Think neighborhood squirrels are the only ones who can benefit from the abundance of acorns in the fall? Think again. These small fruits, which are completely edible for humans, are a delicious (and seasonal!) source of nutrients that you can find almost anywhere. Get started on acorn harvesting with help from these simple tips!
The following excerpt is from The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz. It has been adapted for the web.
Credit: Move Over Squirrels, It’s Acorn Harvesting Time!
Acorn Harvesting Tips
Acorns, the nuts of oak trees, are edible and in fact have been a critical source of nutrients for many native peoples in North America and elsewhere. In mainstream culture, however, acorns are largely ignored as a food for human consumption.
Meanwhile, ironically, the imminent threat of global food shortages is continually being used to justify deforestation and intensifying biotechnology. I’m not saying anyone should subsist on acorns alone, but let’s tap into the abundant food resources we already have rather than acting based upon the myth of overall scarcity.
The When’s & How’s of Acorn Harvesting
Gather acorns in the fall. Reject any with visible worm holes. Air-dry acorns before storing.
Shell, Grind, and Soak
To do this, remove acorns from their shells, grind, and soak in water. You can grind acorns dry using a mortar and pestle or mill, or mix acorns with water and grind in a blender or food processor. Acorns should be finely ground to expose lots of surface area, enabling the tannins to leach out.
Leaching After Acorn Harvesting
It is important to note that the acorns of many oak trees contain high levels of tannins and require leaching prior to consumption.
Acorns can be leached in a fine mesh bag in a running stream (this is the fastest method), or in a series of soaks that can last for a few days. As acorn meal soaks, the meal will settle at the bottom of the vessel and the water will darken. Gently pour off the dark water at least daily and discard. Water will darken less with each soak, as tannin levels decrease. Keep rinsing with fresh water until it no longer darkens. If you wish to ferment acorn meal, leave it to soak a few more days in just a small amount of water after the tannins have been leached.
Root Beers
A traditional root beer is a sweetened and fermented decoction of flavorful plant roots. Contrary to the commonly known singular “root” beer, various roots have been and can be used. As a matter of fact, mixing together more than one type of root yields a better flavor than a single root alone. My friend Frank Cook reported that when he visited Jamaica he encountered (plural)roots beers, containing the roots of many different plants, rather than singular root beer.
In my own roots beer practice, I have brewed root mixes that revolve around sassafras, because it has a pleasant flavor and is abundant in the woods where I live. But I always add other roots, most often ginger, licorice, and bur-dock. Sarsaparilla (Smilax regelii) is another traditional ingredient. I encourage you to experiment with proportions and other combinations. Decide how much roots beer you want to make (your target volume), and measure half that amount. Boil roots in measured water to create a concentrate. The advantage of boiling the roots in only half the water is that it’s easy to cool, by adding there remaining water cold. After boiling roots for at least an hour, add sugar. I usually use 2 cups of sugar per gallon (based on the target volume), but you might like it a little sweeter than I do. Once sugar is dissolved in the hot root decoction, add the remaining half of the water cold, to reach target volume. Taste and add sugar if necessary. Adding water will cool your sweet decoction. If it still feels hot to the touch, leave it a few hours to cool before adding starter. If it feels no warmer than body temperature, go ahead and add starter. Starter can be water kefir, ginger bug, whey, yeast, or a previous batch of roots beer. Ferment a day or two, until the mixture is vigorously bubbly, then transfer to bottles, seal, and ferment another day or two until bottles are pressurized. Then chill to slow continued fermentation (always heeding the caution against over carbonation and explosions) and enjoy
Sourdough: Starting One and Maintaining It
Sourdough is the most common English-language word to describe a mixed culture starter for rising bread (as well as many other culinary applications). Essentially it is backslopping, simply using a bit of the previous batch to start the next one. This is how virtually all bread was made until two centuries ago, when purer forms of yeast began to become commercially available. Even before Louis Pasteur isolated yeast organisms, in 1780 Dutch distillers started marketing yeast foam to bakers, skimmed from the top of fermenting alcohol. In 1867, a Vienna factory refined this process, taking the yeasty foam, skimming it off, filtering and washing it, and compressing the yeast into cakes. This became known as the Viennese process, still in use today. In 1872, Charles Fleischmann patented an improved manufacturing process for compressed yeast and built an industrial empire upon its production. Today, the vast majority of baking is done using isolated yeasts, and sourdough persists almost as a novelty, except in artisan bakeries. Isolated yeasts certainly offer some advantages for bakers, in terms of speed and uniformity. But these benefits come with the sacrifice of positive attributes of traditional mixed-culture leavens, such as flavor complexity, moist texture, superior keeping properties and fuller pre-digestion. With wheat flour, researchers have found that mixed-culture sourdough pre-digestion results in “highly significant” increased available lysine content and diminished presence of gluten.
The simplest way of starting a sourdough from scratch is to mix a small amount of flour and water in a bowl, a little more flour than water, and stir until smooth. Add a little more water or flour as necessary to obtain a batter that is liquid and pourable, yet thick enough to cling to the spoon. Rye flour seems to work fastest, but you can make sourdough with the four of any grain. Be sure the water is un-or dechlorinated. Press out any lumps of flour so the batter is smooth. It should be thick enough to cling to the spoon (or your hands), and to (soon) hold foamy bubbles. Stir at least once a day for a few days, until you see bubbles on the surface. Then feed it a high proportion of fresh flour, adding roughly three to four times as much fresh flour and water to the remaining starter. High-proportion feedings like this reduce the acidity of the sourdough environment and give yeasts a competitive advantage. It’s a good way to build sourdough vigor.
There are many other techniques people use to start sourdoughs. Some people like to use water from boiling potatoes (cool to body temperature before adding), or starchy water from rinsing or soaking grains, or fruit, or fruit or vegetable skins. People sometimes use another starter to start sourdough. I’ve heard about people using foam off fermenting beer in bread starter, as well as yogurt, kefir, sour milk, water kefir, kombucha, rejuvelax, and fermented nut milks. Many people start a sourdough with a packet of yeast and let it naturally diversify from that. Some people start with established starters they are given, or purchase them online. Some people advocate stirring with your clean hands as a means of culturing. But really all you need is flour and water. Beyond that all sourdough requires is a little patience and persistence.
I’ve started sourdough from flour and water many times. There is abundant microbial life present on grains. “Cereals and flours prepared from cereals are always heavily seeded with microorganisms,” writes microbiologist Carl Pederson. “One cannot prepare a dough without incorporating these organisms.” This indigenous microflora is dormant in dried grains and flour, but when the flour is moistened by water, microbial activity resumes. Stirring stimulates and distibutes microbial activity, encourages yeast growth via oxygenation, and prevents surface mold growth. If you keep feeding it and maintaining a hospitable environment, the culture-a complex community of organisms that microbiologist Jessica Lee calls “the interlocking metabolic relationships in yeast and bacterial consortia” – can persist for generations. A crucial aspect of the microbial community’s stability is its acidic environment, “a powerful weapon to keep other organisms at bay,” writes Lee. Even using high-proportion feedings to limit the levels of acidity, sourdough’s acidity protects its microbial community, then after baking continues to protect the bread from mold and bacterial growths. Sourdough breads generally age more gracefully, and in certain instances actually improve over time. (To maximize your bread’s shelf life, wrap your loaves in breathable paper rather than plastic.) Even if the crust dries out, molds will not develop, and the interior will remain moist and delicious.
Make sure to read Sandor Ellix Katz book, “The Art of Fermentation“, for, the exact method on preparing acorns, plus, much more…
