In those days when medicine did not know traditional medicines, there were folk recipes for health from various plant materials. The favorite product of our ancestors was the oak fruit - the acorn. Not only medicines were made from it, but also food and drinks. One of the popular ones was considered to be acorn coffee. Its nutritional value pleased the body so much that coffee recipes have reached our century, transformed and becoming even more useful.
Nutritional value of coffee with acorns
The nutritional value of oak fruits is hidden in their composition, where proteins and fats predominate. For example, raw and unprocessed acorns contain more than 2% proteins and 1.5-2% fats and oils. The mass of these useful ingredients increases by 2 times after heat treatment.
Considering the nutritional value of the product, 100 grams of acorns account for 390 kcal, and sometimes over 500 kcal (depending on the method of consumption). An ordinary coffee drink made from acorns, without impurities, contains up to 600 kcal in 100 grams, which is half of a person’s daily calorie intake.
How to prepare acorns for a drink
Unfortunately, acorn coffee is not available for sale. You have to collect the fruits and prepare the raw materials for making coffee yourself. The most suitable harvesting period is the end of September - mid-November. Fruits that fall in August will most likely be empty or damaged.
For extract preparation, fruits selected for the following characteristics are best suited:
- Fallen to the ground or collected from branches without the use of force. The fruit, which is difficult to separate, is green and unripe, and therefore extremely toxic.
- With the presence of the upper cap of the fruit “pluses”, as a characteristic sign of high quality;
- No visible external damage - mold, holes, cracks, chips.
Collection and procurement of raw materials
To prepare a delicious coffee drink, you will need to collect the required number of acorns in the forest, since buying them is quite difficult or expensive. It is better to collect fruits in the forest, and not in forest belts or near roads.
When and where to collect acorns
The optimal time for collecting acorn fruits is September, October, that is, the first half of autumn. To identify a good oak, you will need to examine it. A high-quality tree will have healthy foliage and bark, but a rotting tree can harm the body.
Once you have found an oak tree, there is a rule to remember. The first fruits cannot be used in cooking, as they are poisonous and unripe. It is important to look for a green tree with clean leaves and renewed acorns.
How to select quality fruits
Selecting mature and high-quality acorns is quite simple if you follow the characteristics provided:
- The color of the fruit is bright brown. The product itself is a little shiny.
- The acorn should be firm and not squashed.
- A ripe, harvested fruit easily gives off its cap.
An additional check of the oak fruit can be done at home: put all the acorns in water. Good nuts will surely sink, but poor quality ones will float.
Preparing fruits for culinary use
Coffee from acorns is prepared only after all the fruits have been processed, dried and roasted. Acorns collected independently must undergo a mandatory procedure before they end up in a drink or food. The processing process is as follows:
- The nuts need to be separated from the top, washed and dried.
- Place the container with acorns into the preheated oven for 8 minutes. It is important to wait until the acorns burst and darken, and also acquire a chocolate color.
- Remove the shells from the cooled nuts and wash them.
- Soak the nuts and pass them through a meat grinder.
- After that, place the finished nut mince in the oven and dry it.
- It is important to store the mixture in an airtight jar.
The acorn mixture can be stored in this jar for 1 to 3 years if all temperature and humidity standards in the room are met.
How to prepare tea leaves step by step
First you need to prepare raw materials - collect acorns. It is not recommended to collect them on the ground, as mostly wormy or spoiled specimens fall.
Using a stepladder, you can pick them on the lower branches, while simultaneously pressing the acorn with your fingers. If it is soft, it means it is wormy or empty. The cap indicates ripeness - it is easily separated from the main part of the fruit.
What to pay attention to when selecting raw materials:
- the shell should be a uniform brown color - without dents or stains;
- the presence of a cap is mandatory - this indicates a high-quality acorn;
- Harvest dates are no earlier than the end of September or the beginning of October.
Next, all the fruits are placed in a bowl of water so that low-quality fruits that cannot be harvested float to the surface. They are thrown away, and the rest are soaked for another half hour, then the water is drained, and the acorns are dried and the shells are removed. You can use a knife to cut the swollen soft skin covering the kernel.
Some people prefer to break the core into large pieces and fry it in the oven. Some people immediately grind the kernels in a meat grinder and fry them in the form of flour in a frying pan without oil.
When all the nuts are peeled, they must be fried to avoid poisoning coffee from acorns. The benefits and harms directly depend on the amount of quercetin remaining in the fruits.
