Pastor Dave's Highlights

[Bruce]

I want to do a lengthy process and make acorn flour. We will see how that works out.

That could be interesting. Never heard of acorn flour.

 

[Pastor Dave]

I read abt it first in a book I read as a kid called, "My Side of the Mountain". A mostly grown boy, maybe 14 to 16 ran away from a big family in NYC to go live on his great grandpa Gribley's property in tbe Catskills. I loved tbe book and it had a lot of survival skills logged in it as the boy kept a journal of all his days there.

I also like history and ways the Native Americans and the early settlers used everything around them to eat, live, and survive. If I could do some of those things, I would be happy.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Please let us know how the acorn flour works out!

 

[Pastor Dave]

You're supposed to use large acorns, but mine are a smaller variety. Crack them and allow to dry to shell them. Hot leach or cold leach to remove the bitterness. The cold leach method involves a mesh bag and moving water for a week. Or, a tub and several changes of water for abt two weeks. The hot leach method involves a pot on tbe stove and boiling them. It takes abt 4 changes of water and boiling to achieve the preferable taste. Then dehydrate or bake at lowest oven temp and once cool, pulverize with food processor or corn or coffee grinder, etc. The consistency is like almond flour you can buy. No gluten and doesn't cake very well like wheat flour, but you can make pancakes, grits, soup and some other edible concoctions.

 

[Baymule]

What kind of acorns do you have? Never have tried it, but I've heard that white oak acorns are the best.

 

[Pastor Dave]

The leaves have pointy tips and small acorns. I'm not sure whick oak they are. We do have some Burr oak that aren't big enough to produce yet. They probably came from a tree that is just a stump now. The oak I am harvesting from now is probably 60 to 80yrs old. The hickory tree I harvested from is huge and probably 150 yrs old!

 

[Baymule]

You can tap hickory trees for the sap and boil it down for syrup. Do you know what type hickory you have?

 

[Pastor Dave]

Not sure of that either. It's not got the shag bark. It looks really big, like 80 to 100' tall and a 40' breadth or more. The hickories are more oblong and come to pointy ends, kinda like a football. Once I find out if they taste good or not may make the determination. Could be a Pignut Hickory. I wonder if the nuts are roasted if they will have a better flavor?

 

[Baymule]

https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Hickory-Trees

 

[Mini Horses]

Acorn info...

https://homesteadsurvivalsite.com/acorns-harvest-process-eat/