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The Melting Pot
Acorn Bread hero image coming soon
1800-1860 - Indigenous American acorn-processing communities
A nutty, lightly sweet quick bread made with properly leached acorn flour, cornmeal, and wheat flour.
Difficulty
Moderate
Prep time
25 minutes, plus acorn flour leaching if making from whole acorns
Cook time
35 minutes
Total time
1 hour, plus leaching time
Servings
8 slices
Region
Oak-growing regions of North America
Era introduced
1800-1860
Introduced by
Indigenous American acorn-processing communities
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Acorns fed Indigenous communities across many oak-growing parts of North America long before the United States existed. The key work is not the baking but the preparation: acorns must be shelled, ground, and leached until their bitter tannins are removed. This archive version is a modern quick bread, not a claim to one tribal recipe. It uses prepared acorn flour with cornmeal and wheat flour so home cooks can taste the earthy, chestnut-like flavor while treating the ingredient with care.
Drafted with reference to acorn-processing notes from Meher Schools (https://www.meherschools.org/post/native-american-heritage-month-acorn-bread-recipe), Kumeyaay.com (https://kumeyaay.com/little-acorn-has-big-history-as-native-staple.html), and contemporary Ohlone food-revival reporting from Bon Appetit (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/cafe-ohlone).
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