Making Acorn Coffee
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ต.ค. 2022
- Acorns have been used as a coffee substitute for a long time, and it was often called 'ersatz coffee' during the Second World War. Its easy to make, naturally caffeine free, and I think it's really tasty.
It's still fairly tannin rich, so probably worth drinking in moderation.
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"I'll go and have a cup of tea while I'm making preparations to have some ersatz coffee"
LOL
What a fun project! I'm surprised how dark the end product was. I find it's best to look at this sort of thing as a "brand new drink" instead of "coffee substitute" because then my brain won't be expecting coffee, and be disappointed when it's not exactly the same :)
I'm a hardened caffeine addict, but I'm up for the idea of adding something new to my larder. Looking forward to trying this out, and, if it adds to my options as far as drinks go, then I'll be a happy chappy! Thanks for the video Sally!
I think it might be nice done 50:50 with coffee, that could be worth trying
Going to try this one for sure. Got my first ever batch of acorn flour drying out, may as well go for coffee too. Nettle tea was a pleasant surprise, pine needle tea, acorn coffee and dandelion coffee next on the list. 😁
I've tried teas from pine, spruce, fir, and cedar, and all were good! Cedar was the best for me, but Douglas Fir was also very good. Cedar had a surprisingly flowery or fruity note, not unlike chamomile, while the Douglas Fir tasted almost citrusy. I highly recommend all of them for a rather pleasant experience with a comforting cup.
🤣💖
i just love that you're whacking acorns with rocks in your kitchen
I made acorn coffee in a slightly different way a few years back. I allowed my acorns to dry so that the shells were easy to crack. Then I chopped up the acorn meat until it was the size of coffee beans. Then I roasted them on the stove top in a cast iron pan using high heat and stirring frequently. After that I turned them into grounds and brewed them just like coffee. It had a sort or carmel taste. I'm in the USA, and my acorns were much smaller than yours and rounder. I actually noticed that I felt amazing after drinking the "coffee", as if I had taken Tylenol or Ibuprofen for pain relief. So, I did a little research and found that acorns do have some analgesic properties. So I decided that I wouldn't drink more than two cups of the stuff a day. It's wonderful stuff. I processed a bunch of Burr Acorns this year to turn into acorn flour and plan to make bread with it.
Ersatz Kaffee was made by my Grandparents and the rest of occupied Dutch citizens. When even a little bit of coffee couldn't be bought anymore with the, "Dutch" (aka German occupation) Government, rationing coupons. During the last 3 years of World War II. My (b.1931) old Dad always felt rich that he could afford real Dutch coffee his whole, grown up, life. ☺️
Just learned about this coffee after listening to a book about ww2 US POWs in Europe talking about how it was the only kind of "Coffee" they would get and sometimes their only source of water, being that they were prisoners in late ww2 and the wretched treatment by the Germans.
I was brought here by game called The Lond Dark, made by Hinterland. It is Canadian game studio and the game is about surviving in wildeness alone. It recently added acorn coffee and I was wondering it that real or even better healty. Now I understand a lot more and want to make this next year. Thanks!
THANK YOU!!!! I'm a very avid coffee drinker, and we have acorns GALORE here! I'm definitely trying this out!
Love your experiments. Your videos are informative and entertaining. Thank you! Stay safe!
Very cool stuff. I'm always happy to see these kinds of forageable foods.
As soon as I saw the thumbnail for this video I went out and bothered an awful lot of local oak trees - not one solitary acorn was to be found! I'm gutted as I was falling over them in Yorkshire 2 weeks ago! Maybe they've been squirreled away already. Did you know that the old English word for squirrel is acweorna?
Does an oak tree need to reach a certain level of maturity before it bears fruit? The ones I was bothering were generally 35 years old or younger. I will check in some of the local parks to see if I have more luck, and also gather some chestnuts to make soap while I'm at it.
That OE word is clearly a cognate of Norwegian "ekorn" and Swedish "ekorre".
The young oaks near our 10 year old local road, the trees maybe a few years old when planted, certainly do have acorns on them and have had some for the last few years. So certainly not needed 35 years. (These trees also needed replacements because of harsh growing conditions so the current small ones may be as young as 3 years in their spots.
Gosh that's good - a slightly caramel flavour - success!
