Tried preparing acorns Indian-style tonight. Peeled (after slicing in two with a knife, cheating a bit), mashed with mortar and pestle, put into cloth bag and leached 3 times with hot water. 4th leaching wasn't working, the cloth was clogged with acorn flour which by then had gotten mucilagenous. So I dumped it out, cooked it for a few minutes and ate some.
It had no flavor to speak of, and since I hadn't mashed it enough, not all the tannins had gotten leached out so it still had a bitter after-taste. But it made a filling meal, even just the few bites I took.
It seemed like a lot of work. 5 minutes gathering and maybe close to an hour of prep for maybe a half pound of acorn meat. But with practice and better tools (a metate for one thing) I should get more proficient. And it's not likely to be a food many others will be gathering, so those of us who get good at this should be able to survive quite well during the lean years.
Still not sure what type of oak it is. The leaves are more similar to laurel oak than to live oak, but the acorns look more like those of live oak.
last updated 2012-12-10 00:29:13. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com