Edible Acorns

I’ve been in Asturias on a small farm called La Flor del Agua for more than a month now. I’m learning a lot of new things here. Something that really inspires me, is how to make coffee or flour with acorns. I would like to share this with you:

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First of all, processing acorns is a lot of work! Nevertheless, it is incredibly fun when you do everything yourself, from collecting acorns to enjoy your coffee. It feels self sufficient and independent.

First you have to collect acorns. Loads of acorns. And then cut them open – the easiest way is to use the secateurs. If you let the acorns dry for a few days, the acorn will shrink a little and peeling will be easier. Otherwise the acorn sticks too much to the shell and is very difficult to remove. Now separate the good from the bad ones and throw away the shells. The good ones are light in color, the bad ones can be moldy or black. Sometimes they changed color just because they are a little older. Nevertheless, if you’re not sure, throw it away.

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Once everything is sorted, you have to soak them in water to wash out the tannins that make acorns so bitter an indigestible. This can take a week or two. The water should be changed at least once a day. As soon as the water becomes clear, you can continue.

Now there are two options. You can either mix the acorns and use the mass as a flour substitute – either you use it immediately or freeze for later. Or you can dry and roast them in the oven at 180°C . Depending on the degree of roasting, you can then use it to make flour or coffee. I prefer a light roasting for flour and a strong one for coffee. After roasting you have to grind them. We needed to crash the dried acorn in a kitchen towel with a hammer, otherwise it would have clogged our mill. Since it wasn´t an electric grinder, it was a great workout for my arms!

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With the acorn powder you may now prepare your coffee or use it as a flour substitute. For coffee, I take three heaped teaspoons of powder for half a liter – brew and strain it. After all the work you will really appreciate the coffee!

Since the acorns contain no gluten as an adhesive, you always have to mix it with corn flour for baking. I usually replace half of the flour with acorn flour. But already 200g acorn mass on a kilo of flour gives the bread a wonderful acorn taste. We have already made pizza dough, bread, brownies and other goodies with it.

If you have any questions, suggestions or even your own recipes, write me! I would be very happy about that.