fbpx

Cooking Acorns Produced a Flour for Acorn Bread

By Capper's Staff
Published on August 30, 2012

Early pioneer women learned from Indian women to make bread from acorns. Indians used to come over the Missouri River bluffs and gather bags of acorns to add to their food supply. The bitter taste was removed by cooking acorns a long time in wood ashes. Here is a pioneer recipe for making Acorn Bread:

“Shell acorns and cover with water to which one-half teaspoon of soda has been added to each quart. Boil until soft and wash through three or four waters. This removes the bitter taste. Spread on plates. When dry, grind in a food chopper. Take one cup each of barley flour and cornmeal, three cups acorn flour, one-half cup sugar, one teaspoon salt, two cups buttermilk, one teaspoon butter and one tablespoon melted fat. Mix into a loaf. Bake one hour in a moderate oven. Dark but delicious.”

Mrs. Francis M. Wise
Hiawatha, Kansas


Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then CAPPER’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.