posted 11 years ago
I've been eating acorns in my daily diet twice a day for months and months now....part of my work in indigenizing myself and my diet to my new site in CA, where balanophagy (eating acorns) has been part of native lifeways for millenia. And, as said above, you probably have bur oak which is one of the mildest, probably comparable to the species I use (blue and valley oak) I usually clip the acorns into halves or quarters with pruning clippers....the peels are pliable on these. If they are hard, you crack them open. A lot of source say to grind then, or try to leach the whole pieces, but I take the shelled pieces and dry them, and then store these "chips" like any other grain. When I want to make a batch I grind these and leach. Leaching is easy when you get it set up. A piece of coarse cloth in a colander under a dripping water source....in the sink, or outside near a thirsty plant. After a few hours taste the gruel.....when it loses all it's bitterness or taste of tea, it's ready. Usually I mix half and half with flour or cornmeal and make it either boiled....like grits or polenta, or baked, like cornbread. Yum!