How to make acorn flour

The Autumn has arrived!  It is our favourite season of the year because there are so many things you can forage in the woods - autumn olives, apples, pear, and ACORNS!  We love acorn more than any other nuts.  It has a deeply earthy flavour that is between pecan and walnut.  We use it to make cookies.

This year the acorns grow much better than the last two years.  We got plenty of them so that we can have enough to make cookies and soup.

We pick acorns in the woods.

We also collect the acorns on the roadside in the city.

The recently dropped acorns are the best because they are less likely to have worms and contain higher fat content.  Of course, the flavour is also stronger.

We need to do a float test for the acorns.  Fill a sink of water and add the acorns.  The good acorns will sink and the bad acorns will float.

Crack the nuts and remove the shells.  Put the flesh in a jar of cold water.

Continue to soak the flesh in the water for two days in order to leach out the tannin.  You will find the water turns slightly brown and it is the tannin that causes bitterness.  Change the water twice a day.

Put the flesh in a blender with some fresh water.  Process it until really fine.  Pour the mixture over a tea towel and squeeze out the milky liquid.  While holding the tea towel tightly, rinse and squeeze the processed acorn meal under running water until the liquid runs clear.

Add the acorn meal to a non-stick pan.  Toast over low heat until it is totally dried.  

Store the acorn flour in a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer for later use.

Curly Dock Seed Bannock - Wild Edible Flour Substitute | 皺葉酸模薄餅 - 野外採食篇

Mature dock seeds in both photos.

Curly dock is a well known wild edible plant and it is also one of the early perennial plants that comes in spring.  The rosette of this plant has a subtle citrus flavour that I love to add in tofu soup. As the plant matures, usually when the stem starts to grow from the middle, the leaves will be too tough to eat.  Then, my attention will drift to their seeds.

The immature seeds are green in colour and start to form around early July.  The mature seeds are reddish-brown colour. 

Immature dock seeds in both photos

Although curly dock seeds belong to the buckwheat family, their taste is nothing similar to buckwheat at all.  In fact, dock seeds have little taste.  To me, I prize their fibre content and their abundance in nature.

I like to use grounded dock seed powder to make bannock; it brings a crunchiness and also gives a very nice colour to it.  However, I will not call it a flour substitute as many others refer to it for.  Because dock seeds actually don't have any binding agent and you will really need to combine them with flour to form a dough. 

There are many insects, especially spiders, that like to hide among curly dock seeds.  Prior to grounding, I highly recommend you strip the seeds, rinse them under running water, and let them to air dry.

Air drying the curly dock seeds

After the seeds are dried, you can process them into powder.  My blender is not a powerful one, so it couldn't process the tiny seeds into powder.  You can always achieve a finer texture by using a mortar though.

Curly Dock Seed Bannock | 皺葉酸模薄餅

INGREDIENTS:

1.25 cups All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Curly Dock Seeds，grounded

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/4 cups Water

1 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/3 teaspoon Salt

材料：

1.25 杯 麵粉

1/4 杯  皺葉酸籽，磨碎

1/4 杯  牛油，熱溶

1/4 杯  水

1 湯匙  泡打粉

1/3 茶匙  鹽

METHODS 做法：

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Roll it into a dough; the dough should be moist but not sticky.

1. 在一只大碗內加入所有材料。拌勻並揉成麵團；麵糰應該稍為濕潤，但不黏手。

3. Reheat a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Roll a small portion of dough into a flat circle and place it in the pre-heated pan.  Cook each side until slight brown; about 3-5 minutes each side.  repeat it until all the dough is finished.

3. 預熱一只易潔平底鍋。取一小份麵糰，然後揉成塊狀。把並放上預熱了的平底鍋中。兩邊各烤約3-5分鐘。重覆步驟直至完成麵糰。