Eating Acorns

Book excerpt: Marcie Mayer has worked with acorns for over 20 years and is the first person in the Western Hemisphere to conduct large scale acorn harvesting & processing. Marcie founded OAKMEAL, the world's only gourmet food production company based on acorn flour. Marcie has a keen desire to share her acorn knowledge and help the world remember acorns for our daily diets. Eating Acorns explains the tools and steps necessary for successful acorn gathering, leaching, drying, and storing. There are steps for beginners as well as inspirational ideas for veteran acorn gatherers who want to take their hobby to the next level. Eating Acorns provides nutritional information for acorn as well as 69 delicious recipes to reintroduce this ancient ingredient and get you started experimenting with acorns.Review: Marcie Mayer's acorn-based business has grown beyond the vision of a hobby and has evolved into a model for regional economic development and the renewal of an ages-old, perennial culture. Her new book "Eating Acorns" is a fascinating read from cover to cover. In it you will find a wealth of information from the history of acorn foods around the world, to different kinds of oak trees, the harvesting and processing of acorn and then, FOOD! Marcie Mayer has compiled the most delicious acorn cookbook that you will ever find ANYWHERE on this planet. Whether you are trying something new, or are a seasoned "balanophage" (one who eats acorns) you will not be disappointed by what you find in these pages.Humanity has come to the time in its history when our agriculture and our diets are being reinvented in order to address the challenges of our times. By eating acorns, every one of us can become an active participant in the creation of a green new world with renewed rural economies in healthy perennial ecosystems, one cookie and oak tree at a time. My (acorn!) cap is off to Marcie Mayer for this timeless treasure.Mark Shepard, author Restoration Agriculture: Real World Permaculture For Farmers