Autumn Foraging and Hand Drill

[OakAshandThorn]

Since visiting my friend (farmer and forager) in New Hampshire last year, who has himself experimented with many different methods of processing wild plants, I've been itching to try my luck with acorns. I missed my opportunity last year by a couple weeks, but now I've gotten my chance .

I may need to refine my hand drill technique...I'm definitely on the right track, but any advice from you guys would be appreciated .

https://newenglandbushcraft.wordpres...rill-practice/

[Pootle]

a good read as usual , thank you. I'll be interested to see how it goes with the acorn bannock.

[saxonaxe]

I recently read an article about what almost amounted to starvation amongst Russian country folk after the German invasion of 1941. A lot of mention was made of Acorn flour and Acorn and Chicory coffee. It seems the Acorns formed a large part of their diet but unfortunately no mention was made of the preparation methods used.

[OakAshandThorn]

I recently read an article about what almost amounted to starvation amongst Russian country folk after the German invasion of 1941. A lot of mention was made of Acorn flour and Acorn and Chicory coffee. It seems the Acorns formed a large part of their diet but unfortunately no mention was made of the preparation methods used.

For speed in processing I imagine that they would have been ground and boiled in several changes of water, and then dried or eaten as is.

[OakAshandThorn]

UPDATE: 24th September -

I ended up letting the acorns soak for 4 days. One thing to note, if you plan on soaking them outside like I did, it might be a good idea to cover the top of the bucket with something heavy. On the third day I noticed that some animal, presumably a racoon, had tried to raid it, ripping holes in the mosquito net bag. Fortunately, the perpetrator walked away empty handed (or should I say, "empty pawed"? :P). I guess the bitter water wasn't appealing .

After the soaking, I drained the water from the bucket and transferred the acorns into my shemagh, tying and hanging it to a bush to dry in the sun for 10 hours or so. It was a windy day, and that sure helped.




The next thing to do is to pulverise the meats. Once again, smooth hammerstones are quite useful as pestles . The grinding took about an hour and a half. Not all the acorns were evenly ground; I did this on purpose because I wanted some of the meats to be left a bit coarse so I could roast them into a coffee - the finer ground meats would be used as meal for primitive ash cakes/old fashioned bannock.

The ground meats were still somewhat moist, so I spread them out on a large cookie sheet and put them in the oven at 200 F/93 C for around an hour and 45 minutes, and then I increased the temperature to 250 F/121 C for 15 minutes. At this low temperature, the meats will dry out and become parched. If you want, you could try putting them in a dehydrator. But the lovely smell of drying acorns in the oven is something you don't want to miss - it's an earthy, bread-like aroma . Depending on how many acorns you collect, you may need more or less time in the oven, so go slow, start at a low temperature, and check every half hour. After the meats dried, I separated the finer parts from the coarser bits with a sifter.

To make ash cakes or old-fashioned bannock, you need an open fire...and since we are still dealing with dry conditions and fire hazard warnings, I decided to prepare things in the yard.




I took a handful of meal, mixed it with a splash of water, and shaped it to form a small pattie. The leaves you see here are from a River Grape vine. They are large (up to 7 inches/18 cm wide) and perfect for plates, a mixing surface, and for wrapping foods to be cooked in ashes and dirt, surrounded by embers. To keep the leaves from unfurling, I tied them in place with a bit of Asiatic Bittersweet vine.




Done right, the ash cake shouldn't burn. Whatever you do, don't just stick it in the embers, because without ashes or dirt to insulate the cake, it will scorch and you'll end up with a charred and unappetising bread. Wait until the fire dies down to coals to give you plenty of ash and embers.The time required for baking depends on how hot and large the fire is, and the size of the ash cake. Mine took around 20 minutes.




Just the sort of meal to pair with River Grapes . The acorn ash cake had a strong flavour reminiscent of buckwheat flour....very earthy and nutty. It was good as is, but it would be fantastic with a drop of honey or a pinch of salt.

To make acorn coffee, I took the coarse bits of the meats and spread them out on a large cookie sheet, setting them in the oven first at 275 F/135 C for 45 minutes, then 300 F/149 C for 30 minutes, and finally 325 F/163 C for 15 minutes.




This is a slow-roast process - you don't want to bake them until they're burned and black all over...much of the acorn flavour will be replaced with an unpleasant charcoal taste. A dark brown colour is a good indicator they're done roasting. All that's left to do now is grind them in a coffee grinder and brew up a 'cuppa.




The results were positively delicious . Now, I must admit that I am a sort of coffee connoisseur...the brew reminded me of fresh-roasted Balinese Kintamani (which is a medium roast). A very smooth, robust and earthy flavour, with notes of nuttiness and cacao. It wasn't bitter/astringent, or watery as many poor quality coffees are, and I've sampled a wide variety of coffees: authentic Italian espresso, fresh-roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Longberry Harrar, Guatemalan dark, Balinese Kintamani (aka Bali Blue Moon), Tanzanian Peaberry Zanibar, and of course the standard Columbian and Brazilian coffees available at the market. This acorn coffee is a winner and a new favourite. Drink it black, as it is...it doesn't need sweetener or cream.

So, there you have it! I hope you found the post informative...now go out there and start foraging!