Acorn Recipes and Resources (2024)

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Acorn Recipes and Resources (1)

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Wild starches are the toughest need for a forager to meet. Greens and fruits are everywhere, but starch can be tough to come by. I’ve begun with acorn recipes, you’ll also find recipes and resources for other wild starches as well, such as wild salsify, arrowhead, sunchokes, cattail and tule tubers — as well as other nuts like the black walnuts, hazelnuts and pine nuts.

If you want to make these recipes, you will need to know about collecting and eating acorns. If acorns are just too weird for you but you want to make something similar, use chestnuts — even canned chestnuts make a good substitute.

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Acorns

Basics

The Best Way to Make Acorn Flour

This process makes the best-quality acorn flour I know of. Yes, there are easier methods, but this is the best.

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Acorn Grits

Sometimes you don’t want acorn flour. Sometimes you want pieces a bit larger. Here’s how to make acorn grits.

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Acorns and the Forager’s Dilemma

A post on my experiments cooking with acorns. You’ll find a lot of tips on what you can – and can’t – do with acorn flour.

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The Mechanics of Eating Acorns

This post includes a lot of nuts-and-bolts information about collecting, processing and storing acorns.

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Acorn Recipes and Resources (6)

Recipes

Acorn Muffins

I love these acorn muffins. Made with both acorn flour and some acorn grits, they are like a bran muffin, only better.

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Acorn Cake and Acorns Around the World

This is an overview on how other countries use acorns, and the post includes a recipe for an Italian-style acorn flour cake, which is traditionally made with chestnuts.

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Acorn Soup

A luxurious smooth soup made with acorns, dried porcini and brandy, garnished with sour cream and a few slices of grouse or chicken.

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Acorn Flatbreads

Italian piadine flatbreads – basically flour tortillas – made with a mix of acorn flour and regular flour.

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Acorn Spätzle

Maybe my favorite thing to do with acorn flour is to make rustic German spaetzle dumplings. They go great with wild game, especially venison and duck.

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Acorn Maple Shortbread Cookies

Acorns have no gluten, so they are actually perfect for making shortbread cookies! These are crazy good, and they last in a sealed container for weeks. Great road food…

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Other Starchy Things

Basics

Contemplating Hopniss, the American Groundnut

What you need to know to gather, grow and eat what might be America’s best wild tuber.

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Blue Camas and Other Edible Bulbs

Identifying, harvesting and processing edible wild bulbs, which are staples to native peoples.

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Recipes

Wild Rice with Mushrooms

Real wild rice is a wonderful thing, very different from typical store-bought cultivated “wild” rice. Either way, though, make this warm salad and you won’t be sad.

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Spaghetti alla Chitarra

Not exactly wild, but this is a great pasta dough for wild game dishes that you can sometimes buy in the store, but definitely make yourself from store-bought ingredients.

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Maybe It’s a Tuber: Crosne

Crosnes or Chinese Artichokes are little starchy-crunchy tubers that look like little Michelin men and taste like water chestnuts.

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Pickled Jerusalem Artichokes

Maybe the best way to eat sunchokes, a/k/a Jerusalem artichokes. Crunchy, zippy and best of all — no farting!

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Oyster! Oyster! Oyster!

Salsify or scorzonera a/k/a oyster plant is a cool root vegetable that tastes a bit like artichoke hearts. I love these croquettes — with or without the fancy presentation in this oyster dish.

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Cooking Blue Camas

Blue camas is a staple bulb of a wildflower eaten by native peoples in the west of the US and Canada. Here’s how to cook it properly.

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Nuts

Basics

How to Harvest Hazelnuts

This is how I find, collect and harvest wild hazelnuts, which are just like the cultivated ones, only smaller and tastier!

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How to Harvest Pine Nuts

How to find, harvest and process wild American pine nuts – these are the piñon pine nuts of the West, with soft shells you can crack with your teeth as a snack if you want to.

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Harvesting Bull Pine Nuts

This post details how to collect and crack the California gray pine nuts, Pinus sabiniana, which are very hard. Gray pines are also called bull or digger pines.

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Black Walnuts and Holiday Cheer

The title pretty much says it all. These nuts are tough to crack, but are very much worth it!

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Recipes

Pickled Walnuts

Pickled walnuts are a classic British condiment, mostly served with cheddar cheese and charcuterie. They also go well with sweet foods, too. You make them with unripe, green walnuts.

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Black Walnut Snowball Cookies

My favorite Christmas cookie! My mom made these with regular walnuts, but I like them better with black walnuts.

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Black Walnut Ice Cream

This is the best black walnut ice cream you will ever eat. Trust me. I have a secret in the recipe…

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Black Walnut Parsley Pesto

Walnut and parsley pesto is a classic Italian winter sauce. It’s even better with wild walnuts and parsley from your garden!

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Pine Nut Ice Cream

An Italian specialty, this is a little like the pistachio ice cream you’re used to, only with wild pine nuts.

