cups white (all-purpose) flour 1/2 cup acorn starch 3 tbls sugar

Melt the butter and margarine very slowly in a large saucepan. Sieve/sift the dry ingredients and add them to the melted butter and margarine. Mix to a dough using a wooden spoon. Press the dough into a greased Swiss roll tin/high-sided cookie sheet. Smooth it with a knife and prick it all over with a carving fork. Bake at 190C/375F for about 25 minutes or until brown. Mark the shortbread into fingers while it is warm and dredge with caster (superfine) sugar. Turn onto a wire rack when it is nearly cold. Description: 'Shortbread used to be made slower, even painfully, by rubbing and kneading. This new melting method is far quicker and easier, and the shortbread could not be better. Delicious, melting and crumbly.'

124

Peanut And Acorn Yogurt Dessert

recipe

This recipe calls for leached dried acorns*, slightly baked. They are mixed with raw peanuts that have been slightly roasted. Spread the acorns on a cookie sheet and bake them at about 325 for only about 5 minutes. Be careful when baking the ground acorns, just bake lightly. You want them to be crunchy, too much baking will make them hard. 3/4 cup roasted and ground peanuts 1/4 cup leached, dried and slightly baked acorns* Mix the ground peanuts with the baked acorns and serve with plain yogurt or use as a topping for ice cream..

125

Persimmon Acorn Cinnamon Rolls

dough 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour 2-3 tablespoons sugar (brown or granulated) 1 1/2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup persimmon pulp 1 egg white 3/4 cup acorn flour filling 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup dried cranberries glaze 1/3 cup maple syrup

a.. To make the dough, mix unbleached flour, sugar, yeast, and salt, and set aside. b.. Place the persimmon pulp in a small saucepan, and heat until 125-130 degrees F. Add applesauce to flour mixture, and stir for 1 minute. Stir in the egg white. c.. Add 2 tablespoons of the acorn flour to the dough, and stir well. Continue to add the flour in 2tablespoons portions until a stiff dough is formed. d.. Knead dough for 5 minutes on a flat surface sprinkled with 2 tablespoons of flour. Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to form a smooth, satiny ball of dough. e.. Scrape the surface, and sprinkle it with flour. Return the dough to the surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 10-x-12-inch rectangle. Combine 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and the cinnamon, and spread the mixture over the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Sprinkle the cranberries over the syrup, and roll the rectangle up jellyroll style. f.. Lightly coat a 9-inch round pan with nonstick cooking spray (nonfat), and pour 1/3 cup of maple syrup over the bottom of the pan. Cut rolled-up dough into 1-inch slices. Lay slices in the pan, cut side up, spacing them 1/2 inch part. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel, and let rise 126

in a warm place for about 30-35 minutes. g.. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. To loosen the rolls, run a knife around the edge of the pan. Immediately place the rolls onto a plate. Serve warm.

127

Pumpkin Acorn Pudding

for cake 1 cup cake flour 1/2 cup acorn flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grape seed oil 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not pie; filling)* 2 large eggs for custard 3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not pie; filling)* 1 1/4 cups whole milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup maple syrup 8 large egg yolks 1 tbl acorn starch

Accompaniment: vanilla ice cream (optional) *1 (15-ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin = 1 3/4 cups, just enough for the cake and the pudding. preparation Make cake Preheat oven to 350F. Butter 17by 12-inch rimmed baking sheet. Line bottom with parchment paper. In large bowl, whisk together flour, acorn flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

128

In bowl of electric mixer, combine brown and granulated sugars, oil, and pumpkin. Beat at medium speed until fully combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture. Beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer cake to rack and cool completely in pan. Preheat oven to 350F. Run knife around pan sides to loosen, then turn cake out onto rack (do not clean pan) and remove parchment paper. Using long, serrated knife, cut cake into 1/2-inch cubes. Return cubes to pan and bake, turning over halfway through baking, until light brown on all sides, about 15 minutes total. Transfer cubes to rack and cool completely in pan. Make puddings Preheat oven to 325F. Divide toasted cubes among 8 (4-ounce) ramekins. In medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk, salt, maple syrup, and egg yolks. Pour mixture over cake cubes, filling ramekins to tops and gently pressing on cubes to completely coat with liquid. Cover and refrigerate until liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Arrange ramekins in roasting pan. Add enough hot water to pan to reach halfway up sides of ramekins. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake until puddings are set and firm to the touch, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove ramekins from pan and serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired. 129

Dressing

130

White Sage Acorn Dressing

6 bags seasoned croutons 2 satlks celery; slices 2 large onioind; diced 1 cup dried acorns; chopped 1 no. 10 can water chestnuts; sliced 1 tblsp fennel seed 1 flat medium eggs; beaten 2 tblsp white sage; pulverized turkey stock to moisten 1 cup hickory nuts; choped

Mix all dry ingreadients add eggs stir well then add turkey stock. Bake in slow oven covered until done.

131

Game

132

Acorn Pemmican:

1 lb. lean stewing meat, cut quite small 1/2 cup dehydrated wild plums 1/2 cup acorn meal

Boil the lean stewing meat. When it is tender, drain and allow it to dry in a bowl. Grind all of the ingredients together in a meat grinder using a fine blade. Grind again, mixing finely, distributing the ingredients very well. Place in a covered dish and refrigerate overnight. (Or you can eat right away, but like many foods, the refrigerating allows the flavors to blend nicely.) You can serve this on any flatbread, such as a tortilla. It is best served warm, or you can reheat it in the pan in the oven like a meatloaf.

Acorn meal can also be used in place of a good portion (or all) of the nuts in most desserts, from brownies to cookies. It does depend on the variety of acorn you have available and the taste after leaching. Some acorn meal never gets nutty, only mild, while the meal of other acorns, such as those of the Emory oak, are so sweet that you can eat them without leaching, or with very little leaching.

You will have to experiment a bit here. But the end results are usually surprising.

133

Acorn/Pemmican Preparation

info

Originally distributed in 1997... There are some very important FACTS that should be made known before anyone rushed out to try eating acorns. Here is the process that 99% of California's Indians use to process Acorns: For those of you who have asked for recipes and/or information on how we Californians gather, process, and cook our acorns, this is for you. I take sole responsibility for any and all typos and grammatical errors and will hereby blame it on the server, processor, or which ever innocent piece of hardwhere or software that wasn't on its toes today. However, I don't take responsibility for anyone who tries these recipes and gets deathly ill because of some unknown allergy to members of the Quercus family or tannic acid if you don't leach thoroughly or Sambucus nightmares because you get nervous about that itty bitty stem you didn't notice, o.k.? This is what I do, what I was taught, and what hundreds of other sentimental traditional native Californians do often, or once in a while, or when we're hired by a school district or state park to give the organically naive a taste of the old life. I also failed to mention that when I'm grinding up 2 to 5 lbs of acorn meal for the consumption of others, I use a coffee grinder bought specially for that purpose. If I'm going to eat it myself, or serve it to close friends or family, AFTER I finish grinding it in the coffee grinder, I will probably grind it further in a mortar with a pestle. Sometimes I'm convinced that I can do a better job with the 134

electric grinder. Sometimes I'm sure I can do a better job in a bedrock mortar.... It's all a matter of preference, energy, and time.... Six kids with six mortars can definitely go faster than one little coffee grinder, BUT, it is good to remember that the holes you see in a bedrock mortar got deeper by grinding away the rock as you ground up your acorn or other nuts. Where did the stone go to? I don't really believe that just got deeper in the middle of the night while the resident Indians slept. The sloughed-off stone probably went into the acorn meal ... gulp. So, when cooking for school kids, I do most of the grinding at home with my coffee grinder, and let the kids do a little in the mortars just to 'get the feel of it.' For those who don't care about the acorn process, please disregard all of this and go on to your next mail message. Happy Grinding! Lyn ACORNS: A MAJOR North American Indian Food California Indians did not have to be farmers, and for the most part were hunters and gatherers. There was a ready supply of deer, fish, rabbits, foul, native plants for vegetables, native fruits, and even sea weed. Even so, acorns are said to have been the main food of as many as 3/4 of our native Californians. Acorns were everywhere, are easy to gather and store fairly well ... as long as your storage places are squirrel tight. Some groups buried baskets of nuts until they were needed. Some claim that white acorns were the most preferred because they were sweet and often eaten without leaching. I have never eaten white acorns so I can't say anything about them.

