Umm, No Thanks!

It snowed last night

Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, What's Poppin'? Phenological Fun: Acorn Jelly 

As I sit to contemplate writing this month’s “What’s Poppin” the latest blizzard is about to dump another layer of snow on us. I probably picked the worst month of the year to volunteer for this stalwart section of our Forests for the Bay newsletter. We are far enough away from the last thing that was actually “Poppin'” in our region’s woodlands, at least what is observable to me, and I lack inspiration. I know we are about to head into more pleasant spring weather that conjures a cornucopia of Poppin activity, but here I sit lost in the doldrums of winter.

So for this month’s edition I am getting creative (ie. taking some liberties) with the spirit of this section and will educate you about a woodland-derived delicacy that I was “Poppin'” into my gullet just last week, Dotorimuk or acorn jelly.

Acorn Jelly

I had never heard of this food item before but was cruising with my wife through H Mart (an awesome Korean grocery chain) and this Quercus–derived brown gelatinous product caught my eye. It came with its own dipping sauce too. Acorn jelly…intriguing; I had to try. Well, I can report that acorn jelly tastes pretty much like I would expect it to – nothing. It is a substrate for sauce; but why then.

It turns out that it was derived by a need for sustenance by rural villagers in the mountains of Korea where oak trees were plentiful. Dotorimuk became a staple protein for Koreans hundreds of years ago, especially during periods of food shortages. Oak’s acorns often get overshadowed as a human food source by the fruit of its pompous cousin Chestnut’s…well chestnuts. Oak and chestnuts are both in the family Fagaceae (along with Beech) and produce fruit that is highly valued for wildlife. American chestnut’s fruit were an important food source when the tree flourished in our forests.

As blight decimated the species and oaks expanded to help fill the gap, why did Americans not turn to the ubiquitous acorns? Mainly, they are really, really, really bitter; more so than even the latest hipster IPA coming out of the Pacific Northwest. Acorns can be toxic to humans if not processed due to high tannin content. Tannins are widely distributed in the plant world as a deterrence to herbivory. It apparently takes time, a whole lot of precious time to extract and flush the tannins to make them palatable. It takes patience and time to do it right, which is something we sometimes lack.

Acorns from species in the white oak group generally have a lower concentration of tannins than acorns in the red oak group, and so they are often preferred by wildlife when they become available in the fall. Red oak acorns become an important food source late in the winter when there is not much else around. There are many resources out there on the internets about making, using, and buying acorn flour and starch as well as some recipes. It is common in specialty markets, like H Mart, but not so much in Walmart (yet). Maybe in the distant future some global conglomerate will provide us with acorn-derived gel as a necessary food source. Remember, though, that the Soylent brown is acorns.

I guess it depends on the sauce. Kinda like tofu. 

The woods around here are just full of oak trees, white, black and a few odd ones and big oak are present in our yard. In mast years, our driveway and lawn seem like they're covered with ball bearings.  A few years ago during one, I collected a whole lot of acorns from our White Oaks, shelled them, and repeatedly boiled them, and changed the water to remove the tannins so I could make a little bit of flour. I was unimpressed.

On the other hand, the Indians Native Americans of the Pacific side made extensive use of acorns, mostly from the live oaks in the chaparral type biome, in their diets, and even fought over the ownership of the best trees. The ground them in holes in the rock known at metates, worn down by the years of use, found scattered around the landscape. There were some near to my parents and brother Ted's houses in Murphys California.