To do this, preheat the oven to 200 degrees and lay out the pieces of kernels in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Fry for 40 minutes. If you do this in a frying pan, the cooking time is the same, but you will have to stand and stir so that it does not burn.
What fruits should not be collected?
It is not recommended to use black oak fruits - they produce a very bitter drink. You cannot make coffee from green acorns - they are poisonous. They should be kept in a dark place until they ripen and turn brown.
White oak fruits are tasteless. They can be used to make flour for baking bread, but making coffee from white acorns is not recommended.
Benefits and harms of coffee made from acorns
Before the product enters the body, it is important to study all the characteristics of acorn fruits. Healthy nuts will be firm, without inclusions or spots, and dark brown in color. The rest should not be used to avoid poisoning.
What are the benefits and harms of these fruits, and what is harmful in raw nuts? Let's figure it out.
Benefit
Any coffee beans, like coffee made from acorns, contain folic acid, which is useful for pregnancy. But it is important to remember that not every coffee is suitable for the expectant mother and child.
The second beneficial property of acorns is considered to help hypertensive patients suffering from blood pressure problems. Caffeine can normalize blood pressure and bring a person back to his senses after dizziness or fainting.
In addition, acorn nuts have such beneficial properties as:
- Immunostimulating.
- Anti-sclerotic.
- Antiallergic.
- Regenerating.
- Cardioprotective.
- Anti-cancer.
- Antioxidant.
Thanks to these qualities, the positive side of oak coffee is appreciated by people with low immune systems and a tendency to form blood clots. It improves the quality and composition of blood, normalizes the number of red blood cells.
Harm
There are no special contraindications to consuming acorns or coffee made from them. But, if you are allergic or have a tendency to individual intolerance, you should consult a specialist.
You should not eat more than 3 raw nuts per day, because acorns contain quercetin, which gives the fruit a bitter taste. Oversaturation with this substance can lead to an attack of an allergic reaction, hives, and poor health.
In addition to the above, diabetics also need to limit their consumption of acorn drinks, as the amount of sugar can cause choking.
Coffee made from oak and chicory fruits
If you're in a rural area, you want coffee but don't have any options at hand. You can go out into the field and collect your own coffee brew:
- Acorn powder – 40 g;
- Barley – 30 g;
- Rye/oats – 15 g;
- Dandelion root – 15 g;
- Wheat – 25 g;
- Chicory – 20 g.
Grind all ingredients and prepare as regular Turkish coffee. You can serve the treat with honey, then the drink will be not only healthy, aromatic, but also quite tasty.
The benefits of such a delicacy are increased significantly due to the beneficial compounds provided by nature itself. All ingredients contain compounds that are essential for the human body, with which you can get rid of any disease.
How to make coffee from acorns
Let's look at several recipes for coffee made from acorns.
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Publication from EcoLavka Chita (@ecolavka_chita) November 6, 2022 at 5:21 PST
Traditional recipe
The traditional treat is prepared in almost the same way as the famous Arabica coffee. To add flavor to the coffee product, you can use flavorings and spices:
- Muscat.
- Orange zest.
- Cinnamon.
- Ginger.
- Saffron.
- Cardamom.
First of all, you need to prepare a powder from the nuts. We pass the preparation of peeled and roasted nuts through a meat grinder and send it to the frying pan. Fry until dark in color.
Next, put 2 teaspoons of the nut mixture into a Turkish pot or any fireproof container and fill it with a glass of water. Bring the liquid to a boil, pour into bowls or glasses and add sugar as desired.
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Posted by Svetlana Zaytseva (@mrszaytseva) Oct 13, 2022 at 11:21 am PDT
Recipe for those with a sweet tooth
If you have a natural sweet tooth, then this coffee recipe is just for you. Acorn coffee “For those with a sweet tooth” is prepared from the following products:
- 1 glass of hot coffee made from fruits.
- 2 teaspoons of any sugar.
- A quarter glass of milk (50 ml).
- Cream from a bottle – 60 ml.
- Any syrup.
Let's prepare at home:
- Fry the mixture in a frying pan without oil, remembering to stir with a wooden spatula. It is necessary to dry the nuts in this way until they turn a brownish color.
- Boil espresso from acorns in a special container and let it brew in a warm place for 5-10 minutes.
- Strain the drink through cheesecloth and pour into glasses.
- Add milk and cane sugar, foamed with a mixer.