135

The most common oaks found in the San Francisco Bay area are the Tan Oak, Black Oak, California Live Oak, and Valley Oak. Many of these have been seriously endangered through the process of turning pasture land into housing developments, with the Live Oak being the least threatened -- since this oak is not deciduous, it offers 'building development appeal' by remaining 'green and healthy looking' all year. Many of the Pomos prefer the Tan Oak because they feel it has more flavor. Many of the MiWuks prefer the Black Oak because it takes less leaching to get rid of the tannin. Many of us don't like the California live oak because 'its too much work for the amount of meal you get compared to the amount of leaching you have to do,' 'its got no character,' 'too wormy,' or 'its too easy to get -- nothing that plentiful can be very good.' The list goes on and on. My favorite is the Black Oak ... with a little Tan Oak added for character. Acorns are gathered in the fall after they are ripe, Early in the season you will occasionally find acorns without their 'little hats' lying on the ground. These are usually buggy. (If the acorn is so heavy that it pulls itself from its cap, it is usually because there is a worm flipping itself about inside the acorn, and all this activity is what breaks the nut free from its cap and the tree.) When the acorns are actually ripe, they fall from the tree, cap intact. If you see any holes in them, throw them away. They are sometimes stored first, to dry them out, and then shelled. Other groups shell them first, and then dry them out by placing them someplace safe, yet warm, to dry. For the ultimate in information on processing acorn, refer to a new book about Yosemite's Julia Parker, written by Park Naturalist Bev Ortiz which came out in 1992 or 1993. It was published by the same group that produces News from Native California, headed by Malcolm Margolin. 136

There is first and foremost, the original recipe: AFTER THE ACORNS ARE **COMPLETELY DRY** & REMOVED FROM THEIR SHELLS, the Acorns are ground until the meal is so fine that 'it will stick to the basket sifter' when it is turned upside down. When you have determined that you have ground the acorns to 'primo' consistency, you must then leach it. This was traditionally accomplished (before we had woven cloth to work with) by building a mound of fine sand, near a spring or the river, and then scooping out the center. The meal you wished to leach was placed in the center of this mound and water poured over a clean cedar bough which was placed or held above the acorn meal. The tannin would leach out of the acorn meal and harmlessly down into the sand. When tasting it showed the tannin had been removed, the meal was carefully removed from its sand 'colander' and put into a cooking basket. Water is added -- the correct amount for the amount of acorn meal you are going to use, which is something that takes a while to adjust to. Too much water will require cooking longer to get the consistency you want. Not enough water and the acorn will burn. Then special cooking rocks were heated in a fire, rinsed off, and using special stirring sticks, the rocks were stirred in the basket to heat the acorn solution thoroughly. As each rock cooled down, it was removed, and another hot clean rock took its place in the cooking basket. The rock that had been removed was washed off and placed back in the fire to reheat and await its turn to become a cooking implement once again. In what seems like no time at all, the acorn soup is boiling, and the stirring continues until the soup is of the desired consistency -- either thin to eat with a spoon, or thicker to eat with a fork, depending on what the 'cook' has in mind. Though the above 'soup' was eaten straight by the traditional people, I usually add a little salt, and occasionally some dried currents or blue 137

elderberries, or even raisins. Some people like to add a little cinnamon. The rocks are saved for the next time, since finding perfect rocks that won't explode when subjected to heat, or won't crumble into the food, or give a bad taste, etc., are not as easy to find as you might think. The baskets, tools, implements, rocks, etc. used to cook acorn are considered a family legacy and kept within a family to be passed down from generation to generation. What makes a good cooking basket is the subject of another dissertation and shall not be gone into at this time. Ask the next expert basket weaver you meet to explain to you how a cooking basket is made. ALTERNATIVE LEACHING METHODS, & NATURAL DYING USES The alternative method of leaching, which I personally use (as do most of the people I have spoken to about this subject) is to take my winnowing basket (or a broadbottomed basket), place a clean, 'white' UNBLEACHED cloth (like a tea towel used just for this purpose....which will never be white again) in the bottom of the basket, and then place your finely ground acorn meal on top of the cloth. Then I get a piece of cedar branch (new growth preferred and place it on top of the acorn meal and run water on it, VERY SLOWLY. I place my basket on top of a large cooking pot (so that I can save the tannin water) in such a way that when the pot fills up, my basket won't be sitting in the water, and the pot can overflow. I check on the leaching process periodically, so I can empty the soup kettle as it fills. Since I am also a weaver and spinner, who does natural dying on occasion, a day or two before I know I'm going to be leaching acorn, I wash any uncolored wool fleece I may have on hand that I will want to dye later, or any white 138

yarn I want to dye in the near future...IF I REMEMBER. Sometimes I don't plan ahead. Anyway, as the acorn leaching pot fills, I will pour this tannin-filled water into the washing machine, where I later place up to 3 or 4 lbs of clean white wool or yarn to soak up the tannic acid solution. When I am ready to dye the wool at a later date, the color will come out much more dramatically that it would if I had used 'untreated fleece'. Another way I have heard of to leach acorn, which I have NEVER tried and probably never will, is to SCRUB the water tank on your toilet to remove any algae, and use this 'sanitary' part of your toilet to leach your acorn meal. It makes sense to use water that otherwise is wasted but it doesn't seem like a very aesthetic topic of conversation for a public gathering ... I can hear it now: 'Gee, this acorn mush isn't half bad .... you must have leached it really thoroughly.' 'Why yes I do; I let it sit in a clean muslin bag in my toilet tank for a week or so...' Then watch your dinner guests put their food down, never to eat at your camp fire again. The girl that shared this bit of information with us had just remodeled her house, had a brand new toilet, and hence no green film in the tank, so she thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out a method she had heard of, or had a theory about. She also went on to say, that she was glad her new toilet was a pale brown color because the tannin discolored her the toilet bowl for quite some time.... Below is a recipe that I have used as recently as last year which is a good one to serve to those who stubbornly believe that acorn meal is yucky ... they'll never even know its there unless you tell them later -- and then they'll say things like 'oh, that's why it was so bland,' or 'oh, that's why I didn't like it,' or 'that's why it got hungry an hour later.' If you want to be sure you are actually tasting the meal, use the recipe exactly as is. Once you feel confident 139

that you wish to include the meal, but you want to add more character to the stew, feel free to add garlic, green pepper, carrots, etc. The acorn then replaces the starch of the potato, and provides you with more nutrition than the potato would provide.

140

Modern Pemmican:

1 lb. lean stewing meat, cut quite small 1/2 cup dehydrated wild plums 1/2 cup acorn meal

Boil the lean stewing meat. When it is tender, drain and allow it to dry in a bowl. Grind all of the ingredients together in a meat grinder using a fine blade. Grind again, mixing finely, distributing the ingredients very well. Place in a covered dish and refrigerate overnight. (Or you can eat right away, but like many foods, the refrigerating allows the flavors to blend nicely.) You can serve this on any flatbread, such as a tortilla. It is best served warm, or you can reheat it in the pan in the oven like a meatloaf. Acorn meal can also be used in place of a good portion (or all) of the nuts in most desserts, from brownies to cookies. It does depend on the variety of acorn you have available and the taste after leaching. Some acorn meal never gets nutty, only mild, while the meal of other acorns, such as those of the Emory oak, are so sweet that you can eat them without leaching, or with very little leaching. You will have to experiment a bit here. But the end results are usually surprising.

141

Main Dish

142

Acorn Casserole

2/3 cup acorns; leached 1 1/2 cups Water 1/2 cup ketchup 2 tble Salsa 2 tble Tamari 6 pcs bread whole wheat; chopped 1/4 tsp paprika 1/4 tsp sweet basil 1/4 tsp marjoram 3 pcs eggs

3/4 cup leached acorns* Boil in 1-1/2 cups water about 10 minutes, until acorns thicken just a little. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup ketchup and 2 tablespoons prepared salsa and 2 tablespoons tamari. Stir well and set aside. Chop up 6 pieces of whole wheat (or other) bread and put in a medium sized casserole dish. Sprinkle with paprika, sweet basil and marjoram. Add 2 egg whites and one whole egg (or just 3 egg whites), and mix. Add the acorn sauce and mix well. Cover with cheddar cheese and top with black olives. Bake 20-30 minutes at 350

143

Acorn Cheese Pies

6 pcs acorn bisquits 1/2 cup jack cheese; shredded 1 cup acorn spagehtti sauce

Make acorn biscuits (see recipe). Make them the size of muffins. Put about 6 of them in a large rectangle casserole dish and cover with acorn spaghetti sauce (see recipe). Top with jack cheese and warm in a 250 oven about 30 minutes, melting cheese. This makes a fantastic main dish. Good for a pot luck.