Well this looks like a fun thing to try. Thanks for sharing this with everyone.
I have made dandelionroot-substitute coffee. I was bothered with all the electricity needed for the roasting. I never tried the Ray Mears-method of roasting on a fire (or barbecue). meanwhile, the acornflower in on the going. thanks for posting all these wonderfull experiments. (by the way, you cookingwater was not dark, because it needs far more soaking (weeks) to get a dark dye)
I get a decent tannin dye with overnight soaking usually, you can see it in my first acorn video
I toast mine in a cast iron on my woodstove.
And you survived to post this video, so I'm guessing it didn't give you a tannin stomach ache?! I think I'll give this a go - plenty of fresh acorns near me!
All good so far!
Watching your videos makes me feel ready for the apocalypse 😂
Thanks for this! I love your channel
Very cool, thank you for sharing!
Wonderful! Always looking for more and more drink options
I think the main thing with this, as with hedgerow wines, is not to expect it to taste exactly like the thing that it's been named after. I have made it in the past, and I added roasted chicory root to it, which gave it a very pleasant, coffee like flavour. I, also, am a tea drinker, though, so I decided it was a lot of effort!
Your kitchen is beautiful! Thank you for this idea❤
Love your channel
I do like this idea. I am usually put off with the amount of work involved in making acorn flour as you are supposed to rinse it many times. But this is a fairly basic process. Thanks Sally!
I heard of someone once soaking their acorns in the back tank of their toilet - got rinsed every time they flushed, LOL! The germ potential would prevent me from trying this myself, but I have to admit, it's genius.
@@Just_Sara genius! Wow that is a bit silly but I can see the practicality of it. If your worried about germs, maybe the boiling after the soaking would take care of that.
@@dianesmigelski5804 I hear that boiling changes the flour and it won't stick together - there's a hot process for acorns that works in a day.
@Just Sara if it is just in the cistern it should be clean water (I.e. before it enters the toilet). People recommend this as a source of clean drinking water if your water supply is interrupted.
However, when I thought of trying this I wondered if the tannins would make the toilet bowl brown with the tannins lol. But it might also have a disinfectant effect on the water in the toilet bowl. It would be interesting to try and see what happens, but maybe in a toilet you don't much care about
@@thecurrentmoment I definitely feel the tannins would stain as it makes a beautiful brown dye. But yes acidic too so brown but clean(?)! Lol
Another great video thank you
How to buy acorns and how much is it.
Just had my first sip and it was great! Mine was a 50/50 mix of our local Garry Oak acorns and some that look quite similar to yours. The English-style ones were definitely a lot easier to peel after boiling in the shell. The flavour is lovely, I find it somewhere closer to tea as mine still was quite tannin-y. Definitely a nice decaf cuppa. I also realized that the leftover grounds had essentially been leached again in the process, so I will dump them into my porridge tomorrow morning, or save them up for adding to baking.
Alas! I live in the suburbs, and the only oak trees I know of are having a crummy year for acorns. Well, I guess I'll be thankful for the ones I've got!
I'm going to have to try this
Hi Sally, think I found you through your One More Stitch blog(?) am watching “The Letter,” so through your old blog I found your beautiful Victorian purse, then your Ravelry and your awesome TH-cam channel. Just subscribed! Your acorn decaf sounds amazing! I am more of a tea person, but can drink coffee black (or a frappe as a desert;) … what a refreshing change of using acorns for a nice coffee type drink, or addition to coffee! Also love your textile knowledge (flax demo) so interesting! I took a textile class in college, very interesting! Thx again for your channel !!! Mary
Really informative but fun too thank you
It looks delicious…I am on my way to collect some acorns…
that does sound delightful! i've never tried acorns, but i've experimented with roasted dandelion root coffee and love it. tasty with a bitterness that i love
Thank you for sharing your acorn kitchen adventures.🌰
Great timing! I gathered acorns this morning... I was sad to see so many getting squashed in the lane... and now I can have a go at a very locally sourced brew 😊 Thank you ☕
Neat! We just made chickory coffee for the first time and really enjoyed it. Maybe we'll try acorn next!
Very interesting process, thank you for sharing it with us! I'm curious, do you know if there are any folk wisdom predictions about the weather in the coming winter related to the amount and size of the acorns?
