Acorns can be found beneath southern California Oak trees in the mid to late fall. Generally November/December is the perfect time to gather acorns. Remember to harvest only what you need and leave the rest for the animals who depend on acorns as their food source.
Our local acorns contain tannic acid that must be leached before eating. (Tannic acid causes stomach aches.)
Directions for LEACHING acorns
Firstly, crack and open the acorns and remove the nuts. Then grind the nuts (by hand or in the blender) to a fine meal. Then place the finely ground nuts in the center of a towel sitting in a strainer. Then, place the strainer with towel and nuts under the faucet and rinse with a slow, steady stream of water, stopping occasionally to squeeze the towel and observe the color of outflow.? It will start out milky white and change until clear. When clear, the tannic acids are leached, and it is ready to eat! This may take up to 30 minutes or more depending on the type of acorns.
*There are many leaching techniques, and recipes for using acorns. To satiate your curiosity, check out
http://siouxme.com/acorn.html
http://www.edibleplants.com/month/wepmonth.htm
Acorn Pancakes (original Earthroots Recipe)
1 cup mashed acorns or acorn flour
1 cup of your favorite flour (corn, amaranth, wheat, garbanzo bean, rice etc)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs (vegan option: ? tsp flax meal + 2 tbsp water)
? cup oil or ghee
? cup honey
2 cups water or milk
1. Firstly, mix dry ingredients.
2. Add wet ingredients and mix together thoroughly (Note: the secret of keeping pancake batter from getting lumpy is to be sure to add all the wet ingredients before mixing.)
3. Then adjust consistency by adding a little more water/milk or a little more flour if it’s too thick or thin. Pancake batter should be thin enough to pour, but not runny.
4.Cook on oiled grill.
5. Finally, top with Maple Syrup or prickly pear jam