144

Acorn Enchiladas

1 dozen corn tortillas 1 medium size can of tomato puree 1 cup pre-cooked acorns* 1-2 tbs. chili powder 1/4 cup sour cream 1 tbs. soy sauce 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 clove garlic pinch of sugar 1 tbs. olive oil

Saut onions and garlic in olive oil. Add tomato puree, chili powder and soy sauce and simmer 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly so it doesnt burn. Steam tortillas, or microwave to soften. Add remaining ingredients to sauce, and spoon into tortillas. Mixture should be thick, not runny. Place in a large casserole dish, cover with shredded cheese and bake in oven at 350 for 20 minutes.

145

Acorn Lasagna

chop and saut in olive oil 2 tablespoons olive oil: 1/2 onion 2 stalks celery handful of mushrooms 1/4 tsp. dried basil pinch oregano pinch black pepper 1/4 tsp. salt when onions are soft remove from he; at and add, mixing well: 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes 1 can (5 3/4 oz) drained pitted black olives 3/4 cup cottage cheese 1-10 oz. pkg. chopped spinach 1 small can tomato sauce 1/2 cup leached & drained acorns* 1 tsp. honey

In a large casserole dish (13x9x2), layer this whole mixture with uncooked lasagna noodles, alternating noodles then above mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with an inverted cookie sheet (saves valuable natural resources like tin foil) making sure that the lasagna pasta is covered with enough liquid so it cooks as it bubbles and bakes. Bake for 45 minutes at 350.

146

Acorn Veggie Loaf

1 1/2 pounds leached & drained acorns* 1 1/2 pounds shredded zucchini 1/4 pound shredded cauliflower 2 large chopped green onions 1 cup whole wheat flour 1-1/2 cups water 1 tsp. chopped garlic 2 tbs. olive oil 4 tbs. nutritional yeast 1 tsp cumin 1 bay leaf 1 tsp basil

This is one of my earlier recipes. I found it on a note. Unless you have a scale, youll have to guess at the weights. I thought it was worth including. Mix this all together. If it is too thick and dry add more water. If it is too watery add more flour. Place in an oiled glass bread pan and bake at 325 for approximately 30 minutes. Baking time may vary. Slice and serve with lots of red miso.

147

Acorns & Rice

saut together in 1 tablespoon vege; table oil until mushrooms are tender: 1-1/2 cups chopped mushrooms pinch garlic salt 1/4 minced fresh jalapeno pepper 1/4 tsp five-spice (used in chinese cooking; ) pinch of celery seed (or 1/4 cup fr; esh diced celery) 1/8 tsp. dried sage 1/8 tsp. paprika 1 tbs. soy sauce 1 tbs. water add to above mixture mixing well: 5 cups pre-cooked and cooled brown rice 1/2 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled and str; ained acorns* 1/4 cup soy sauce

Place entire mixture in a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish. Top with 1/4 cup chopped green onions. Cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes or bake at 325 for 20 minutes

148

Acorns With Black Bean Broth & Pasta

3 cups broth from cooking black beans 1-1/4 cup dried elbow pasta 1/4 cup ketchup 3/4 cup pre-cooked, leached & strained acor; ns* tamari (soy sauce)

Cook the pasta in the broth until done. After it has cooked to desired texture, add remaining ingredients. This is very good. It tastes as if you had added cheese to it.

149

Chicken With Jalapeo Acorn Sauce

1/4 cup green bell pepper -- chopped 2 jalapeo peppers -- finely chopped 1 large clove garlic -- minced 1 tablespoons canola oil 4 boneless chicken breast halves 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 2 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon acorn starch 1 1/2 cup milk few drops hot pepper sauce or to ta; ste, or a dash of ground 1/4 teaspoons salt ground black pepper jalapeo pepper rings fry bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the bell pepper, jalapeo pepper, garlic and oil. Place chicken breasts in a shallow baking pan sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray; add pepper and oil mixture. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. While the chicken bakes, melt butter or margarine in saucepan. Add the flour and acorn starch and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in milk, stirring until sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat; hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Continue baking, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until chicken is done and juices run clear. Remove the chicken from oven and then set the oven to broil. Return the chicken to the oven; broil just until lightly browned. Arrange on a serving platter with sauce spooned over chicken breast halves. Garnish with jalapeo pepper rings and serve with fry bread, if desired.

150

Elk Stew With Acorn Dumplings

4 slices bacon, halved 1 1/2 lb elk or beef chuck steak, trimmed an; d cubes 1 quart water plus 1/2 cup 1 1/4 cup chopped onions 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon salt 3 potatoes, peeled and diced 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 large turnip, diced 1/4 cup acorn meal or finely ground hazelnu; ts ----ACORN DUMPLINGS---1/2 cup acorn meal or finely ground hazelnu; ts 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 egg, beaten 2 tablespoon milk 2 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until some of its fat is rendered. Add elk and brown with the bacon. Add 1 quart of water, onion, bey leaves, and salt. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add potatoes, carrot and turnop and ocok 30 minutes longer. Combine remaining water with acorn meal and stir into the simmering stew. In a bowl, combine dumpling ingredients and beat until smooth. Drop by tablespoonfuls into the simmering stew. Cover tightly and steam 12 to 15 minutes. From " Spirit of The Harvest: North American Indian Cooking," by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs.

151

Split Pea Acorn Dinner

Recipe

Rinse dried split peas. Cover with twice as much water and cook until done. Dont let them get too thick. Add 1/4 cup leached acorns* for every cup of split peas you cook, and simmer slowly for 1/2 hour with chopped green onions, garlic and sweet basil. Season with miso or tamari (soy sauce). Serve with a salad. Split peas and acorns are so good together you can omit the spices, garlic and onion, and it will still be tasty. I add a little soy sauce to each bowl of soup. It is an easy meal and very hearty.

152

Muffins

153

Acorn Muffins

1 cup acorn flour (leached) 1/2 cup corn meal 1/2 cup wheat flour 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp baking powder 3 tbsp salad oil 1/4 cup honey 1 egg 1cup milk

Here are some modern bread recipes using some of our native nuts and beans. We also prepare them the old way for special occasions. Mix well and put into small greased baking dish Bake at 350 for 20 - 30 minutes

154

Acorn Muffins

1 1/3 cup flour or 1/2 and 1/2 with corn meal 2/3 cup acorn flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 cup light brown sugar 2/3 tsp Salt 2 pcs eggs 1 cup milk 1/3 cup Butter; melted 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 cup apples; peeled chopped 1 cup cranberries; raw sliced 1/2 cup hickory nuts; chopped

You'll want to use acorns from the so-called "soft" oak species (White Oak, Swamp White Oak, Chestnut Oak, Post Oak, Bur Oak, etc,. i.e., the species with rounded lobes on their leaves), as they are lower in tannic acid and therefore less bitter than acorns from the so-called "hard" oak species (Black Oak, Scarlet Oak, Northern Oak, Pin Oak, etc., all of which have leaves with pointy lobes). To make acorn flour, shell the acorns, and (if their bitterness is still too strong for your taste) leach some of the tannic acid out by boiling the shelled nuts for a few minutes in several changes of water. Dry the nut meats out (e.g., by spreading them out on a cookie sheet and sticking them in a warm oven for a few hours), then pulverize in a food processor until it's the consistency of flour or a fine-grained meal. The delicious and distinctive flavor of the acorn flour will be quite evident in the muffins despite the fact that it makes up only 1/3 of the flour used in this recipe.

Dry ingredients: 1 1/3 cup white flour (OK to mix 1/2 and 1/2 with corn meal) 2/3 cup acorn flour (prepared as 155

described above) 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup light brown sugar 3/4 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients: 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/3 cup melted butter 1/4 cup maple syrup

Fruit and nuts: 1 cup peeled, chopped apples 1 cup sliced raw cranberries 1/2 cup chopped hickory nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Get well-greased muffin tins ready. Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl; mix wet ingredients together in another bowl (beat eggs before adding); then mix dry and wet ingredients together with just a few strokes (do not overmix; lumps are OK), quickly fold in fruit and nuts, then spoon mixture into muffin tins, filling up each compartment about halfway (add water to any surplus compartments to protect the pan and help keep the muffins moist while baking). Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes 18 small or 12 large muffins.

156

Acorn Muffins 1

1 cup (packed) acorn mush 1 cup plain white flour 1.5 tsp baking powder 1/6 cup maple syrup (real stuff, not the fl; avoured crap) 1/2 an egg (whisked gently, so you *can* h; alve it) 1/4 cup milk 1.5 tsp vegetable oil

Combine the acorn mush, flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine - crumb if necessary to get a homogenous mixture. Create a well in the mixture, and add the maple syrup, egg, milk and vegetable oil. Combine gently. Spoon into lightly greased muffin trays and cook for 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Test by inserting a wooden skewer - if it comes out clean: they're done.

