https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUEs68i1K2Q
Did you ever read the book “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead? We did…several years ago. The kids and I were fascinated by Sam’s adventures in the wild. He foraged, fished and built a shelter. He collect acorns, leached them and turned them into acorn pancakes topped with wild strawberries. Now it’s our turn to make acorn pancakes and they turned out every bit as good!
Recipe:
1 cup acorn mash
1 cup flour
1 cup rice flour
1.5 tablespoons coconut oil (warmed)
1.5 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 cups of water
Optional: vanilla flavor
In a medium bowl mix all ingredients. You may need to add more water until is becomes a thick, yet runny consistency.
Grease a pan and cook pancakes on medium heat for a few minutes on each side.
Top with butter and Wawa-Wee organic syrup and enjoy!!
This adventure was inspired by our Dust and Tribe experience.
Acorns are a beautiful, wild, abundant and sustainable source of food. I used to tread over acorns only picking them up to admire their beauty and delight in their little caps. It never occurred to me to forage for them until I read the book “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead. In the book, the main character, Sam, spends months in the mountain, foraging for food and sleeping in a shelter he ‘made’ from the hollow of a tree. Years later, my kids and I finally learned how to make the acorn pancakes from the book!
Things to note:
Eating an unprocessed acorn or two isn’t going to kill you! But the bitter taste is quite a turn off. As you process the acorns, occasionally taste them for bitterness.
You can also do a cold-water process to remove tannins. Place acorn pieces in a jar of cold water and leave it in the refrigerator for a day or two until the water turns brown. Replace the water with fresh cold water and continue until the acorns are no longer bitter.
Natural tannin-leaching occurs in the wild. If you find acorns in the spring under layers of leaves, chances are, the rain water will have leached out some or much of the tannins. In fact, some animals bury their acorns for this very reason!
For best results and ease of cracking open the acorns, dry them out for days or in the oven on a very low temperature (about 100 degrees with the oven door open for about an hour).
Check out Dust and Tribe! See more videos inspired by our Dust and Tribe experience.
We topped our pancakes with organic vegan Wawa-Wee Syrup.
