Acorn Flour - Pancakes

The process for making flour out of acorns isn’t actually very difficult, but it is time consuming and a little tedious at times.

1. Gather the Nuts

A 1-gallon bucket of acorns

The first step is to gather up about a gallon of acorns. We have an abundant acorn crop this year in Minnesota (which means it will probably be a good year for squirrels, too). I had my niece Esther go around her yard and fill a one-gallon ice cream pail with fallen acorns. This was the easiest part.

2. Remove the Caps

A bowl of uncapped acorns
A bowl of acorns with their caps removed
Jamie Carlson
Remove the caps from the nuts. This took me about one whole Game of Thrones episode.

3. Shell the Acorns

Nutmeat of a shelled acorn

Place the acorns in the freezer overnight. This helps keep them fresh, and it also helps make it easier to crack them. There’s a paper-like membrane around the nut and inside the shell; when you freeze them, that papery layer comes off the nut cleanly and leaves just the meat of the nut. The nuts will oxidize quickly, so it’s important to toss the nutmeat into water so they don’t turn brown.

4. Blend the Acorns

Blended acorn nutmeat and water

After you have shelled all the nuts into water, transfer the water and the nutmeat into a blender. Blend on high for several minutes.

5. Leach the Tannins

Soaking acorns in water to leach out tannins

Then transfer the blended nuts and water to a large container. Place it in the fridge overnight. All the blended acorn paste will settle, allowing you to pour off the water. Add more water and stir the water and acorn paste. Place it back in the fridge and let sit for another day. Acorns typically taste bitter, so by changing the water every day for 3 to 4 days, you can leach out that bitterness.

6. Drain and Spread the Paste

Blended acorn paste on parchment paper

Pour off all the water one last time and then pour the paste onto cheesecloth, or use a clean towel and wring as much moisture out of the acorn paste as you can. Spread the paste out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place it in the oven at its lowest setting with the door cracked open. You need to dry out the acorn paste until it is absolutely dry. As it dries, you can stir it and turn it over to help speed the process.

7. Grind the Paste

A grinder or food processor to refine the paste
Use a grinder or food processor to refine the paste.

When the acorn paste is completely dry, it will be kind of clumpy. If you have a grinder you can grind the acorns into flour or you can use a food processor or blender. This should result in a fine flour, but you may still have some larger pieces.

8. Sift the Flour

Sifting ground acorns
Sift the ground acorns. Use a mortar and pestle to break up remaining large chunks.

Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the flour so that any debris or large clumps are separated. If you want, you can use a mortar and pestle to break up these remaining clumps.

9. Sift it Again

A second sift of the acorn flour
A second, finer sift of the acorn flour.

Acorn flour
The resulting acorn flour.

At this point, you should have roughly three cups of flour.

Acorn-flour pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup acorn flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons maple sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 ¼ cups whole milk
3 tablespoons canola oil
Directions

Combine all ingredients, then pour onto a skillet over medium heat and cook until bubbles form on top. Flip the pancakes over and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes more. Serve with butter and syrup, and enjoy.

To read the Original Story with all the pictures, click HERE:

For additional information see the following links:
Blog Table of Contents
Complete Sustainable Living Plan
Blog Table of Contents
Acorn Flour Pancakes
Pemmican Recipe
Hardtack Recipe
Corn Bread
Sour Dough Bread
Corn Fritters
Apple Cider Vinegar
More on making Vinegar
Backing Soda vs Yeast
Baking Soda uses

See similar topics by clicking on the labels below 

Pemmican Recipe

Pemmican is a light weight nutritious food used by Native Americans and consists of a mix of rendered fat, dried meat, nuts and berries. Properly made, it has a long shelf life.

There are four common ingredients
1. Lean meat – beef, buffalo, goat, or venison
2. Rendered (cooked) animal fat
3. Fruit, nuts or berries
4. Salt

Step One
Grind trim lean meat with a meat grinder.  Or you can cut it into beef jerky thickness strips.  Use about 2 pounds of raw meat to get a cup of dried meat.

Step Two
Spread the meat evenly over a cookie tray or flat rock and heat at approximately180 degrees for 6 to 10 hours so the meat is crisp and chewy.  Sun drying or smoking is an alternative, but will take longer.

Step Three
Grind or pound (pestle and mortar) the dried meat into a powdery form.

Step Four
Prepare your fruit, nuts or berries in the same way.  Dry them and then pound or grind them in to a chunky powder.

Step Five
Combine the fruit/nut powder with the meat powder in a 1:1 ratio and add salt to your suit your taste.  The more salt you add, the longer the shelf life. 

Step Six
Cut the fat into one inch cubes and render (melt) it over low to medium heat in a little water.  Keep the heat low enough to avoid smoking. Experiment using a little honey, or even using honey instead of fat.

Step Seven
Pour the melted fat over an equal amount of meat/fruit power mix stirring it to get an even texture.  Spread this mixture out evenly in a thin layer (about 1/4") and allow it to cool and then cut in to 2" wide strips.  Then store it in a cool dark place, preferably in tightly sealed container.

Food preservation is an important skill that is essential to sustainable survival, so this is something you should practice.  It doesn't cost much

For additional information see the following links:
Blog Table of Contents
Complete Sustainable Living Plan
Blog Table of Contents
Acorn Flour Pancakes
Pemmican Recipe
Hardtack Recipe
Corn Bread
Sour Dough Bread
Corn Fritters
Apple Cider Vinegar
More on making Vinegar
Backing Soda vs Yeast
Baking Soda uses

See similar topics by clicking on the labels below 

Survival Superfood Will Last On Your Shelf For 150 Years

Whether you’re a fan of apocalypse themed movies or not you are surely worried about natural disasters that can occur at any time. A natural disaster, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, are more likely to happen, than a zombie apocalypse, but still it is essential to be prepared for either of these. This means, you need to learn some basic surviving skills, many of you who used to be scouts, already know them. But what about the food? How can you make sure, that in case of a calamity you will be well prepared at this matter? Well, here’s a cool and useful video that will teach you about creating survival food that can last up to 150 years just the way it is. The recipe is called Hardtack and it can be an essential food for your survival. Watch the video and see for yourself how useful this recipe can be.

VIDEO–> Survival Superfood Will Last On Your Shelf For 150 Years! – Off The Grid News

Here is a recipe from Urban Survival Site:

• 3 cups of white flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 cup of water
• A cookie sheet (or flat rock)
• A mixing bowl
• A knife
• A common nail

1. First, preheat your oven to 375°
2. Mix the flour and salt together
3. Gradually mix in the water until you form a dough that's not sticky
4. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a  1/2" thick square
5. Cut the dough into 9 squares
6. Make a 4×4 grid of holes in each of the squares with a nail
7. Put all the pieces on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes
8. Turn the squares over and bake for another 30 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven to cool off. They should look like this:

Ideally, the hardtack or flat bread should be just a lightly browned on each side. Each piece is about 150 calories.

For more information see:  
Blog Table of Contents
Complete Sustainable Living Plan 
Hardtack Recipe & some interesting history from Prepared Survivalist

or click on the labels below for related information.