Acorns = Food Security!

Processing acorns into food is one of the most useful “survival skills” you could ever learn!


This is our homemade acorn flour — we make ours from red oak (Quercus rubra) because that’s our most abundant and easy-to-access species.


I believe that everyone in the oak-rich temperate regions of the world would be well served to learn how to process acorns into food. I’m not suggesting that people need to eat them often, rather, that they simply learn the skill. Since most of us live in a place where acorns can be foraged, we have the ability, in a pinch to make our own food security. Not that we’ll ever need it, but if we did, it’s nice to know where to turn.


As a complete protein that’s also rich in carbohydrates and lipids, acorns function beautifully as a staple food. In fact, prior to agriculture, for many peoples they filled the role now occupied by domesticated grains.

Think about this: The word acorn is made up of two parts. The letter “a”, which, when used as a prefix means “not” or “without”. And the word “corn”, which is the Old English word for grain (before it became synonymous with maize).


So if “a” means “not” and “corn” means “grain”, acorn means “not a grain”.

In an era where so many people are limiting their intake of grains, or looking for grain alternatives, it’s interesting to note that acorns are the original “non-grain”. And with such a spectacular nutritional profile, it’s a shame that they aren’t used more broadly.


I’ll be making acorn flour in a Season 2 episode of WildFed on Outdoor Channel this season! Episodes will start airing early next month!


I’m very excited to share this episode — which follows Avani and I on an acorn forage and squirrel hunt. We’ll be pan frying squirrel in spiced acorn flour, one of my favorite recipes!

Tune in this season to learn the process, or at least, to see how we do it. 


Have you ever processed acorns into food? What’s your process? How do you eat them?