157

Russ Cohen's Acorn Muffins

1 1/3 c white flour (1/2 and 1/2 with corn; meal) 2/3 c acorn flour 2 ts baking powder 1/2 c light brown sugar 3/4 ts salt 2 eggs 1 c milk 1/3 c melted butter 1/4 c maple syrup fruit and nuts: 1 c peeled, chopped apples 1 c sliced raw cranberries 1/2 c chopped hickory nuts

You'll want to use acorns from the so-called 'soft' oak species (White Oak, Swamp White Oak, Chestnut Oak, Post Oak, Bur Oak, etc,.( the species with rounded lobes on their leaves), as they are lower in tannic acid and therefore less bitter than acorns from the so-called 'hard' oak species (Black Oak, Scarlet Oak, Northern Oak, Pin Oak, etc., all of which have leaves with pointy lobes). To make acorn flour, shell the acorns, and (if their bitterness is still too strong for your taste) leach some of the tannic acid out by boiling the shelled nuts for a few minutes in several changes of water. Dry the nut meats out (e.g., by spreading them out on a cookie sheet and sticking them in a warm oven for a few hours), then pulverize in a food processor until it's the consistency of flour or a fine-grained meal. The delicious and distinctive flavor of the acorn flour will be quite evident in the muffins despite the fact that it makes up only 1/3 of the flour used in this recipe. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Get well-greased muffin tins ready. Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl; mix wet ingredients together in another bowl (beat eggs before 158

adding); then mix dry and wet ingredients together with just a few strokes (do not overmix; lumps are OK), quickly fold in fruit and nuts, then spoon mixture into muffin tins, filling up each compartment about halfway (add water to any surplus compartments to protect the pan and help keep the muffins moist while baking). Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Makes 18 small or 12 large muffins.

159

Savory Acorn Muffins

1 c. acorn flour 1 c. cornmeal 1 c. flour 3 t. baking powder 1 t. garlic or onion salt 1 egg, slightly beaten 11/2 c. milk 2 T. bacon drippings, melted

This was once a hard-times bread because acorns are so plentiful and cost nothing. Sweet or nut muffins can be made from this recipe by adding 4 tablespoons sugar to the dry ingredients, omitting the garlic or onion salt (substitute 1 T. plain salt), and substituting melted shortening for the bacon fat. Add cup walnuts or pecans to the batter, if you like. Preheat oven to 425F. Sift together the acorn flour, corn meal, flour, baking powder, and the onion or garlic salt. Beat egg and milk together; stir in bacon drippings. Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened; dont overmix. Pour into well-greased muffin tins and bake 15 minutes, or until brown and crusty.

160

Pies

161

Acorn Pie

3 egg whites, beaten stiff 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 20 soda crackers; coarsely broken 1/2 cup sweet acorns, chopped

Beat egg whites until stiff; add baking powder and beat more. Add sugar and vanilla; beat again. Fold in crackers and acorns. Put in buttered pie plate and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool and top with Cool Whip and chopped pecans. Randy Rigg

162

Relishes/preserves

163

Acorn Pickles

2 cups whole acorns, leached 5-6 peppercorns 1 bay leaf 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed 1/2 cup vinegar 1 teaspoon honey

Sterilize jar and lid, pack with acorns, bay leaf and mustard seed. Heat vinegar and honey, add to jar, add boiling water. Leave 1/2 ' head room. Refrigerate 3 months.

164

Chris Nyerge's Acorn Pickles

2 cup whole acorns, leached 6 peppercorns 1 bay leaf 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed 1/2 cup vinegar 1 teaspoon honey

Sterilize jar and lid, pack with acorns, bay leaf and mustard seed. Heat vinegar and honey, add to jar, add boiling water. Leave 1/2 " head room. Refrigerate 3 months. These recipes are from an article by Christopher Nyerges (www.self-reliance.net) in COUNTRYSIDE & SMALL STOCK JOURNAL, Vol. 85 No.6, November/December 2001. "Christopher is the author of GUIDE TO WILD FOODS and ENTER THE FOREST. He has led Wild Food Outings since 1974. He and his wife operate the School of Self-reliance, teaching classes in wild plant identification and cooking. From: "Linda Roberts" <lrobe684@bellsou

165

Salads

166

Acorns & Pasta

1 pound cooked whole wheat macaroni shells 1/2 to 1 cup cooked acorns* 1 tbs. soy sauce olive oil or butter to taste

Mix ingredients together and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. You can get creative with this by adding hot peppers, mushrooms, olives, red peppers, etc.

167

Kidney Bean Acorn Salad

1-15 oz. can red kidney beans (or of course; you can cook up fresh bea 1- hard-boiled egg 1/3 cup light mayonnaise 1/4 cup leached, cooked, cooled and straine; d acorns* 1 tsp. vinegar

Mash the egg with the mayonnaise, vinegar & acorns. Drain beans, reserving liquid. Use the liquid if its too dry. If desired add, chopped parsley, scallions or diced red onion, salt & pepper. Surprisingly good!!

168

Korean Acorn Noodle Salad

Acorn Noodles

This is a very unique salad using noodles made of a starch that comes from acorns. Acorn starch used to be an emergency food during the Korean War when people there were suffering from hunger. In recent years, however, acorn noodles have come to be considered a healthy food because acorns are a good source of high quality vegetable protein. Although acorns contain a high level of tannin and in their natural state are quite bitter, chefs refine the taste by carefully removing the bitterness before creating this tasty dish. Eating these firm dotori (acorn) noodles and lots of vegetables with house hot sauce based dressing is very refreshing for both your body and mind. This item is strongly recommended.

169

Sandwiches

170

Acorn Burgers

1/2 cup coarse meal 1 cup water 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon butter 1 onion, chopped 1 egg

Combine meal, water, and salt, boil 15 minutes to soften. Melt the butter, and saut one chopped onion. Mix with acorn meal, and egg, season to taste, make patties and cook/fry.

171

Acorn Salad Sandwich

mix together: 1 cup leached, cooked & cooled acorns* 5-6 tbs. light mayonnaise dash hot sauce salt & pepper 2 tbs. chopped dill pickle

Serve on whole wheat toast with crisp lettuce, or alfalfa sprouts.

172

Acorn Spinach Burgers

1 small box chopped frozen spinach 1-1/2 cup leached, pre-cooked, cooled &; strained acorns* 2 eggs or just egg whites 1/2 cup flour

Mix, then shape into patties and brown in vegetable oil or put on lightly greased cookie sheet and brown in a 350oven until done. Variations: Substitute the same amount of your favorite vegetable instead of spinach, ie; corn, broccoli, etc.

173

Beets & Acorns

2-1/4 cups leached acorns* in a small amount o; f water with: 3 good-sized raw shredded beets 1/2 chopped white onion pinch each of basil and sage

The beets are nice because theyre alkaline. Cook until beets are done. Serve on a bed of lettuce, or on pita bread, whole wheat or rye toast.

174

Chris Nyerge's Acorn Burgers

1/2 cup coarse meal 1 cup water 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon butter 1 onion, chopped 1 egg

Combine meal, water, and salt, boil 15 minutes to soften. Melt the butter, and saut one chopped onion. Mix with acorn meal, and egg, season to taste, make patties and cook/fry. From: "Linda Roberts" <lrobe684@bellsou

175

Sauce

176

Acorn Spaghetti Sauce

1 medium sized chopped yellow onion 1 clove garlic 1 tsp. dried sweet basil 1/8 tsp. dried thyme 1/8 tsp. dried paprika pinch of dried celery seed 1/8 tsp. dried sage 1/4 tsp. marjoram 1/4 tsp. oregano pinch dried rosemary 1/8 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar or honey saute in 2 tablespoons olive oil. after sauting, add 1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes. stir in 1/2 cup uncooked leached and drained acorn*; meal.

Cook on high heat 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly, then simmer for 20 minutes. Preferably cool and put in refrigerator overnight to develop flavors. Serve over cooked whole wheat spaghetti. Serve with garlic bread and salad. Sprinkle each plate of pasta with tamari or parmesan cheese or add sour cream

177

Sauces/dips

178

Acorn Dip

1 pint sour cream 3/4 cup pre-cooked, cooled and strained aco; rns* 1 heaping tsp. dried sweet basil 1/2 cup dried onion flakes

Refrigerate overnight for full flavor.

179

Acorn Dip 2

1 quart sour cream 2 large cloves diced garlic 1 cup cooked, cooled, strained acorns pinch of cumin 1 tsp. dried sweet basil pinch paprika 1 tbs. fresh parsley

This is a big recipe for entertaining. Mix together: Blend and serve with blue corn chips, celery, broccoli and cauliflower sticks, theyll love it!

