I'm a productivity and automation (business process management) specialist. The iterations you just performed are part of the analysis for productivity. In essence this is called BATCH PROCESSING, or the BATCH PROCESS METHOD. Perform all like tasks first then move onto the next batch and repeat. For example, block 30mins and listen and reply to all voice mail. or block 30 mins and read and delete/delegate/answer all email. While doing these tasks you block all interruptions. Turn off your notifications, turn off your bells, turn off your ringer, turn off your messages and pop ups. FOCUS IS THE KEY. Then move onto the next batch and repeat. Cheers!
My family found acorns in the park the other day and brought over a ton (for Korean acorn jelly). They were giving me heart palpitations and having me screaming as they were using dangerous methods to crack them. Thank you for this video and being a like person of testing, comparing, and practicing safety! Tonight I am playing drill sergeant and ordering them to watch this video.
I just started watching Feral Foraging and I must say, I have a “foraging edible plants/ ID toxic plants” book and I’ve literally been writing notes in that book from watching your channel like from your Wild Lettuce video! Great job 👍
So excited with how this video turned out! What do you think of the new format? Can't wait to start leaching! We're so close to having acorn bread now! :D
best one I've seen! a few things you could have added some depth/clarity to: doesn't cracking method 1 eliminate the need for separation? also seems like cracking method 4 would produce more meat fragmentation. was wondering these while I was watching.
I'm just finding your channel and absolutely loving it. Clear, to the point, high-quality videos. I expect your channel to grow. The big question is, where is the next video part? I can't wait to see it. I have absolutely loads of oak trees all around my area and I could totally make use of them. I've always put it off due to the leeching part seeming so difficult.
Amy, thank you for your kind words! The next video has been recorded and is waiting to be edited. I am hoping to have it done before acorn season kicks off this year!
Hello Jessie, I wanted to congratulate you and thank you for making your videos so informative and of such high quality. Your videos have helped me a lot with foraging and identifying plants here in Guatemala where in the mountains we have many of the same plants as the Southern US, but there is no information about it anywhere else.
Jordi, wow thanks for those words! I really appreciate it and I'm so glad to hear that my videos are having this positive impact. Keep foraging! Feel free to send cool Guatemala plants to my Instagram! :D
I found your channel through this series! I love your logo and it's awesome that you reply to your commenters! By checking the comments I saw that about 6 days ago you said you're working on editing part 3 right now. 😀 I missed this season but I'm looking forward to next season and I'm glad to know I can hand crack acorns pretty easily without a mechanical nutcracker! It's making me wonder if I could do that with a sledgehammer and walnuts.
Yes, being able to crack acorns efficiently was always a barrier to me using this food more. Now that’s not a problem! Where are you in the world? In the Southeast it’s still harvesting time. I know in the NE when it freezes it means there can sometimes be a light Spring season!
@@FeralForaging I'm in the Southeast actually. The spots I have access to have probably just been picked over in that case. That gives me some more hope! I'm in the process of contacting my local trail to see if they allow foraging so hopefully if they say yes I can find some walnut and oak trees that haven't been touched!
A couple great acorn foraging places near me are actually parks or large parking lots. The acorns are sooo easy to pick up because they're just laying in a short bed of grass! That's where I got the acorns from video 1.
You haven't shown the part where you sort all the worm infested acorns. 🙂 In the south about every other one has a worm in it. A little protein in your flour won't kill ya! Hahaha
I wonder what would happen if you soaked the whole acorns overnight or even for another day with calcium hydroxide (cal) added to the water like they do to nixtamilize corn??
What you are describing is called typically called “chemical leaching”! In this case with lime. I’m not we’ll versed in using like for leaching, but it definitely is done! In Samuel Thayer’s book, “Natures Garden” he details the method.
Is this one of the possible routes that you are recommending: 1) Harvest acorns *2) Dry them out 3) Crack open 4) Separate the meat from husks using water 5) Then process them and use them Could I forgo (2) and just: harvest them, crack them, use water to separate husks, process and cook them ??? It seems like such a waste of time to dry them if you intend to use them immediately. Am I right in thinking that the main reason for drying them at the start is just to help with long-term storage?
I process maybe 20 pounds of acorns each year. It’s time consuming for sure. Tried this method, had so many tiny little shell pieces in the finished product. You must be milling a good amount of shell with your nut as the finished product
It is almost 100° and here I am on Labor Day weekend in my yard harvesting acorns. They are already quite dried out since we are in a drought. If I do a careful visual inspection, is it really necessary to put them in water to see which ones sink, so then I can move onto drying them out? I have seen almost 0 bad ones in the first 3 gallons that I’ve picked up. I’m very tempted to skip the water inspection and move right on to the next step. This is my first time seeing your videos and I absolutely love your approach to doing things efficiently. Thanks! Mary.
Great video! I’m curious, why is it necessary to dehydrate them if they are going to be leached anyways? Why wouldn’t it be better to dehydrate after leaching whole nuts?
It really depends on the species! For a medium sized acorn, probably 50-60 acorns yields enough flour for 2-3 loaves of bread. Those are some rough estimates.
Did you dry those first before cracking? I just foraged acorns for the first time in my life today and they do NOT want to come out of the shells very easy. Lots of work! I'm still learning thanks!
@@FeralForaging Wow, thank you for getting back to me so quickly! I just watched part 1 AFTER part 2 (my stupid fault). Anyway I have a dehydrator. I saw in the other video that you said you should dry them for a week? Did you mean a week in the dehydrator? That's a long time! Did I hear you right? Thank you!
