Harvesting Wild: The Mast Crop

People trying to make do on less and less money in the modern world already know that food is a greater expense for a family than most economists like to admit. Most of us have scanned various ‘official’ guess-timates of how much of a family’s income goes toward groceries – not eating out in restaurants or fast food joints – and have smirked at the discrepancies between what government thinks we can live on and the constantly rising prices at the grocery store.

Fortunately for those who live near a copse of woods or a real forest, nature does provide a bounty of foods that can be had for no more than the price of a healthy hike, some prep time and effort, and the energy it takes to process the harvest.

The production of acorns by oak trees every fall is called the “mast crop” here in the southern Appalachians. Some trees will produce bushels of acorns one year, practically nothing the next. We know that squirrels, bears, deer and other wildlife depend on the mast crop to put on weight for the coming winter, but did you know that the nuts of wild hickory, walnut, chestnut and oak trees were a large part of the staple diet of Native Americans long before white guys came?

Acorns of oak require more processing than the other nuts do, but provide a heavy staple flour rich in nutrients, complex carbohydrates, minerals and rich oil. The tribes depended on acorn flour in the Americas to supplement the meat-heavy winter diet with acorn flatbreads and stew thickener, or a hot combo mush with acorn meal and wild grass seeds.

Acorns tend to be much more bitter than sweet hickory nuts or black walnuts due to their tannin content. This tannin must be leached out of the acorns before they become the nutty-tasting sweet meal that makes such tasty breads, cooking and cakes that serve as a nutritious staple food for the winter. And it takes a lot of acorns to produce a significant amount of meal, so enlist the kids to help harvest and process.

Red oak acorns have a lot of tannin, white oaks less, and some oaks (burr oak, swamp oak) produce acorns that hardly need any leaching at all. If you find a variety of acorn types in a park or copse, keep them separate in your baskets or bags so as not to mix them for leaching purposes. There’s really no efficient way to get to the nutmeat other than to use a nutcracker, but acorn shells are thin and easily split. The meat usually comes apart in halves easily. It should be a creamy yellow-white without holes or black spots. I personally look for acorns after a rainy period that are barely sprouted, as these tend to be sweeter and contain less tannin that needs to be leached.

Take a little taste of your acorns to judge how bitter they are, and label them for bitterness as they are cracked and split and put into containers. When you’ve a good bowlful, put the nut halves into a soup pot and cover with twice as much water, boil for 5-10 minutes. After it sits for another 10-15 minutes, pour into a colander to discard the dark, tannin-tinted water and spray rinse. Then repeat the process until the water no longer turns dark. Some acorns need only one or two boilings, others need 5 or more. You can taste an acorn after each process. It should have a sharp bitterness when you first bite, then a rich sweetness.

Once the nut halves have been sufficiently leached of their tannin content, put them in a food processor or blender and chop them into a chunky meal. Spread this meal thinly on oven trays and dry on a low temperature (225º), turning occasionally, until well dried. A dehydrator also works, the Indians put their meal out in the full sun to dry.

Once the meal is well dried and warm brown, you can put it into quart Ball jars or ziplock freezer bags and put it in the freezer. It will keep in the refrigerator for about a week if you are planning to grind in that time, but the oil will go rancid if it’s not kept refrigerated or frozen.

To make the final ground meal you’ve several options. You can do it like the Indians and pound it with stones, you can use the food processor’s fine-ground setting, or you can use a hand-mill grinder. Due to oil content the flour is going to be grainier than regular wheat or bean flours, like cornmeal. You can grind flour as you need it, or grind up a few pounds and freeze it along with the other flours you keep in the freezer (all flours should be frozen for storage).

Check out some of the great acorn recipes and links below, consider how much high quality staple food you could provide for your family without having to spend a near fortune at the health food store (the only place you can get pre-processed acorn meal, and it’s expensive!

Acorn Recipes

• Use acorn meal to thicken stews and soups, instead of masa, flour or cream.

• Add 1/4 cup acorn meal to any single-loaf multigrain bread recipe, adjusting other flours to compensate. It adds a sweet, nutty taste. Other sweeteners should be adjusted, as acorn meal is itself a sweetener.

Apache Acorn Cakes

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

Mix ingredients with enough warm water to make a moist but not sticky dough. Divide into 12 balls. Let these rest covered for 10-15 minutes. Shape into thick, tortilla-shaped breads and cook on an ungreased cast iron skillet over medium heat. When slightly brown, turn and finish cooking the other side.

Cornmeal and Acorn Mush

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

Bring salted water to a boil and sprinkle the acorn meal into the boiling water while stirring briskly with a whisk. Then add the cornmeal to make a thick, bubbling batch about the consistency of cream of wheat. Place the saucepan over boiling water (double boiler) and simmer until the mush is quite thick, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Satisfying hot cereal with a little milk and a bit of fruit jam or compote. As a main dish it can be topped with salsa, grated cheese or bacon bits. Or put the mush into a greased bread pan and refrigerate overnight. Then cut 1/2 inch slices, dip in flour and fry in hot vegetable oil.

Links:

Backwoods Home: Harvesting the wild

Prodigal Gardens: September

Acorn Recipes: Pancakes, Bread, Cookies, Gingerbread, Muffins,Acorn Burgers, Chile Con Acorn, Acorn ‘Meat’ Loaf

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