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acorns
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:05 am
by mrsflibble
anyone ever made acorn coffee? the green outside my house has about 6 oak trees on it. the bigger ones have started dropping acorns (hey must be over 40 years old then) and I want to do something with them!!!
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:21 am
by Ellendra
No, but I have made acorn bread. After the tannins are leached out, acorn flour is among the most concentrated sources of edible protein around. (A small handful has more protein than an entire pound of hamburger.)
There are several ways to leach the tannins out. The easiest is just to puree the nuts with water in a blender until finely ground, then allow it to settle overnight and decant the water off. The resulting mush can be cooked up as a porridge, or dried to a powder and used in place of flour or cornstarch.
-Ellendra
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:28 am
by British Red
Hi, I hope its okay to post pictures here (feel free to remove if not!)
Anyway - assuming it is, this might be of interest if you want to try Acorn Coffee
Well, found a great pile of ripe acorns when out and about, so I thought I’d brew some acorn coffee.
I shelled a good few by squeezing between thumb and forefinger. A few were stubborn so I applied my Leatherman squeezing top to bottom
Now these were big acorns, so I roughly chopped them down to a more manageable roasting size. Actually, after first roast, I needed to take them down to a slightly smaller size.. Small pea / coffee bean is ideal
So I chucked the roughed chopped pieces into the heavy pan I roast my coffee in
I shoved the pan on my stove and roasted outdoors – loads of smoke and a lovely smell rather reminiscent of hazel nuts I thought
Always a bit tricky roasting anything new so I kept the pan moving and went for a darker brown colour. Its worth noting that the skin dries and flakes away as you roast. A good flick into the air on a breezy day and the skin just blows away
Finally got a nice dark colour going – checked occasionally on the softness of the larger piece. I was going for a good hard consistency. Let them cool and bunged the pieces into my coffee grinder and ended up with a nice coarse powder
Placed the powder into a cafitiere and added some boiling water and left it for about 5 minutes
Acorns really do make a very pleasant drink – nutty and smooth. Not coffee of course but neither is blackberry leaf or peppermint and I like them too!
Tastes really nice - found stack of beechmast too - ate that though :D
Red
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:03 pm
by old tree man
That looks really good
I'm going for a walk through a lovely old oak wood near me tomorrow
will be a nice finish to a day out
all the best
Russ
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:49 am
by the.fee.fairy
Posting pics is fine - especially when they're that informative!
Might have to have a go at this acorn stuff when i see some next!
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:48 pm
by DifferentDrummer
It's always worth checking the flavour of acorns as they vary greatly and some are quite tasty raw. Not common, most are far too Tannic.
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:34 pm
by mrsflibble
thanks for the pics, and also thanks for the advice on testing them.... I've since moved; but I've moved to another oak-studded road so I'm still up for it lol!
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:58 am
by Hedgehogpie
I like acorn coffee. It has a nice taste, which I think of as slightly biscuity. The frugally minded can use acorn coffee as a good means of extending their supply of coffee beans too.