I'll see what I can find!
Certainly if I ever decide to cut out caffeine something like this would be far preferable to decaf coffee and all the chemicals that go into that. I wonder though if you could do it with other nuts too. Maybe walnut coffee or pecan coffee. Or chestnut. And then I’m thinking well coffee is a bean, so could you do haricot or borlotti or broad bean coffee? What about chickpeas? Surely it’s the roasting that makes it coffee-ish. Hmmm. Maybe I’ll try it for an afternoon drink. In the mornings I need my caffeine too much still 😂😂
Thank you for showing us how to make a corn coffee it is too bad that you don't like sweets cuz I would love to know what it taste with a hint of sweets or even flavor like vanilla or chocolate and couldn't make a good chocolate substitute but thank you so much you can always use an equal substitute or like equal or splenda that's why I use being a diabetic but thank you now you got me thinking about all kinds of crazy things like Acorn ice cream well again thank you so much and I love your accent
My mum loves coffee, I'll try making it for her :) I don't know if there are already acorns where I live, I'll have to go check!
complimenti per il video anche io ho provato a fare la farina di ghiande,sto cercando qualche consiglio per qualche ricetta,un salutone e grazie mille
I can’t stand the taste or smell of coffee (thanks covid) and I miss it, this may be a great alternative
Dandelion root coffee may be worth a try too.
My own information is to boil Acorns 4 times at least already halved. There is a downside that can be detrimental to health due to tannings if these boilings are not carried out. These are my findings on using acorns. Taste comes from the roasting.
I find cold leaching is much better for flour as the starches aren't cooked out. This particular exploration though is based on the experiences of a number of other people who all boil for a relatively short period. I'm sure there are many other ways to prepare acorns. I'm comfortable drinking this particular preparation in moderation, but I completely respect that others may wish to leach more first. That's the nice thing about preparing your own food, you can work to the best parameters for your own needs.
Your lucky. Here in Denmark near Aarhus the acorns are small and there is not many.
Wow! New sub here! I recently made a Latte on my page too and *your dish looks amazing!* Hope to stay connected! 😀
🎩Hi. Nice. Have loads of acorns dropping on the boat. Ha. Ha. Shouldn’t you have asked Piglet how to make acorn coffee. Though not Poo.
Hello Sally! Love your videos. I think this is a great idea and I would say this could be used with coffee to extend the coffee? I have no oaks in my immediate area and more than likely they are ones grown for landscaping so no clue if they would be suitable (in the US). Wish I could have tried my hand at this but maybe next year!
That was my thought too! based off my limited experience, white oak acorns would be ideal because they're a lot lower in tannins than black oak species. Both are edible but more tannins=more processing needed. I wanna try this as well now, but the wildlife also like to eat white oaks so you have to be quick!
Sally, i don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but regarding acorns--never, ever use those from the black oak tree. The tannins aren't the only problem with this type. Toxicity is high and the acorns aren't medically recommended. Just a quick heads-up from the US on this one. Learned it from Dad who grew up during Depression and WWiI. Those who couldn't get coffee due to rationing/cost sorely regretted black oak substitute. Glad to see this subject, though.
Luckily the local English oak is very mild, this year the tannins were so low leaching was very fast
my understanding is that acorns generally don't have any toxins aside from the tannins, but the amount of tannins vary dramatically across the different oak species. having too many tannins all at once will upset your stomach and in the extreme can do more damage like hurting your liver. however more moderate amounts of tannins are good for your health (antioxidant and antibiotic properties).
for the bitter, tannin-rich varieties, you generally need to just need to leach out more of the tannins in water, e.g. in a few changes of water after the boiling and shelling (or shell first and skip the boiling step, but leaching might take longer). somewhat like making coffee but discarding the first few cups and reusing the grounds. luckily the tannins are bitter so you just can go as long as you want until they are palatable.
didn't see anything specific about the black oak acorns online in a quick search but happy to be proven wrong :)
@@rnbbexyjlobt As far as I know or have discovered, black oak is the only one that even squirrels shy away from. The take one snaw and drop them. Saw that for myself. When I mentioned it to my dad, he told me about the toxicity.. He just called it a mild poison, but means the same to me Hope this helps.
