Wildcraft Workshops
Acorn Workshop
The acorn workshop takes place from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm. Over the course of 2 hours we'll review traditional methods used to store, process and prepare acorns with plenty of opportunities for questions.
We begin with a brief walk around some of the old growth oak trees where we'll examine what we find and discuss what to look for to get the safest, most edible acorns possible.
Using the materials provided we will be shelling, boiling and roasting the acorns before finally grinding them down into acorn flour. As a demonstration I will be using our acorn flour to make an acorn "cake" or "biscuit"
(This workshop is purely educational, we will not be consuming the acorns, acorn flour or anything that we choose to cook, bake or make with it)
Brief Acorn Gathering
Our first step in the acorn flour making process is by far the easiest, gathering acorns! Although, it still takes a watchful eye to make sure you're not gathering rotten or infested acorns. I can tell you from experience, there are few things worse than cracking open a bug filled acorn shell! So, we will be taking a brief walk under the oak trees to examine the fallen acorns and discuss how to gather the highest quality nuts available.
Acorn Processing
During the main portion of the workshop we will be actively shelling the acorns using our mortar and pestles or, weather permitting, perhaps I can do a live demonstration using one of the many native grinding stones found at Gemini Moon Ranch. We will boil the acorns several times to draw out the tannins then onto fire roasting and finally grinding them down to our earthy, acorn flour.
Acorn Flour
The finished product! After "hours" of hard work, elbow grease and a lot of love we'll be left with a beautiful batch of fresh California acorn flour. In this last stage I'll discuss different preparation and cooking methods traditionally used by the native peoples of the region and as a demonstration, I'll use our acorn flour to cook an acorn "cake" or "biscuit"