180

Baked & Browned Eggplant Acorn Dip & Spread

bake a whole eggplant at 400about; 45 minutes. cut and discard stem. blend in blender; with 3/4 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup leached and pre-cooked acorns*, 2 pinches marjoram, pinch cayenne, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, pinch black pepper, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1 cup diced celery tops

This is served as a sandwich spread or a dip for chips and veggies & pita bread.

Its ready!Keep refrigerated.

181

Refried Acorns

1/4 cup olive oil 4 cup leached acorns 1 medium-size onion, chopped 6 cloves garlic, chopped 4 small chiles, seeds and ribs 1 removed, chopped 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or 1 parsley leaves 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon dried sage, finely crumbled 1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin 1 teaspoon dried oregano, finely 1 crumbled 2 tablespoon bragg's liquid aminos or 1 tamari soy sauce

This recipe is a wild alternative to Mexican refried beans, with acorns replacing the beans. Serve it as a side dish with other Mexican foods. 1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add all the ingredients except the Bragg's Liquid Aminos and cook, stirring, for 15 minutes. 2. Stir in the Bragg's Liquid Aminos and serve. Serves 6 to 8 From: Wildman Steve Brill <wildmansteve

182

Soups/stews

183

Acorn Mush

acorn

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Put approximately 2 cups of processed acorn flour in a large bowl. Stir it with a spoon to release the oil in the acorn. It is important to add cold water to the acorn flour so that it pours easily into boiling water- acorn flour will clump in the boiling water if it is not mixed with water first. The cold water and acorn mixture should be the consistency of thin gravy. Continue to mix while pouring meal into boiling water. The acorn flour will start to thicken as soon as it hits the boiling water so stir constantly- a whisk works best. Turn down heat and bring the mixture to a roiling boil. Cook the acorn for 20 minutes until you see bubbles and mix puckers on top and starts to rise and water has evaporated. Acorn mush is traditionally eaten with salty foods like fish, seaweed or venison. That is a very interesting method for cookery. I have one question though. What type of acorns do you use? The Acorns that are traditionally used here on my White Mountain Apache Rez are pretty bitter. When we use acorn it is not processed, we usually hand grind it ourselves. Nephi Craig

184

Acorn Mush In A Shawee

recipe

The small gift basket is called 'Xilu.' The kind of flat tray I make is used for cleaning or winnowing acorns, and it's called 'Lawil.' Every November or December, we get the acorns, hitting the tree to get the acorns out and then we pick them up from ground. We put them in a basket and dry for one or two days in the sun; I use a molino, an old meat grinder, to grind my acorns. I put it through four different times to get it really fine. I put the flour in my brown basket. I wash the flour in the sink, by putting material held with clothespins. A long time ago people used leaves inside the pine basket for washing the acorn. The acorns in San Diego are more bitter than the ones in Baja. They have to be washed 12 times. I wash them with hot water. The acorn tastes good. There are large baskets for cooking acorn mush. My cousin made one. When the acorn is washed, we put it in the basket, then put a rock that is hot from the fire. When the rock is red we put it in the basket. We get it with a stick and wash the rock first. When the acorn is ready for eating, the bowl basket we eat it from is called 'Shawee.' You can eat it warm, or you can eat it cold. You can put it on a tortilla with salt. A lot of people use acorn mush like soup, but in San Diego we eat it more like pie, like tofu.

185

Acorn Soup or Mush

acorns

California Indians commonly used the leached and ground acorns as a base for soup or mush. To use as a soup base, mix approximately two cups of the meal with 8 cups of water. Add diced onions, potatoes, carrots, wild greens, and seasonings to suit your taste. To use as a breakfast mush, add milk and/or water to the acorn meal to your desired thickness. Serve with whatever you'd add to oatmeal: such things as raisins, sliced fruit, honey, butter, and cream.

186

Acorn Stew

1 lb. stewing meat 1/2 c. finely ground acorn meal; (tannin removed) salt and pepper to taste

Place meat 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.

187

Acorn Stew

2 1/2 lb stew meat, cubed 1 1/2 quart water, or more as needed 2 large onions, coarsely chopped 1 salt and pepper to taste 1 2-3 pounds acorns (enough to make 1; cup of acorn meal)

Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately with Indian Fry Bread. Serves 6

188

Acorn Stew

2 1/2 lb stew meat, cubed 1 1/2 qt water, or more as needed 2 lg onions, coarsely chopped salt and pepper to taste 3 lb acorns (enough to make 1 c acorn meal)

Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately with Fry Bread.

189

Acorn Stew

3 lbs round steak elk or deer; cut ino bite size 3/4 cup acorn flour 1/4 Tsp Salt

Cook beef in about 1 quart of water. Let it simmer for about 3 hours or until meat is well done. Salt to taste. Shell acorns and grind them into very fine flour until you have approximately 3/4 cup of flour. Strain the broth from the meat (it will be used later). Shred the meat and, placing it in a wooden bowl, mix it with the acorn flour. (Note: metal utensils or bowl will discolor the flour) Pour hot broth over the mixture and stir. It is now ready to serve in individual bowls. Usually served with fry bread.

190

Acorn Stew

beef stew meat ground acorn flour h20 salt

Mignonne made me think about a favorite Apache dish of mine which is very simple. Traditionally, Apache Acorn Stew has only five ingredients. There is a method for maximizing the flavor potential of this simple dish. Using a deep cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, heat cooking oil (shortning, Olive Oil, Lard) to just below the smoking point. Lightly dust the meat with flour and a small amount of salt. Add to the smoking oil and sear, slightly move from the heat (lower the heat) and allow the meat to caramelize slowly, but DO NOT overcrowd the pan so that the meat begins to steam in its own juices. This will entirely defeat the purpose of dusting and proper meat carmelization. You may need to carmalize the meat in batches. Once the beef is a perfect dark, dark brown(Proper Carmelization) 'deglaze' the pot with just enough water to cover the meat and add two tablespoons of ground acorn. Allow to simmer until meat is tender. Approx 45 min to an hour. During this time you can prepare the simple dumplings for the stew. Take a med size bowl add two cups of flour and salt as well as enough water to produce a semi-smooth dough. Roll into 1 1/2 inch strips, dust with flour and set aside. When the meat is tender, add your precut dumplings and allow to cook for approx. 20-25 minutes. Season to taste with extra Acorn Flour and salt. This stew goes best with some nice fluffy flour American Indian Tortillas. You know the kind Grandma used to

191

make when we were out of Lard or Shortening. Acorn Stew and Flour Tortilllas are the perfect match. NOTE: Acorn is quite bitter so use good judgment when adding the acorn at the end. Acorn is 'an acquired taste'. *Remember you can always add more, but you cant take it out. This 'recipe' is based on ratio. Use your cooking experience and best judgment when combining the ingredients. Also, the Acorn in some Apache tribes is meant to be the highlight of the dish making it quite bitter. However, you can use the acorn as you would a vinegar/acid, to accent and bring sharpness to your stew. This is most likely the best route to take if you have never had Apache Acorn Stew before. On the REZ the stew is quite bitter, but the 'champ' flour tortillas balance the bitterness. That is why the bread is so important in this dish. Enjoy.

192

Acorn Stew Apache

3 lbs elk or deer round steak; cut into bite size pieces 3/4 cup acorn flour 1/4 tsp Salt

Cook beef in about 1 quart of water. Let it simmer for about 3 hours or until meat is well done. Salt to taste. Shell acorns and grind them into very fine flour until you have approximately 3/4 cup of flour. Strain the broth from the meat (it will be used later). Shred the meat and, placing it in a wooden bowl, mix it with the acorn flour. (Note: metal utensils or bowl will discolor the flour) Pour hot broth over the mixture and stir. It is now ready to serve in individual bowls. Usually served with fry bread.

193

Acorn Stew Seminole

2 1/2 lb. stew meat, cubed 1 1/2 qt. water, or more as needed 2 lg. onions, coarsely chopped salt and pepper to taste 2-3 lbs acorns (enough to make 1 cup meal)

Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately with Fry Bread.

194

Acorn Veggie Soup

1 tsp. salt 1 cup chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped onion 2 chopped carrots 1 cup chopped broccoli 1 cup uncooked barley 1 cup leached acorns* 2 tbs. dried sweet basil 1-1/2 quarts water

Simmer until vegetables are tender, and barley is cooked. Season with tamari (soy sauce). Variations: Add garlic, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, eggplant etc.

