Prairie Sportsman

(upbeat folk music) (gentle guitar music) - So it's a beautiful fall day, and just to highlight that foraging really truly can be done year round, all 12 months of the year all four seasons.

Today we are sitting beneath a beautiful burr oak tree.

Now oak trees produce acorns.

Now there's several different varieties of oak trees.

All the acorns are edible, but they all vary like in their tannin level.

Also, some acorns make better acorn oil for cooking than others.

Some make better acorn flour, than others and some, you know, you can just...

They're considered a sweeter less tannin, like less bitter acorn.

And the squirrels actually got this right because those are the ones they're gonna eat first and then say the acorn from a red oak, they're gonna bury those and eat them in the following spring.

So, a variety of different acorns, all of which are edible.

So just make sure you ID your oak tree, know which kind of acorn you're working with.

Today though, we are working with the burr oak.

Foraging for acorns is fun, it's relaxing, and you get to understand and maybe learn about the tree from which these lovely acorns are dropping.

Acorns were a super important staple food for this country's indigenous peoples.

So they have been consumed for a very long, long time.

And I grew up believing that all of these acorns were poisonous, which is not true at all.

Couldn't be further from true.

They are very, very, very good for you.

They contain a lot of protein.

It's a good source of carbohydrates.

So, they're packed with nutrients.

But when I am out here, then foraging for acorns I'm gonna keep my eyes to the ground.

And here, whoops.

(leaves rustling) (sniffs) There we go.

All right, so this would be an acorn that I am gonna toss into my basket.

It looks good.

There's no holes in it, so I'm gonna take that one.

This acorn has a hole in it.

And that is the work of a weevil.

So if you see acorns that do have these holes or cracks you just wanna toss those aside and keep on going.

So then once you have, you know, a basket You know, full of some good acorns you're gonna bring those home and you're gonna roast those in the oven just like this.

We are gonna rinse them and then roast them.

And then after you're done roasting them you are going to take the meaty nut out out of the shell.

And then you're gonna put that immediately into cool water.

And that is gonna be the start of a cold water tannin leaching.

And so you're gonna take those bitter components kind of out of the acorn via the water.

And what that does is makes the acorns less bitter.

But also if you consume a lot of that tannin in your system, that can cause nausea maybe some illness like vomiting or constipation.

And so again, getting those tannins out of the acorn is important if you're gonna consume a lot of them.

So then after you have them roasted, like I said, you're gonna take the meaty nut part out of the shell and you're gonna remove any kind of papery husk that is on that meaty part of the nut.

So then it's gonna look like this and you're gonna toss it into that cool water.

And then you're gonna begin, could be anywhere from seven to 14 days of that cool water leaching process.

And what you do is you put them in a airtight jar in your refrigerator and then fill it about half with the acorns, half with water.

Shake it up and then you're gonna check it every 12 hours and you're gonna add new water.

And you'll notice that the old water that you're pouring out was gonna be dark and that is those tannins coming out of your acorns.

Also, with the acorns, you know, it's super easy to prepare them.

It takes a little bit of time, but it is so worth it.

You can roast them with a little bit of salt and have kind of a roasted acorn.

Or you can grind those bits up and make acorn grits or you can grind it even further and make acorn flour.

Also, acorn oil can be made so they're very versatile.

(gentle guitar music)