Recession Proof GLP...Make Flour from Pumpkins, etc.

Peanut flour, very nutritious. Our Hunt Wesson Plant did this for awhile to help feed the starving all over the world.

Great idea. Guess you would heat in oven to roast and then smash into flour?

Thanks.

you can make flour out of kuzdu and cat-tails too. easier for you to google it than i explain how to you, i'm sure its online somewhere.

Thanks, I never thought of cattail...

To extract the flour or starch from the cattail root, simply collect the roots, wash, and peel them. Next, break up the roots under water. The flour will begin to separate from the fibers. Continue this process until the fibers are all separated and the sweet flour is removed. Remove the fiber and pour off the excess water.
Allow the remaining flour slurry to dry by placing near a fire or using the sun.

And lots of other cat tail uses on this website:
[link to www.backwoodshome.com]

ACORNS!

One of the very best breakfasts I ever had was a meal of acorn flour pancakes and 100% maple syrup.

Here's some information I gleaned from a website:
[link to www.jackmtn.com]
...Acorns can easily be processed into nutritious flour. First they must be shelled. A fist sized rock works great as a nutcracker. After I shell them I like to crush the acorn meats into smaller pieces before boiling. This allows the tannic acid to be leached out more quickly.

Take the shelled, crushed acorn meats and put them into a pot of already boiling water. As the acorns boil the water will become discolored. When the water is dark brown (every ten minutes or so of boiling), strain out the acorn meats and switch them to another pot of already boiling water. Continue this process until the nutmeats no longer taste bitter. I generally do 3 or 4 water changes. The amount of boiling you do will vary depending on your acorns and your patience. I've made sweet tasting acorn bread with acorn meal that still had some bitterness to it. Experiment.

When switching the acorns from one pot of water to another, make sure the water is boiling before adding the acorns. Switching the acorns from boiling water to cold water seems to lock in the bitterness. When most of the bitterness is gone from the nutmeats, the meats can be crushed into a meal or mush. The wet meal can be used right away in a bread recipe, or dried and stored as flour is. It will keep as long as flour does if kept dry.

I mix a lighter flour such as cattail or wheat flour with the acorn meal when making bread. Acorn flour is heavy and the bread may fall apart if not made of a mixture of flours. White flour, corn flour, and soy flour all will do.

Another way to leach out tannins from acorns is to put them in a mesh sack and leave them in a running stream for a week or so. The length of time and results will vary depending on the acorns, the water temperature and flow rate, and other factors.

If you use the boiling method don't throw away the brown water. This water is a tannic acid solution that has a variety of uses. It can be used as a dye for clothing. When used this way it needs a fixer or the color will fade after washing. The tannic acid can also be used as a laundry detergent. Put a couple of cups of the solution in each load of wash. It cleans well, and the clothing will smell great, but it will color whites a slightly tan color.

The solution is antiviral and antiseptic. It can be used as a skin wash for rashes, skin irritations, burns, poison ivy, cuts, etc. It can be gargled for sore throats or taken as a mild tea for diarrhea and dysentery, or used externally on hemorrhoids. Store jars of tannic acid solution in jars in the refrigerator. If mold forms on top after time, the solution can be reboiled to kill the mold and stored again.

Animal hides can be tanned more easily by soaking them in the tannic acid from the acorns. Hide tanning is the process of making a raw animal skin into a comfortable, pliable, durable piece of clothing. The use of the boiled brown acorn water in producing "tanned" hides is why we call this water tannic acid.

I've used the following basic acorn bread recipe often. I've also varied it quite a bit depending on the availability of ingredients. Some of the most delicious acorn bread I've made has been using only acorns, syrup, flour, and water. Good Luck.

ACORN BREAD
2 cups acorn flour
2 cups cattail or white flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup maple syrup or sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons olive oil

Bake in pan for 30 minutes or until done at 400 degrees
Using the ingredients given above will produce a sweet, moist, nutty bread. The ingredients can be varied to produce different types of bread or muffins or pancakes, etc. Acorn bread is highly nutritious. It has an energy giving combination of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. John Muir called dry acorn cakes "the most compact and strength giving food" he had ever used. I use maple syrup from the trees in my woods instead of sugar. Not only do I enjoy the wild beauty and fiery colors of the maples and oaks that surround my farm, but I also savor the sweet acorn bread made from their nuts and sap. What better way is there to get to know the trees than to live under them and eat from their bounty?

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[link to www.connielapallo.com]

Jamestown Style
Acorn Bread
1/2 cup acorn flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon yeast
4 tablespoons water

Sift the dry ingredients, then add the water. After mixing everything up until it makes a ball, let it rise for about 2 hours.Place the ball of dough on a stone baking pan and bake it at 350° 20 or 30 minutes.
Makes one biscuit-sized loaf. Enjoy with butter or honey!

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Acorn Cornmeal bread
1 cup acorn flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine egg, honey, milk and oil. Add wet mixture to the dry ingredients gradually while mixing with a whisk or electric mixer. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean

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Acorn White Flour Bread
Mix together:
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Beat together:
1 cup milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons salad oil

Add these to the dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten everything. Pour into a greased pan and bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes.

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[link to www.prodigalgardens.info]

Acorn Flour Recipes:

Acorn Pancakes
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup white flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
2 cups milk

1. Mix dry ingredients first.
2. Add wet ingredients and mix together thoroughly (Note: the secret of keeping pancake batter from getting lumpy is to be sure to add all the wet ingredients before mixing.)
3. Adjust consistency by adding a little more milk or a little more flour if it’s too thick or thin. Pancake batter should be thin enough to pour, but not runny.
4. Cook on oiled grill.
5. Top with butter and Maple Syrup.