195

Acorn, Carrot & Dock Soup

1 handfull dock leaves 1/8 cup acorn starch 1 1/2 cups Water 2 pcs carrots; shredded 1 clove garlic 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp sweet basil 1 tsp paprika 1 dash oil

Pick a handful of Dock leaves, (theyre a weed), or substitute your favorite greens, steam and chop. Discard Dock water. Add 1/8 cup leached acorns* with the chopped Dock, in 1-1/2 cups water and 2 large shredded carrots. Add 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon sweet basil, paprika, and a dash of vegetable oil. Simmer 20 minutes. Salt to taste. Very delicious.

196

Apache Acorn Ravioli In Clear Broth

2 green anaheim chiles 1 tb unsalted butter 1 tb shelled and finely chopped acorns o 3 oz to 4 oz soft white goat -cheese 1 recipe basic egg ravioli -dough 2 ts kosher salt 1 qt water clear broth 6 c chicken stock 1 scallion, green part only,-diagonal; ly sliced 1/2 ts azafran

Roast the chiles then peel, seed, devein and coarsely chop them, Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat and add the acorns. Saute 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the green chiles and saute another minute. Remove from the heat, mix together with the goat cheese and set aside. Prepare a stencil by cutting a design out of a piece of cardboard. For the ravioli in the photograph, we cut a stencil 5 inches in length, 3 inches in height, with 1-inch steps. Roll out the ravioli dough as thinly as possible. Fold the dough in half, place the stencil over the dough and, with a sharp knife, cut around it. Repeat this process 11 times to make 24 identical pieces of dough. Lay 12 cut out pieces of dough on a board and place about 1 tablespoon of the acorn filling in the center of each. Moisten the outer edges of each piece of the dough. Place the other 12 pieces on top, and press the edges together

197

with your fingers. If the edges are slightly uneven, trim them. Set aside. Add the salt to the water in a wide, large saucepan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook 3 minutes, until tender and translucent around the edges. Drain and set aside. Bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan over mediumhigh heat. Add the scallions and azafran and simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour 1 cup of the broth into each bowl. Add some ravioli and serve.

198

Apache Acorn Soup

2-1/2 -3 lbslbs. round steak sweet acorns (enough to make 3/4 cups of acorn f; lour) salt

PLEASE USE A PLASTIC BOWL/ OR WOODEN ONLY... CUT THE ROUND STEAK INTO SMALL BITE SIZE PIECES & COOK IN ABOUT ONE QUART WATER.LET IT SIMMER FOR ABOUT 3 HRS. OR UNTIL MEAT IS WELL DONE.SALT TO TASTE,SHELL THE SWEET ACORNS & GRIND THEM INTO VERY FINE FLOUR UNTIL YOU HAVE ABOUT 3/4 CUP FLOUR. STRAIN THE BROTH FROM THE MEAT IT WILL BE USED LATER. SHRED THE MEAT & PLACING IT IN A WOODEN OR PLASTIC BOWL MIX IT WITH THE ACORN FLOUR {{aluminum discolors the flour.}}POUR THE HOT BROTH OVER THIS MIXTURE & STIR.IT IS NOW READY TO SERVE IN INDIVIDUAL BOWLS. **I USUALLY MAKE FRY BREAD TO GO WITH THIS CAN ALSO MAKE ACORN MUFFINS OR A BREAD TO GO WITH THIS...VERY TASTEY...

199

Apache Acorn Soup

1 (2 1/2 pound) beef roast 2 quarts water 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 cup ground acorn meal

Peel the acorns and grind them. The outer part of the acorn is not used. Cover beef with water and bring to boil in a heavy pot. Simmer several hours until beef is very tender, adding salt and pepper. Remove the beef, while letting the pot continue to boil. Shred the beef, then mix it with the acorn meal. Add this mixture to the broth and simmer together until the broth bubbles creamy-white with yellow flecks.

200

Apache Acorn Soup

3 lb stew beef 1 teaspoon pepper 1 cup ground acorn meal 2 quart water 1 teaspoon salt

Cover beef with water and bring to boil in a heavy pot. Simmer until done; add salt and pepper as meat cooks tender. Remove beef and chop on a flat stone until split in shreds. The meat broth continues to cook vigorously while meat and acorn flour (meal) are mixed together. Apaches stress that their food is always well done; no instant cooking. Broth, meat and meal simmer together until the broth bubbles creamy white with yellow flecks, pleasantly acorn scented and flavored. Formatted for Meal Master by Lori Fuller

201

Apache Acorn-Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers

1 t. unsalted butter 1 c. pinons (pine nuts) 4 t. acorns, or unsalted pistachios; shelled 6 t. chopped wild onions or leeks 9 c. chicken or rabbit stock 1/4 tsp.. salt 1/2 tsp.. black pepper 1-1/2 qt. half and half snipped wild onions, mint sprigs; and wild edible flowers

Traditionally, this recipe is prepared with the small, brown acorns of the Emery oaks that are indigenous to the Chiricahua Mountains in the southeastern part of Arizona. The Apache tribes originally lived in this region before they were relocated northeast to San Carlos. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and saut the pinons, acorns, and onions 4 minutes, until the onions are translucent and the nuts golden brown. Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook until the mixture is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Add the cream and reduce the mixture again by half, to 6 cups. Remove from the heat and blend in a blender until the mixture is smooth. Push through a fine sieve; discard the contents of the sieve. Garnish and serve.

202

Burning Tree Golden Acorn Soup

part A 1/4 cup roasted corn (parched); grind in blender 1/4 cup pine nuts; add to blender 1/2 cup sunflower seeds; add to blender 1/2 cup pepitos; add to blender 1 tbl acorn starch; add to blender 1 part B 5 gallon water 3/4 cup chicken soup base 1 lb non dairy creamer 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup dry onion flakes 1/4 cup garlic powder 1 tbl black pepper 2 tbl pepper flakes 1 tbl cayenne 1/3 cup menudo mix 1 lb Butter corn starch to thicken

Part A Grind Dry corn in blender. Add water and grind again until smooth. Grind remaining nuts and seeds in blender until smooth and mix with corn. Part B Make cream of chicken with water, chicken base and other ingreadients except peanut butter, butter and nut mix. Bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning if needed add nut mixture and peanut butter. Vontinue at a simmer until all is mixed then thicken with corn starch water slurry to desired thickness. Simmer to cook stach.

203

Cornmeal And Acorn Mush

4 cups water 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup acorn meal, ground 1 cup cornmeal

Bring salted water to a boil and sprinkle the acorn meal into the boiling water, stirring briskly with a wire or twig whisk. Then add the cornmeal. Add just enough cornmeal to make a thick, bubbling batch in which a wood spoon will stand up fairly well. Place the saucepan in a larger container holding two inches or more of boiling water. (Use a double boiler, if you have one.) Simmer the mush until quite thick, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep it from lumping.

Cornmeal and acorn mush is very good for breakfast on a cold morning. It can be served with sweetened milk and a dab of wild fruit jam or homemade butter. But it is also great as a main course lunch or dinner. You can also add salsa or bacon bits and grated cheese on top to get great variety. This mush is very filling and will stick to your ribs.

I often make a double batch and pour the extra in a greased bread pan. When cooled in the fridge overnight, it becomes quite solid and can be sliced in half inch thick slices, dipped in flour and fried in oil, first one side, then turn and fry the other. Fried acorn and cornmeal mush is one of our absolutely favorite camp (or at-home) breakfasts. Serve it with butter, salt, and thick fruit jam or maple syrup. Of course, David likes his with catsup.

