Fall is the Time for Collecting Acorns
Every fall I look at the acorns on the ground. Every fall I tell myself that one of these days I will collect them and make acorn flour. Well, I’m proud to say that this is the year! I did it; not only did I make acorn flour, I used it in pancakes, and make cookies with it. Guys, it’s good stuff!
Acorns, like all nuts, are nutritious! They contain protein, carbohydrates, and fats, as well as vitamins and minerals. More detailed nutritional information may be found here.
Making Acorn Flour
Let me tell you how I did it. There are two main groups of acorns – red oaks and white oaks. Both types are edible. The acorns I found were from a type of red oak tree. Leaves from red oaks are pointy, while those of white oak are rounded. I gathered about 2 quarts of acorns.
I discovered that some of the acorns had tiny holes in them. In every case, these contained larva of the acorn weevil and were tossed. Yes, that larva is edible, too, but umm, no. And all of the acorns that had their caps still in place where rotted on the inside.
My first step was to crack the acorns and remove the nut. I found it was easier to do this after I spread the acorns on a tray and allowed them to dry a few days at room temperature.
The challenge I found was to remove the papery skin that forms under the shell. Soaking them in cold water helped. Some of the reading I’ve done (after the fact) recommends allowing the acorn to dry completely before cracking – much longer than the few days I allowed them to dry. This should make both cracking and removal of that papery skin much easier.
I then pureed the nuts with water in my NutriBullet blender and allowed this mash to sit for about a week in the fridge, straining and changing the water daily. This process removes tannins which cause bitterness. Some articles recommend boiling the acorns to remove the tannins, but the cold-water method of removing tannins helps to assure that nutrients are kept intact.
I then drained the mash, and spread it out in my dehydrator to dry at a low temperature for about 12 hours. The thoroughly dried mash was ground in my NutriBullet blender to make a fine powder – the flour. I was never able to remove all those papery skins and I believe that is what gave my flour a reddish tint.
My 2 quarts of acorns yielded approximately 4 cups of acorn flour.
My final step was to make cookies. They are a shortbread type cookie loosely based on this recipe. They were crisp, buttery and delicious!!! All in all, a very profitable first try at making and using acorn flour.
More Than Weeds
A Foraging eCourse for Beginners
Are you interested in foraging, but a bit hesitant because you don’t trust your own abilities? I created a mini eCourse just for you. In More Than Weeds: 5 Common Plants to Forage for Food and Medicine you’ll learn that identifying plants is all in the details.
Using common plants with which you may be somewhat familiar, you’ll learn beginner botany skills that you’ll be able to use as you move forward. You’ll gain confidence to use these plants for your family in food and safe, home remedies. Get started now!
More Fall Foraging Posts You’ll Love
How to Harvest and Crack Black Walnuts
Hunter’s Pie with Jerusalem Artichoke
Make Your Own Lacto-Fermented Grape Juice from Wild Grapes
Make Your Own Apple Sugar from Wild Apples
Thank you for visiting Learning And Yearning. May "the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Num 6:24-26
Marcia Robin says
I am grateful for you. I wondered about this very thing earlier today bc I found huge acorns by one oak tree and much smaller ones by another. So very timely of your post.Thank you very much for this and all the info you share.
Susan Vinskofski says
You are kind, Marcia; thanks for stopping by!!!
TheOldPhart says
Interesting article – I have been told that white oak accords have considerably less tannins which is why they are preferred by deer, bear, wild turkey, ducks, and squirrels.
Susan Vinskofski says
That’s correct – white oaks have less tannin, but if you want to store the acorns red oak last longer. I used what was available to me. Thanks for stopping by!
Charlene says
Please leave some acorns for the squirrels, chipmunks and the deer to eat.
emma says
???
Heather says
There’s always one….
First off, she used 2 quarts which is a very small amount.
Secondly, humans are allowed to eat food also!
It’s much better on the environment to eat food in your immediate locality which doesn’t even require water outside of rain!
There are plenty of acorns to go around!
Amanda says
I don’t it this year too! (First time)
Amanda says
Did* lol
Susan Vinskofski says
Yay for us!!!
Diane says
Due to recent rains, most of the acorns have sprouted, which I assume renders them unusable for this purpose. Unfortunately, some that I’ve brought inside to dry are also sprouting. Those of the red oak seem to be quicker to sprout than the white oak. Hoping to have enough to give this a try!
