Hunting/cooking with acorns

[Grayrock]

Acorns are a big draw for deer. What is their protein content? I have tons in my driveway right now that are getting ground to flour. Brought a thought to my mind- has anyone actually tried eating acorns? Can you cook them somehow? or grind them into flour and use it? If so- what do they taste like? Also- does anyone collect and save acorns to spread as bait when they hunt?

 

[ChefJeff1]

Interesting from a chef point of view. Imagine this: Venison loin marinated in olive oil, a crushed garlic clove, fresh sage, (from Idaho of course) Cracked black pepper, and crushed juniper berries. Sear in a hot pan until medium rare. I'll think about your acorn situation. It should be treated as a nut, I guess. I think the exterior is the shell and what you want to utilize is the "meat "inside. Crack the "nut" and dry out the "meat". Then grind in a food processor to use as a nut flour in a breading.

 

[Chawbaccer]

It would depend on the acorn. Game craves a white oak acorn and will ignore those from a red oak. I was always told that they were bad for a human.

 

[Grayrock]

Mine are all from a "live oak" (Quercus virginiana).

 

[bernie]

You might actually try one before you cook with them. In my area we have lots and lots of red and white oaks. The deer in my area prefer to chow on the white oak acorns. If you split open a white oak acorn and taste it, it is not horrible. If you split open a red oak acorn and taste it, they are exceedingly bitter. Even white oaks can vary in how they taste.
However, I recall that some indian tribes used them as a staple in their diet.

 

[zinj]

IIRC acorns need to be processed to remove the tannins before eating. Even the native americans did this. It should make a good flour, but it has a tendency to spoil because it is very rich.

 

[swampdog]

IIRC acorns need to be processed to remove the tannins before eating

You can remove the tannic acid by boiling. White Oak acorns will need to be boiled less than red. This book has a detailed description of the process as well as some "recipes". I thought the section on edible plants was worth the price of the book.

 

[4v50 Gary]

What I learned from a museum...

There use to be a video at the California Academy of Sciences where an Indian woman (sorry, forgot which California tribe) would pound the acorns into a powder, then she would place it into a bag and set it in a stream and allow the running water to leach the tannic acid from the acorn meal. She would then heat a rock and pour water and the acorn meal into a woven basket. The hot rock was then thrown in and constantly moved to prevent it from burning a hole in the basket. The heat from the rock would cook the acorn and water into a mush. Yum yum.