204

Nativeway Apache Acorn Stew

3 lb round steak, cut into bite; sized pieces 1 sweet acorns (enough to make 3/4 cup acorn flour) 1 salt

*Beef, elk or venison Cook beef in about 1 quart of water. Let it simmer for about 3 hours or until meat is well done. Salt to taste. Shell acorns and grind them into very fine flour until you have approximately 3/4 cup of flour. Strain the broth from the meat (it will be used later). Shred the meat and, placing it in a wooden bowl, mix it with the acorn flour. (Note: metal utensils or bowl will discolor the flour) Pour hot broth over the mixture and stir. It is now ready to serve in individual bowls. Usually served with fry bread. Classification: traditional Nation/Tribe: Apache From: The Native Way Cookbook: The Cookbook Of The Grandmothers At: http://www.wisdomkeepers.org/nativeway "Visit the White Buffalo Sites and the Native American Ring"

205

Nupa Acorn Soup Part 1

20 lbs black oak acorns - cleaned water cedar or redwood bows

Acorns are gathered in the fall, right now we are in the peak of the season. Usually the first fall of acorns we disregard. They are normally the wormy ones. Sometimes we will gather these "Pehepes", and use them in our dance regalia. These "Pehepes" are acorns that have been infested with worm larve, and they make the acorns form looking like hunchbacks. They make interesting necklaces and there is a story about "Pehepes" and why we use them, but that again is another chat... My family and I have been known to gather tons of acorn. In the past my Great Aunt Mary had a room in her house where we would deposit all of the acorn we gathered. This was a 10'x12' room, with a four foot board across the doorway. This room was always full of acorn. As children we used to fight for the right to jump into the acorn and stir them up. Anyone bigger than a child would crack the hulls. This had to be done twice a week so that moisture didn't build up and that the acorn dried properly. Traditionally our people stored acorn in 'Chukas', acorn graineries made of cedar and California laurel. These are cylinder in shape and raised above the ground on stakes about three feet. Lacking a spare room for my acorn, I store mine in gunny sacks and hang the filled bags from the rafters in my garage. My sisters living on the rez, use the huge army surplus bins my parents bought. They keep them covered and stir them twice a week. No matter how you store your acorn it is essential that you add a generous amount of California laurel with the nuts. Laurel or bay leaf is a

206

natural insect repellent and keeps the bugs away from the acorn. We let the acorn dry or season at least for a year, this assures that the nuts are well dried. We then crack and hull the acorns. We then spread the acorn meats to allow any additional drying. On the acorn is a red skin, the skin is thicker in the crevices of the nut, it is very important that all of this skin is removed. Otherwise when cooked it is like trying to swallow the chewy part of popped corn. When the nuts are dried this red skin has a tendency to really cling to the nuts. If you sprinkle a little water on them when they are dry it lifts the skin making it easier to remove. We use an open twined winnowing tray in this process of removing the husk skin. Once the acorn is cleaned thoroughly and dry, we begin the hard work. The acorn now needs to be pounded. It is not ground. We do not have grinding rocks, we have pounding rocks. We also have granite mortars and pestles. The pestles are raised above the hole in the mortar rock and allowed to slide through your hands into the acorn in the mortar. Some folks use a 'hopper basket' which catches the acorns as they hop up and allows them to roll back into the mortar. The basket is a conical shape, like a funnel. Of course this is a very time consuming process and you develop wonderful arm muscles. But, let's face it folks, this is 1998. Today for smaller batches you can use an electric coffee grinder, a Veggiemeal, mill and juicer works wonders for medium batches. For large batches like my sister and I do, we use an electric flour mill. The acorn flour should have the consistency of wheat flour mixed with very fine corn meal. Once you have your flour ground, you can begin your next step. This process is called leaching. In this step you are washing out the tannic acid in the flour. Tannic acid is 207

bitter to taste, if you can digest enough it is toxic. Only cattle, pigs, deer and rodents are known to eat them raw. Though in California there are documented cases where in a heavy acorn fall cattle ate too much acorn and dropped dead in the pasture. Traditionally we would go to the nearest stream and find a sandy area. Here we would form out a leaching bed and spread out the acorn flour on top of the clean sand. We would then form a channel bringing the water to the bed and allowing a steady stream to flow over the acorn. Cedar bows are used to allow the incoming water to flow evenly over the flour. You would allow this to continue for at least 8-10 hours, depending on how much and how deep the flour is, after 8 hours you would make a taste test to determine if it was ready. Today we have a raised table made of boards and chicken wire, which we cover with a thick bed of fresh pine needles, and then a clean cotton sheet. On top of this we spread the acorn flour and leach it using a water hose placed on top of a spread of fresh cedar bows. It still takes 8-10 hours. When the leaching process is complete, the flour will no longer have a bitter taste, but rather a slightly sweet taste. When it is ready we pick it up off the leaching bed. It comes up like globs of wet clay. Using the traditional method of a sand bed you would gently wash off any sand with water. Because acorn is high in oils not much adheres to it. The leached acorn flour is then mixed with water, usually a 2-1 ratio for a thick soup or a 3-1 ratio for a thinner soup. This is an approximate measure, as my sister and I mix the flour and water with our hands and know what we are looking for. My sister and I still cook acorn in the traditional method, using baskets and hot rocks. The baskets used for cooking are three rod coiled cooking baskets. They are water tight. In order to use these baskets for cooking they must be soaked in water overnight. This 208

allows the basket material to soak in the water and makes the basket water tight. Before cooking acorn we take a little of the leached flour and rub it into the weave of the basket to assure no leakage. We then mix the leached acorn flour with water in the basket. From: "Andre And Melana" <kanawa@rocler From: Jim Weller Date: 02-08-02

209

Nupa Acorn Soup Part 2

continued

The morning we are going to cook the leached acorn we build a large fire in the cooking fire pit. The fire is built upon a stack of cooking rocks. They can be either basalt rocks or soapstone any other type of rock will burst and crumble. Whatever you choose to use, you always count them before building your fire. Your fire is a clean fire, built of clean wood. No use of petroleum products to start your fire, and never, never throw trash of any sort into a cooking fire. We use only oak or manzanita wood, as these are hot burning woods and leave little ash. We keep this fire burning hot for at least a couple of hours. When we are ready to cook, the cook's helper will lift the cooking rocks out of the fire one at a time, using large sticks called 'pinita', they resemble oversized chop sticks, made of young cedar or oak saplings. Each rock is dipped into a vessel of water to wash off the ash, then a second vessel to assure it's cleanliness. The rock is then placed on the cooks waiting cooking paddle or stirring loop. The cook then gently lowers the rock into the mixed acorn flour, one at a time. It takes approximately four to six rocks the size of an adult fist to bring a basket full of acorn soup to a full rolling boil. The cook keeps the rocks in constant motion. This assures that the basket is not scorched or burned. This cooking process takes about 15-20 minutes. The baskets used are about as large if not larger than a large stock pot. This is a very efficient method of cooking. When the acorn soup, or 'nupa' is done, the cook removes the hot rocks from the soup. Sometimes the cook will drop the rocks onto clean cedar bows and allow the acorn adhered to it to bake, making what my kids call acorn 210

chips. Other times the cook dips her hand into clean water and cleans off each rock as she takes it out of the soup then drops it onto the earth to allow it to cool and bake clean itself. This is how we cook acorn soup, or 'nupa'. The other way we serve it is in little water dumplings or 'ulay'. For this we cook the acorn into a very thick soup, when it is done cooking we use a small basket and individually dip a basketful of the thick acorn soup into very cold running water. It immediately solidifies into like a gelatin dumpling. Many elders prefer this older style of cooked acorn. This is how my people, the Northern Sierra Mewuk (Miwok) prepare acorn. Acorn is high in protein and contains almost every essential vitamin. This we know because we had to have it analyzed before the doctors at Oak Knoll Naval hospital my grandmother was in prior to her passing would allow her to have it. Note: A little background on myself: Here in California I am referred to as a Traditionalist, that is I still practice the traditional ways and ceremonies of my people. I am a basketweaver, I make coiled and twined Mewuk (Miwok) baskets. I am a founding Board Member of the California Indian Basketweavers Association, and served on the Board for the last eight years. I am an artist, I work with oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors, pencil and pen. I make jewelry, a view of my work can be seen in the May 1997 issue of Ornament Magazine in an article announcing the opening of a Beadwork show at the American Indian Contemporary Arts Gallery in San Francisco. For those of you who are wondering what I look like, if you have a copy of the Time/Life Series, Indians of America, in the Indians of California book, you can see me, on page 54, there is a photo of me cooking acorn. Offered by Kimberly R. Stevenot (aka Billierose) Northern Sierra Mewuk (Miwok) Tuolumne Rancheria, Tuolumne, CA http://www.zianet.com/witchy/recipes/native/ From: 211

"Andre And Melana" <kanawa@rocler From: Jim Weller Date: 02-08-02

212

Ohlone Acorn Mush

recipe

Hull several handfulls of acorns. Grind in mortar. Sift in sifting basket. Now you have flour but it is too bitter to eat.So- scoop out hole in sand of creek and line with fern leaves. Put flour in hole and pour water over to leach out tannin. Once leached, put in cooking basket and fill with hot stones until boiling. Mush is now ready to eat. (It is estimated that an indian family consumed 1000-2000 acorns per year.)