Susan Vinskofski says
Yes, I hope that works out for you!!!
Rebecca says
Sprouting increases the nutrition and makes it more digestible.
A Magical Life says
Actually, sprouted acorns are even better! Once they sprout, they become sweeter. If you only gather the sprouted ones, they are more nutritious and better tasting. Some foragers wait until spring to gather the sprouted acorns but you generally have to work a lot harder for a much smaller yield if you do that.
Jeri says
Thank you so much for this! I have 3 1/2 red oak covered acres I’ve been homesteading. I’ve found acorn grinding stones (artifacts) among other stone tools while digging. Been so wanting to make and use my own acorn flour!
Susan Vinskofski says
Oh, wow, that’s really amazing that you’ve found those grinding stones!!! Could you send a photo to susan at learningandyearning dot com? I would love to see those!!!
Judy says
I e wanted to try this. Going to collect acorns. Thank you
eva says
susan,
you are amazing!!! thanks for sharing all that you do!!
xo
eva
Susan Vinskofski says
*great big blush*
Tabitha says
So does anyone just eat them? I’ve known they are since childhood but I’ve never actually tried them. Kind of funny when you think that most children will at least eat one bug but I’ve never tried an acorn nut. Does anyone like them just as a nut?
Susan Vinskofski says
Tabitha, they are much too astringent to eat as is.
A Magical Life says
We’ve been foraging acorns for nearly 15 years now and it’s one of our family’s favorite fall traditions. We do hot water leaching and cold water leaching. There are benefits to both ways. We enjoy acorns and acorn flour in so many dishes — pancakes, waffles, breads, muffins, pasta, soup, “meatballs,” acorn-infused butter, and on and on. There is nothing in the world that tastes the same as baked goods made with roasted acorns. 🙂
Susan Vinskofski says
Yay for you!
Eli says
I have heard about acorn coffee, any insight? Thanks!
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Eli, I’m not familiar with it, but now that you put the thought into my head I have to try it. I gathered some acorns today!
Ute says
Susan, this is a wonderful blog!
Thank you! Really, really appreciate your description of making
Acorn flour.
I’ve been wondering about Acorns all these years, always heard they are
too bitter to eat.
We live under two giant oaks and have one more by our path.
We love listening to them fall and drop onto our roof at night.
Now I have a reason to collect them.
I’m looking forward to the next season.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Ute,
Like you, I had thought that acorns were just survival food, and it took me years and years to try them. No, they are a delightful treat!!!
David says
You may want to check out this website:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160401220453/https://www.desertortoisebotanicals.com/how-to-process-acorns-for-food
Susan Vinskofski says
Thank you, David!
Sherry Stiles says
This post has landed in my top 10 Pinterest finds! 20 plus years ago, while researching activities to do with my 5th grade class for our study of Pacific Coast Native Americans I came across directions for making acorn flour, a staple food of California Indians. Perfect! We collected acorns, made flour which we used to make acorn bread, invited the administrators, and shared our fresh, warm bread. Unfortunately, the recipe did not include directions to soak and drain over several days to leech the tannins. Ugh! it was soooo bitter, lol. Gobs of jam didn’t help at all.My principal STILL talks about it, 🙂 .
Obviously, I’m going to have to try this again in the fall!
BTW- we blanched the acorns which made shelling them a breeze, I think the skin peeled off easily after blanching, too.
Susan Vinskofski says
What a wonderful teacher you are; I hope you try it again. It’s truly delicious! And thank you for the tip to blanch the acorns to remove the shells!
Sherry Stiles says
* Leaching ?
Nicole says
Wonderful! I have always wanted to do this and with fall on the way again and the acorns falling my husband inquired about it last week. A timely FB post by the New Homesteader’s Almanac lead me here today and this is just the plan I needed. Maybe I’ll finally give it a try!
JoAnne says
In the early part of the fall I read your Acorn article and was determined to do something with the mountains of acorns that fell from the trees on our property. YIPPY, I succeeded in making the flour. The soaking process rendered some amazing caramel aromas in our house.
Now I just have to find a vegan acorn recipe to use some of the flour.
Thank you dear lady for sharing your knowledge. God Bless and keep you healthy in these challenging times.
Susan Vinskofski says
The flour is so delicious; enjoy!!!
Joyce V says
I am excited to find “learningandyearning.com”. Thank you for all the great information!
Susan Vinskofski says
You’re so welcome, Joyce; I’m glad you’re here!