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Pine Nut Cookies

It’s a sweet taste of the piney woods. These are awesome cookies made with pine nuts, a little rosemary, and a little acorn flour. Hippie, fer sher, but tasty!

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Acorn Recipes and Resources (2024)

FAQs

What can I make out of acorns? ›

Acorns can be ground to make flour for bread, pancakes, pastries, cookies and even pasta. If you plan to do this, it's best to leach with cold water to preserve the starch and help the dough hold together better. If you're going to keep your acorns whole, or at least chunky, you can leach them with boiling water.

How long do you have to boil acorns to make them edible? ›

You'll want to leach your acorns to draw out the tannins. Bring two large stockpots to a boil. Pour the acorns into one pot and let it boil until the water turns dark, usually about 15 minutes. Carefully transfer the acorns to the second pot of boiling water and boil the nuts for about 15 minutes.

Are acorns a good food source? ›

"Acorns contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats, as well as the minerals calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, and the vitamin niacin." A former instructor of the Wilderness Nutrition class, Askew "used acorns as an example of a wild, edible food for foraging that would be a good energy and protein ...

What are the best acorns to eat? ›

Generally, the best acorns to harvest are those of the white oaks, such as the swamp oak, Oregon white oak, and burr oak, as they contain less bitter tannin. Luckily, nearly all acorns can be made usable with natural processing which renders them nutty and sweet.

What can I do with a lot of acorns? ›

What to Do With Acorns in Your Yard
  • Use them for arts and crafts and holiday decorations.
  • Use them to grow an oak tree.
  • Use them in animal feeders.
  • Donate them to zoos and wildlife preserves.
Jun 14, 2023

Can humans eat acorns raw? ›

Raw acorns are considered unsafe due to their tannins, which are toxic if consumed in high amounts. However, you can remove the tannins by boiling or soaking. Properly prepared acorns are perfectly edible and full of nutrients like iron and manganese. Delicious roasted, they can also be ground into flour.

How did Native Americans cook acorns? ›

Acorns were typically roasted to kill off any bugs and, after shelling, ground with a mortar and pestle or milling stone, then sifted into a fine flour. Native people used water to leach tannins from the flour to prepare it for use in a porridge-like mush, soups, and breads.

How to prepare acorns for consumption? ›

How to Process Acorns
  1. Dry your acorns – optional, but recommended.
  2. Crack and remove shells.
  3. Remove “testas” (papery seed coverings) – optional.
  4. Grind your acorns into a meal or flour.
  5. Leach out tannins with water.
  6. Make dry meal or flour, or use right away.

Are acorns worth keeping? ›

Acorns is best for beginners to investing who prefer a straightforward, automated approach. It's particularly appealing for those with limited investment knowledge, offering a simple way to grow your wealth through automated investments and spare change round-ups.

Are acorns a superfood? ›

Acorns contain more than 60 different phenolics. These are plant compounds that act as antioxidants in your system. Antioxidants may help prevent some types of cell damage. Experts recommend consuming foods that are rich in antioxidants instead of taking supplements.

What is so special about acorns? ›

Acorns are also rich in nutrients. Percentages vary from species to species, but all acorns contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats, as well as the minerals calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and the vitamin niacin.

When should I pick my acorns? ›

It is best to collect native acorns in early- to mid-fall before they have fallen to the ground. Scope out some good trees for collecting during the late summer so you are ready when they are. They are ready when they can be removed from their caps without tearing them.

How do you remove tannins from acorns? ›

"Whole kernels, stripped of their shells and boiled in repeated changes of water until the water no longer turns brown, can be roasted and eaten as nuts or dipped in sugar syrup and eaten as candy. Dried and crushed acorns can be placed in porous bags and put through same boiling proces to remove the tannin."

How to tell if acorns are good? ›

As you are planting, do a visual inspection for exit holes and the "feel" test for light, shriveled, and soft acorns. If you have a large number of acorns of questionable quality, you can do the float test: place the acorns in a bucket of water, discard the floaters, and keep the sinkers for planting.

What can I use acorns for? ›

How to Use Acorns. Acorns can be used in a variety of ways. They can be eaten whole, ground up into acorn meal or flour, or made into mush to have their oil extracted. Once you've safely leached the tannins from your raw acorns, you can roast them for 15 to 20 minutes and sprinkle them with salt for a snack.

Can you make alcohol from acorns? ›

Last fall, inspired as usual by The Homebrewer's Almanac, I collected acorns over a few afternoons. While fresh acorns are loaded with tannins, fermented they are said to take on a wonderful aromatics reminiscent of bourbon, Madeira, and plums.

How do you prepare acorns for painting? ›

How to Prepare Acorns for Crafts
  1. Gather Supplies. ...
  2. Soak acorns in vinegar and water mixture. ...
  3. Bake acorns in 175 degree oven for 1-2 hours, flipping halfway through. ...
  4. Remove from oven, let cool completely. ...
  5. Reattach any loose caps with hot glue. ...
  6. Spray with Clear Acrylic Sealer for added protection. ...
  7. Go make things!
Sep 13, 2019

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