You can decorate the drink with cream from a balloon or citrus zest, as well as a cinnamon stick.
Acorn frappe
To make sweet frappe you will need the following ingredients:
- Chilled coffee from fruits – 200 milligrams.
- Heavy cream – 40 ml.
- Ice – 4 pieces.
- Brown or white sugar - to taste.
- Whipped cream - for decoration, can be in any quantity.
- Orange zest or coconut shavings for extra garnish.
Preparation:
- Cool and strain the fruit broth, beat in a mixer with cream and sugar.
- Whisk until foam appears.
- Pour the frappe into bowls and garnish with whipped cream or orange.
Preparation will not take even 30 minutes of your time.
Cooking methods
To prepare a tasty and healthy drink, you need to take into account various factors. One of the main ones is the collection and preparation of fruits. So, you need to use acorns collected in September. A ripe acorn is smooth, without visible scratches or roughness. The shell of a ripe acorn is a rich brown color without “bald spots” or rotten areas. Fruits with caps lying on the ground and those that can be easily picked from the branch should be collected.
The entire cooking process consists of successive stages:
- First, the acorns are washed in water at room temperature. Important: it is better to throw away fruits that float to the surface. All quality acorns are then left in water for 30 minutes.
- After soaking, the fruits are dried and fried in a hot oven on a dry baking sheet. Without this step, it will not be possible to make the drink healthy; on the contrary, even slightly raw acorns put a serious strain on the bladder. You need to fry for about 15 minutes. Acorns are considered ready if the shell is easily peeled off.
- Next you need to grind the fruits into powder. To do this, you can use a coffee grinder or meat grinder. It is important that the powder is completely dry. If this is not the case, the ground fruits are scattered on a baking sheet and fried again. You need to store the finished powder in a glass jar.
In this ground form, acorns retain their beneficial properties for six months. However, experienced people advise drying the required amount of powder again before preparing coffee.
Coffee is brewed from acorns in the same way as a traditional drink. Pour 200 ml of water into the Turk and add 1-2 tablespoons of powder. After boiling, the drink is removed from the heat and poured into cups. To make the taste even more interesting, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, milk, cream, and sweet syrups are added to acorn coffee. Fans of cooling drinks can treat themselves by adding ice cream or 3-4 pieces of ice to this drink.
Coffee made from acorns has different tastes. In its simplest form, it differs little from the taste of a traditional drink, and sometimes seems to be similar to cocoa. In addition, the taste is affected by the additives that were used in the preparation of this wonderful drink.
Acorn coffee compared to Arabica
If we compare 2 types of coffee drink “Arabica” and “Acorn coffee”, we can highlight certain factors:
- Coffee made from nuts is allowed during pregnancy, when Arabica coffee can harm the fetus.
- These two drinks are prepared exactly the same as they look.
- Arabica can cause addiction, as well as tachycardia, headaches, sleep problems, and dehydration.
Despite the fact that coffee made from acorns is much healthier, Arabica coffee continues to be loved for its tart taste and aroma. You should avoid any type of caffeine if there are certain contraindications.
Reviews from those who have already tried the drink
Alina: “I learned about coffee made from acorns from friends. Since I am a terrible coffee lover, I decided to experiment. It seems like I collected them according to the rules. Of course, it took a long time to tinker with the acorns. The result, in my opinion, is not worth it. There is a scent, but not what I expected. In general, acorn coffee is just a parody of coffee.”
Lyudmila: “I am an experienced hypertensive patient, so coffee is prohibited for me. A friend advised me to try acorn coffee. At first it seemed kind of crazy, but I decided to cook it. For me it will be aromatic with a tolerable but bitterness. I added more honey. This coffee has become a good alternative to regular coffee for me.”
Christina: “Not taking into account the specific taste and difficulty of preparation, I liked coffee made from acorns. Yes, it is different from the usual black coffee. But I add spices and honey, and it hits the spot. In addition, it is just as invigorating and has many useful benefits. From experience I can say: it’s better to undercook a little than to overcook the acorns. Otherwise you end up with a tasteless handful of “ash”. And yes, coffee portions cannot be prepared for a long time - this is a disadvantage of the product.”
Coffee made from acorns is a worthy replacement for classic coffee. For the experiment with acorn drink to be successful, you need to take the collection and processing of raw materials seriously. This is the only way to reveal all the taste and medicinal properties of an unusual coffee drink.
