To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Acorn recipes?
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:16:29 -0500
Ginda,
I have only baked with acorns, using the slurry as a liquid ingredient.
For bread this is very easy, as you just adjust according to the amount of
liquid. If you were to make a quick bread, the acorn slurry would not
exactly replace milk cup for cup, but those recipes can be adjusted by feel
too. Seems like I dumped the slurry into stew once and was not impressed,
so maybe the baking brings out the flavor the same way it does in pecans and
almonds.
A friend who lived many years in Spain told me about a popular breakfast
there. You take cornmeal, preferably fresh ground, and toast it in a dry
frying pan. Then pour in broth or milk and cook for a short while. I
thought I'd do this with acorn meal, but that was the time I got the acorns
hot in the truck, the stuff was inedible. You might want to try it done
right.
I'd really like to hear if you can make the black oak acorns edible.
Donna
P.S. I forgot to mention the two reasons why no one in their right mind
would ever plant chestnuts. The stink of the trees in bloom, and the burrs.
We have plenty of room and don't run barefoot, so I figured there was no
reason not to plant them. That was before I realized that the bad chlorox
smell at the house we rented in town was from the neighbor's chestnut tree.
And then one day, picking up the first small crop off the ground, I realized
that our dogs run barefoot all the time... so I've tried to confine the
trees to one slope. It's not this years burrs that are the worst, it's the
half rotten pieces that hide in corners and are hard to see. The prickles
break off in your feet. I can remember being about 6 years old and lying on
the couch and crying as my dad picked them out of my feet. No matter how
hard my grandparents tried to make sure they raked and burnt every burr,
they always missed some.