Maybe if you leach the tannins after the first grind, by soaking the grounds in water for a few days, changing the water every day, then follow the rest of your procedure, you would get a less bitter drink.
Worth a try. It's not unpleasantly bitter in this version, but yes, a milder version would be interesting to try
@@SallyPointer Agree, & Good job, once chopped just soak a little, depending. The White oak family of acorns has way less tannic acid bitterness than Red oaks (or Black), Red ones would have to be soaked several times, the accorn bread/flower folks would be a guide. I chopped & soaked my little Water Oak/White oak nuts something like 20 minutes twice before drying & roasting in a frying pan... that did fine quick/easy. The baking/roasting creates ALL The Flavor we think of as coffee-like & that goes for real coffee too. Keep up the tinkering ! - perhaps pottery next - bet you would like "andy ward's ancient pottery" videos.
I've heard of a similar drink made from holly, would be interesting to see what you think of it.
I've not come across that, I shall investigate!
I'm a bit late to the coffee party, but as I tried to make acorn flour last year and had to rinse the small bits of acorn several times to get the toxic things out, I wonder of the bitter tasting things inside this acorn coffee might be more dangerous than roasted coffee beans. Who is into chemistry and pharmaceutical enough to answer this sufficently?
Acorns do vary in their tannin levels, my local oaks are pretty mild compared to some American species from what I've heard. It's definitely an occasional drink not a several a day drink though
A good stir would have done wonders
I tried making acorn coffee for the first time last night, and although it tasted nice I thought it was pretty weak. I understand now that for this purpose, the acorns shouldn't be leached, or just very slightly.
If I understand correctly, the boiling is meant to make them easier to peel, right ? Or is it to accentuate the bitterness ?
My usual method for processing acorns is to first dump them in water so I can discard the ones that float ; then I whack them with a mallet to split them, kinda like your stone method except less efficient as I have nothing to 'hold' the acorns while I hit them, so they roll around/get projected out quite a bit. Then i shell them, and chop the nuts in smallish pieces before putting them in a large jar filled with water to leach. This year I've gathered so much I've decided to just leave the nuts in halves + small bits and leach in a bucket instead. I change the water about every other day, and when they are no longer bitter, I blend them up with some water to obtain as smooth a mush as possible, which I spread on a tray to dry in the oven. I then make flour and 'grits' by blending again and separating the different sized particled with a sieve.
I made my 'coffee grounds' by reserving a small batch of raw chopped nuts and leaching them for less time than normal, then I blended them without extra water just to get a coffee ground texture, and I roasted that (still wet & raw) in a very oven until it went black.
I prepared the coffee by boiling the grounds in water though, not by brewing. Dunno if it makes a difference.
I think the boiling in the shell definitely adds flavour, I think with shelled, leached acorns it would be blander
Very interesting! I wonder if it would taste good cutting coffee with this, 50/50 or so.
I suspect that's a good way to get the best of both flavours
Who's a Twist what about chicory and acorn mix blend since chicory has a coffee note to it why not combine the two also if you eat and drink too much Acorn could it be harmful to you if you're over indulged I see a lot of people who are forging acorns and preparing them but could eat them for long periods of time or adding them to like you saying Acorn coffee pancakes muffins cuz it eventually become harmful just questioning
Properly leached flour has been a staple food in some areas and times, the coffee deliberately leaves a little tannin in though, so best consider it an occasional cup rather than something drunk in large quantities
The tannic acid water can be used for tanning?
Yes indeed, I mostly use it in dyebaths, but you could add it to tanning liquor
Naic ❤
Do it make a difference to what kind of acorn it is
Some species will have more tannin, so do keep that in mind. Mine is English Oak and relatively low in tannin.
How long can you keep the water for use without it going bad?
For dyes? Not sure, but probably a week or so
I make natural dyes and store them in the freezer. They're good for ages, used some black walnut dye after two years freezing.
Not authentically Paleolithic! But oh well.
OK gone cold?
Haven't tried it cold
@@SallyPointer Acorn coffee cake?
Once my wife made me such a coffee without warning. I tasted it and I say: one more time and I'll see you in divorce court.
you could also use a hay box to reduce using utilities in cooking them. i wonder if you can use the shells for something other than dye. drying them in a glass house or conservatory would be an idea