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Acorn “Corn”bread
1 cup acorn flour
1 cup white flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup or honey
1/4 cup oil or butter
1 cup milk (buttermilk is best!)

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Add all the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.
3. Pour batter into a 9x9 baking pan, or 10-inch cast iron frying pan
4. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.
5. Serve hot with plenty of butter! Honey or maple syrup is good on it too!

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NOTE: that website had several more very interesting recipes for acorn flour.

WOW, thanks for the acorn info.

I have two huge oak trees!

What an awesome thread...


5 stars and keep 'em coming because this is priceless info.

FYI, much of the water environments where cattails grow are VERY polluted. Cattails soak up those chemicals & toxins very easily. So, when using cattails for food, make sure you are getting them from a CLEAN source of water.

thank you

Wow!

I need to take a class on this or get direct instruction. I went to Greenfield Village and was amazed.

Old style cooking methods. Home Economics class was very IMPORTANT but they have removed them and many urban parents don't know how to grow their own food.

I'm an urbanite. I've never been on a real farm except for on school field trips.

I tried to grow a garden (shaking my head)
I tried an herb garden (sniffle)
I tried tomatoes (they got infested)
I tried to plant some fire bushes(rabbits ate them)

I can get flower bulbs to grow.
I can get onions and garlic to grow.

I want to learn how to can foods in mason jars.
I don't know how to dehydrate foods either.

That's a skill I need.

This is vital information! Medicine of any sort will be hard to come by, and knowledge like this may very well save many lives

You can do this with just about anything!!!!!!!!!!! i seen a video on you tube were they made flower out of marijuana and butter! i bet thats some gooooood stuff

no time like the present! the internet is a wonderful tool

i see you dint find one for kuzdu. you take the roots and smash them, soak them all day, drain, repeat for a couple days. this gets rid of the starch. then let it dry and pound it to flour with a heavy rock. the flour is very nutritious, and kudzu grows prolifically.

RHSC, Awesome post!
I have tons of oaks, gotta try that!

I agree, Mister Obvious,

This is a fantastic thread, and it is full of information no amount of money could buy... priceless!

Thanks, OP! Wasayo

Hi there! For gardening, start small. Get a couple of tomato plants and put them in big plastic pots with potting soil. Just keep 'em watered and use an organic bug spray if you need it. You can do the same thing with herbs. Or start a garden bed, but keep it very small until you learn what loves your soil.

Canning I learned from reading a cookbook written by an Amish lady. I figured if she could do it without electricity and not kill anybody, I ought to be able to do it. I bought the Ball Blue Book put out by the canning company (about $8) and followed the directions to the letter. If you don't have a big pressure cooker, you can't can "low acid" vegetables like potatoes or green beans. But you can make the best ever salsa, relishes and your own jam/preserves with the "water bath" method.

We have a dehydrator and about 8 sugar pumpkin plants going- I'm going to try drying some of it. Sounds like it would be good for pumpkin bread or to throw in the soup this Winter!

IMHO I think that people don't understand the magnitude of the catastrophe we will face. Latelly I've saw several preparedness and survival techniques POSTS. And honestly this is one of the most ridiculous thing I have ever hear about.
When chaos will hit, It won't matter how many sacks of wheat you have in your basement. C'mon! You are talking about some sort of convenient irealistic picnic or camping survival experience. I mean Flour from Pumpkins? BEsides the information wich is always important, are you serious? With all the respect, why do we just discuss about how to prepare a survival lasagna or the survival cheescake?

And if you have to run to the hills what would you do? Put everithing in your 4W SUV?

You already know most of the things that will help you to survive. They are part of your DNA. And belive me, these are not exaclty what we usually consider the best part of humanity. That knowledge will be activated as soon as fear and hunger will become part of the game.

At this point of history we are all sitting ducks pretending that everything would be just fine.

What I always say is "When the world gives you pumpkins, make pumpkin pie".

And I do. Where I live pumpkins do GREAT!! and for the work invested the return is pretty good considering you can also eat the seeds. I have an effective root cellar so I can keep pumpkins in good shape a loong time and usually plan it so I eat my last pie from the year before right before the new harvest..

Don't be cheeky.

Humans have a survival instinct. We fight to breathe. If you want your survival to be some sort of game, go for it.

Meanwhile, PRUDENT people are attempting to gain some comfort and a small measure of control over their own lives by gathering information for living a way of life that was once considered "normal."

Let us. It's no skin off your nose. If you don't want to participate, bug off. It's no big deal.

As for the DNA? A lot of us would like to protect our DNA from GM foods.

ET:

It's been a long time since I participated in doing that work and making those meals, but to this day I can still remember how darned TASTY those pancakes were.

Fantastic thread!! Lots of information not only for recession, but for basic survival purposes as well. This is the stuff everyone should be reading.

You can all take a bow.
clap..clap...clap...clap
More! More!

Unless you were raised to know this stuff... sorry but you're all going to starve.

My good gracious, what's with all the assholes who try to negate what people are trying to do to prepare against hard times? And why be so ugly? If you know and can teach, then shame on you for withholding knowledge.

My first PIN!!!

Thanks for all the great info!

My first PIN!!!

Thanks for all the great info!

My first PIN!!!

Thanks for all the great info!

the drought will kill all the pumpkins and everything else.maybe you can make some flour from dead pumpkins during the depression.

this is a great thread...thanks..

paladin