213

Ohlones Acorn Mush

Acorns

Not only have native peoples always eaten meat, they have gone to considerable trouble and effort to cook their food. Consider again the Ohlones: Acorns were a very significant part of their diet. They were ground in a stone mortar. The flour was then leached with water. This removed the bitterness. After the leaching came the cooking. A woman placed the flour and some water into still another kind of basket--one so skillfully made that it was completely watertight. Since she could not place the basket directly onto the flames, she heated some round stones in the fire. When a stone was hot, she removed it from the fire with two sticks, dipped it quickly into some water to wash off the ashes, and dropped it into the acorn mush. She stirred constantly with a looped stick or wooden paddle to keep the hot stone from burning a hole in the basket. She then added more stones until the basket was perhaps one quarter filled with stones, and and she kept them all moving and rolling until--after only a few minutes--the mush was boiling. In Bayshore villages that were built on alluvial soil, stones had to be carried in form far away; and good cooking stones--ones that would not crack when heated--were highly valued. When the mush was fully cooked, the woman served it, sometimes in a watery form as a soup, often as a thick porridge. If she wanted to make acorn bread, she boiled the mush longer and then placed the batter into an earthen oven or on top of a hot slab of rock. Acorn bread (described as deliciously rich and oily by early explorers) was a favorite Ohlone food--a food to be taken

214

on trips or to be shared at the many feasts and festivals throughout the year.9 We have dwelt at some length on the diet of the Ohlones because no one will deny that they lived in profound communion with nature. Their diet exemplifies that of traditional peoples throughout the world.

215

Seminole Acorn Stew

2 1/2 lb. stew meat, cubed 1 1/2 qt. water, or more as needed 2 lg. onions, coarsely chopped salt and pepper to taste 2-3 lbs acorns (enough to make 1 cup meal)

Place meat into a pot with water and onions. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add more water if necessary. There should be about 3 cups of broth when meat has been cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, and keep the stew warm. Shell the acorns and grind them in food processor or blender into a very fine meal. With a slotted spoon remove the meat and onions from the pot and place into a glass bowl. Add the acorn meal and blend well. Bring the broth to boil; pour it over the meat mixture and blend well. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately with Fry Bread.

216

Venison-Acorn Stew

2 lbs venison, cut up 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.

217

Wiwish Cahuillaacorn Mush

1 cup acorn flour drained but wet cold wa; ter leached 1 cup water (some acorns need more some l; ess) 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt (to taste ) 1/4 cup sweetener honey or fruit juice conc; entrate optional

Mix ingredients together and bring to a boil, or until wiwish thickens.

218

Vegetables

219

Sauted Mushrooms & Acorns

2 cups fresh chopped mushrooms 1/3 cup leached, pre-cooked and strained ac; orns* 1 tbs. dried onions or 2 tbs. fresh diced; onion garlic (optional)

Saut this in olive oil or butter. Add a dash of soy sauce. Variations: Add steamed veggies and put over rice and add soy sauce. or: Spread on whole wheat tortillas, put 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese on top and microwave until cheese melts. Top with alfalfa sprouts.

220

Index
About Acorns................8 Acorn............................7 Acorn & Egg Breakfast ............................. 100 Acorn 2.........................9 Acorn and Cornmeal Pancakes ............... 110 Acorn Baking..............62 Acorn Bread... 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 Acorn Bread (Modern) 74 Acorn Bread 3.............75 Acorn Bread 33...........76 Acorn Bread 5.............78 Acorn Bread Apache ...79 Acorn Bread With Cattail Flour .......................80 Acorn Brownies ........ 123 Acorn Burgers........... 171 Acorn Casserole........ 143 Acorn Cheese Pies .... 144 Acorn Cheesecake..... 116 Acorn Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Cookies ............................. 113 Acorn Cinnamon Pancakes ............... 101 Acorn Cookies .......... 114 Acorn Crunchies .........58 Acorn Dip ................. 179 Acorn Dip 2 .............. 180 Acorn Enchiladas ...... 145 Acorn Flake ................10 Acorn Flour...........11, 12 Acorn Flour 2 ............. 13 Acorn Gathering & Preparation ............. 14 Acorn Griddle Cakes .102 Acorn Griddle Cakes 2 ..............................103 Acorn Hominy Cake..117 Acorn Information...... 16 Acorn Lasagna ..........146 Acorn Meal ................ 17 Acorn Meal Cakes .....118 Acorn Meal Or Flour .. 18 Acorn Milk................. 19 Acorn Muffins...154, 155 Acorn Muffins 1 ........157 Acorn Mush ..............184 Acorn Mush In A Shawee ..................185 Acorn Notes ............... 20 Acorn Pan-Bread ........ 81 Acorn Pancakes 104, 105, 106 Acorn Pancakes I.......107 Acorn Pancakes II .....108 Acorn Pemmican: ......133 Acorn Pickles ............164 Acorn Pie ..................162 Acorn Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers.......... 21 Acorn Pound Cake ....119 Acorn Pumpkin Bread 82 Acorn Salad Sandwich ..............................172 221

Acorn Shortbread...... 124 Acorn Shred................59 Acorn Slivers ..............60 Acorn Soda Biscuits....83 Acorn Soup or Mush . 186 Acorn Spaghetti Sauce ............................. 177 Acorn Spice Bread ......84 Acorn Spinach Burgers ............................. 173 Acorn Stew ...... 187, 188, 189, 190, 191 Acorn Stew Apache .. 193 Acorn Stew Seminole 194 Acorn Substtutes .........22 Acorn Tips ..................23 Acorn Tofu Breakfast 109 Acorn Tortillas............85 Acorn Veggie Loaf ... 147 Acorn Veggie Soup... 195 Acorn Yeast Bread......86 Acorn, Carrot & Dock Soup...................... 196 Acorn/Pemmican Preparation............ 134 Acorn-Corn Bread.......87 Acorns .................. 25, 27 Acorns & Pasta ......... 167 Acorns & Rice .......... 148 Acorns A ....................28 Acorns B.....................29 Acorns With Black Bean Broth & Pasta........ 149 Acorns, Acorns, Acorns ...............................30 Apache Acorn Cakes: 120

Apache Acorn Ravioli In Clear Broth............197 Apache Acorn Soup..199, 200, 201 Apache Acorn-Pinon Soup With Wild Flowers .................202 Appetizers .................. 57 Baked & Browned Eggplant Acorn Dip & Spread ...................181 Beets & Acorns .........174 Bread Acorn .............. 88 Breads ........................ 61 Breakfast .................... 99 Burning Tree Acorn Bread...................... 89 Burning Tree Golden Acorn Soup ...........203 Cake/cookie ..............112 Cakes ........................115 California Acorns ....... 33 Chicken With Jalapeo Acorn Sauce ..........150 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Bread Recipes......... 90 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Burgers..................175 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Pickles...................165 Chris Nyerge's Acorn Recipes................... 34 Christopher's Acorn Bread...................... 91 Collecting And Storing Acorns And Meal ... 36 2

Contemporary Acorn Bread ......................92 Cornmeal And Acorn Mush..................... 204 Desserts .................... 122 Dressing.................... 130 Elk Stew With Acorn Dumplings ............ 151 Game ........................ 132 Grandma's Acorn Griddle Bread With Syrup . 111 Harvest And Eat The Acorns ....................40 Harvesting The Wild Acorns ....................41 Honey Acorn Bread ....93 How To Use Acorn Meal ...............................49 How To Use Acorns For Food And Bread ......50 Kidney Bean Acorn Salad ..................... 168 Korean Acorn Noodle Salad ..................... 169 Main Dish ................. 142 Mixed Grain Acorn Bread ......................94 Modern Pemmican: ... 141 Muffins ..................... 153 Multi-Grain Bread With Acorn Meal: ............96 Nativeway Apache Acorn Stew...................... 205 Nupa Acorn Soup Part 1 ............................. 206 Nupa Acorn Soup Part 2 ............................. 210

Ohlone Acorn Mush ..213 Ohlones Acorn Mush.214 Peanut And Acorn Yogurt Dessert ......125 Persimmon Acorn Cinnamon Rolls.....126 Pies ...........................161 Preparation Of Ground Acorn Meal ............ 53 Processing Acorns ...... 54 Pumpkin Acorn Pudding ..............................128 Quick Acorn Cheesecake ..............................121 Refried Acorns ..........182 Relishes/preserves .....163 Russ Cohen's Acorn Muffins .................158 Salads........................166 Sandwiches ...............170 Sauce.........................176 Sauces/dips................178 Sauted Mushrooms & Acorns...................220 Savory Acorn Muffins ..............................160 Seminole Acorn Stew 216 Soups/stews...............183 Split Pea Acorn Dinner ..............................152 Tom & Judy Brown's Famous Acorn Yeast Bread...................... 98 Turning Acorns Into Meal ....................... 55 Vegetables.................219 Venison-Acorn Stew .217 3

White Sage Acorn Dressing................ 131

Wiwish Cahuillaacorn Mush .....................218