1668 Acorns - The Fuel Of The Future - A Super Easy Way To Remove Tannins

[TonyGingrich]

@2:54 Haha! I don't know if it's true that our ancestors actually brined acorns in urine. But I will say, it's a plausible theory.

In my neck of the woods, there remain several communities of the Choctaw tribe. They actively continue their native customs and traditions, to include foods. Roasted venison with acorns is a FANTASTIC meal. I normally don't eat wild game, due to the musk. But the woman who prepared this particular dish shared her secret with me: Brine the meat and acorns in cold salted water for 24 - 48 hours. It leaches the musk from the meat, and also leaches the bitterness from the acorns.

I've not yet tried that technique for myself, so I can only quote her word. But I also have no sense that she misled me.

[michailnicki]

Acorns can actually be quite easily blanched for effectively free. You just need to smash them, put them in a bag and use the water you use to flush your toilet to blanch them! Either chuck the whole bag into your toilet tank (upper part of course!) or add a second flow-through tank to make the toilet as usable as it has been before while serving as an acorn wash for free! After a few days to a week they should be done, ready for preparing to eat.

[Mrthhour]

Druids used to place the acorns in a net and leave them in a running stream for some days before consuming. Also bullrushes eat starch and are good for making alcohol. They also remove nitrates from the environment deposited by intensive cattle farming. Bullrushes are the answer for the Dutch farmers rather than removing their cows and taking their land in the name of nitrate reduction. Hope you are well Rob.

[fritzwilhelm]

John Kallas, of Wild Food Adventures here in the Pacific Northwest of America, has shown that leaching of tannins can be achieved in a few hours of an afternoon. High pressure spray from a hose into a flat pan with a supported filter, allowed to drain several times will do the trick. With this cold water treatment many of the fats and oils are preserved. This is a much faster and efficient mode of tannin removal than one hears of elsewhere, as I've seen for myself when I attended his acorn processing workshop back in fall 2010.

I've found it very helpful to use a hand-cranked nut cracking machine called the DaveBilt nutcracker. If the nuts are first dried and sent through the mill, mostly wholes and halves can be obtained to the tune of 40-50 lbs an hour (depending on your stamina!). Both are very effective methods that greatly reduce production time and the overall usability of native nuts and their oils.

[connorschnurr]

One time while I I lived homeless outside I blanched acorns by putting shelled nuts in a grain bag, and suspending the bag from paracord into a flowing stream. The entire process took absolute ages.

[victoryfirst]

Robert, I have to thank you for giving us videos that have meaning and value. Also, when I was a boy scout we would pick acorns and make pancakes out of them. These are the lightest tastiest and best body cakes one can eat. I wait each year for the dropped morales to grab and make pancakes. The trick is to get rid of the tannin acid by soaking the crushed white savory white meat. We would smash the white parts and put in a clean soak, Then you lay in a flowing stream for hours. Than you smash the meat again and soak.Forgot to say to remove the brown colored husk outside the nut which is not what you want. Hope I did not forget a step or two since this adventure was many years ago. Worked for us. Peace vf

[audiowan]

First i would like to thank Robert for producing such great videos. Collecting Acorns; more and more... I was using a mini forced fan/rocket stove to bake different materials (in a metal pipe).. (with small hole for exhaust) at high temperatures in order to try and make high conductive carbon, well... the acorn "caps" when dry make an excellent low resistance carbon, and also; (when burned) a Super fuel!! I call it almost orange colour heat ...

[ryanjamesloyd]

I've had some very good pancakes made from acorn flour (had a little wheat flour in there to help with binding as well but it was Mostly acorn). Just grind it fine and it does quite well.

[WileHeCoyote]

Can we take a moment to appreciate that an ancient white oak is not only a cool tree, it's shade, it's bread, its fuel and it ground foot print is literally the diameter of the trunk!

[ile]

I can almost see this future "Moonshiners" episode where they make "Acorn shine". 😁

[bobmiller]

loved the way his face light up and belly laugh after eating the Acorns, so glad i stumbled upon this
channel, what a thought provoking thing of beauty it is, im binging at the moment, i can feel my constructive juices flowing, and the old cogs grinding, , what a blessing, , thanks for sharing, , bob&MrTao, xx

[robertnancarrow]

Enjoy tuning in and catching up with more knowledge you share and enjoy your sense of humor.. Cheers.

[emrekipmen]

I make acorn bread when I have energy and time to boil those numerous times. It tastes delicious. A cup of ground acorn, a couple of eggs and some baking powder. But it time consuming process. The technique you showed is brilliant, I'll definitely try it this winter. Thank you!

[jsoswell]

You must have Red Oak acorns. White Oak can be eaten raw, and taste good. Love everything you do!

[simontaylor]

Definitely an improvement upon my great-grandmother's methodology, interesting, thank you Robert.

[mauricevandelogt]

In Dutch the word for squirrel is eekhoorn, pronounced as the English acorn. When you were talking about how to grind up acorns it sounded very cruel to me. Btw it's easier to get rid of the tannin just by putting them in water for a while. The squirrels do the same by putting them in the ground and retrieve them later.

[AndreaDingbatt]

Fantastic Information for us Foragers! As well as a great Chemistry lesson at the End!! Thank You!!

[FollowPhotiniByDesign]

Centuries ago, another popular method for leaching tannins from acorns was placing your acorns in a hessian sack, and then anchoring it into a river which was left for anything between 3/4 weeks and then collected at a later date. The acorns were then dried and crushed into a powder ready for baking. I tried it one on the river test with surprisingly good results, the river method apparently gives the acorn powder a preserved distinctive taste, I can't confirm that thought because I haven't tried any other methods...

[Pelletsrus]

I use Acorns to heat my house... grind them up and pelletize them for a pellet stove... also good at keeping over night embers alight on a traditional wood stove.

[drock]

I am absolutely 100% jealous of your shop