Making acorn flour

And PSA regarding any kind of foraging-- don't take a lot. Last year was huge and every single oak in my city went heheh nuts and I foraged more than I've had time to process since. These pics are from last year and I don't plan to harvest any acorns this year. As a general rule, don't forage where it'll bother anybody and don't take more than like 10% of any specific thing you see. I only foraged once at this park for example, and it has several very old oaks. I only picked up acorns from this one lil white oak pictured here.

Step one, shelling. I've also worked with towel on the floor folded over and a hammer. I also have a little handcrank guy but it's flimsy.

Step two, leaching. Soak the tannins out. I use cold water and change 2-3 times per day when the water is brown. Continue until it doesn't look like black tea after a few hours. Native people would keep a bag of acorns suspended in the river for a few days for this. Don't try to boil out the tannins-- heat will fix the bitter chemical in the nut flesh.

Roasting time. Not so much for flavor (it makes your house smell so good you'll want to cry, tho. Think warm cookies plus fireplace in the forest) but to dry out after all the soaking. Makes it easier to process into flour and also easier to store without risk of mold.

So I went about this rather laboriously using a coffee grinder and hand sifter. It works. But eventually a larger and more thorough grain grinder would be nice.

Smooth tasty acorn flour. When I bake with it I usually use half the flour called for, and replace the other half with acorn flour. It's simply too dense, and since there's no gluten it won't react to leavening the same way. But the flavor and texture is incredible and you're getting locally grown organic flour full of protein. Cheers and stay regulated ??✌️?