apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would love to try acorn noodles.

My boyfriend's family hails from east Texas... and his grandmother tells me stories of making acorn pancakes out on the farm! The noodles sound a bit more palatable.

I have never heard of eating acorns, let alone acorn noodles. Thank you for introducing me to them. What a fun surprise ingredient for my next dinner party. And the recipe you posted titled ACORNucopia Noodles has a very clever name.
Again, thanks.

I was always told acorn nuts were toxic and to leave them alone. I found this link at UCD to shed light on the problem.

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-BE_cca/INF-BE_cca01/INF-BE_cca0101.html

The american indians found a method to remove the bitter toxins: "Native Americans made flour out of ground up acorns, which was no easy process.

Acorns had to be beaten into a paste between a couple of suitably shaped rocks. Once the nuts were smashed into pulp, repeated rinses were neccessary to flush out the bitter tanin they contain. Acorn toxins are water soluble, and can thus be washed away. Tanin is the main toxic ingedient, and when its' bitter taste is gone, the paste is safe to ingest.

This rinsing process took place in finely woven baskets, or mounds of earth lined with straw. Cleaned acorn flour was used in cooking, for baking, and in stews and soups."

Korean Acorn Jelly is uber healthy and tastes great too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dotorimuk).

Also some great Acorn Recipes http://mykoreankitchen.com/2007/02/08/seasoned-acorn-jelly-dotori-muk-muchim/

Still looking for specific Nutrition Info/Calories and such for Acorn starch/noodles...

Maybe these acorns are different from American acorns.

I remember grinding up acorns when we were kids, pretending to cook. We tried eating a bit. It didn't kill us, but they are very bitter and weird tasting.

@Charlotte Acorns must be specially prepared before you can eat them. Kathryn described the process in a previous spotlight on acorns.

@Emily, thanks, that post is a fun read. Tannins indeed!! But given all the other wonderful things there are to eat in the world, I think I'll skip acorns until I'm forced to eat them.

Awesome!! I love how she bought them at church. Did they have a Bazaar? :)

Be careful when cooking these... they cook super fast! I would even suggest cooking them for 3 minutes, then putting them in a cold water bath. Otherwise, they get mushy!

Acorn jelly is delicious. It has such a unique texture and delicate flavor. My mother makes this occasionally when she has the time.

My mom is Korean and after returning from mountain trips used to tell me she made a pudding/jello out of acorns. Since I never saw her make it when I was living at home, I always assumed I misunderstood her. It's good to know that she really WAS making something out of acorns.

@bingsy, Korean acorn "jello" or I just call it "mook." It's very good, and I guess the Koreans have learned their own ways of how to deal with whatever toxics in acorns, because this is a very typical/traditional food.

So to anyone who says something like: But given all the other wonderful things there are to eat in the world, I think I'll skip acorns until I'm forced to eat them.

Well, have fun with that, but it seems rather limiting to me.

@randomname: that just leaves more acorns for you.

When people are going hungry all over the world, every day, I am not in mad pursuit of new and amusing things to eat. I'm fortunate to live in a country and time where an enormous variety of foods are available that are delicious and easy to prepare. I understand that different cultures have different foods and I will be happy to enjoy them when given the opportunity. I meant to imply that I am not going out of my way to learn how to prepare acorns myself just to say I have eaten acorns. I'm a terrific cook, but I do not care if this food becomes part of my repetoire. Thanks!