Acorn meal not so nuts

Our story about eating acorn meal (Kitchen Garden, March 20) brought some fascinating responses and a link to Korea.

Pialligo apple grower Dr Jonathan Banks emailed to say that ''balanophagy'', or eating acorns, has long been an interest of his, with many unstarted projects on the topic. His Quercus robur acorns were ready to harvest at the end of March.

In human history, acorn and pig economies are said to pre-date settled grain-based agriculture, and 30 years ago, acorns were sold as food in markets in Baghdad, he says.

Banks referred to davesgarden.com, where it says the nutrition from acorns is comparable to grains, but with more fat. Also, that tannins in acorns serve the oak as a fire retardant.

Banks has a grain mill that can grind substantial quantities of acorns and says that traditionally acorns were ground, then leached with water and wood ash to remove tannins in a cold process so as to not gelatinise the starch.

In Korea, acorn starch is used to make a gelatin called dotorimuk. Eunha Jin at the Korean embassy in Canberra has lived here for two years and, before that, spent 15 years in Belgium.

She lived in Korea until she was 26 and knows how to make dotorimuk, a kind of firm, savoury jelly. Jin's mother is from Cholia province, where dotorimuk is a specialty.

To make the flour, you remove the shell then the skin, and grind the acorns to a powder. The flour is made into noodles or, with water added, it becomes a jelly.

Jin contacted Bestore, a Korean Asian supermarket that opened in Mitchell in January, which sells dotori powder from which you can make the jelly (400 grams of acorn jelly powder for $8; Kim's Groceries just off East Row in the city sells acorn powder, too, for $8.50 a packet).

Jin also referred me to mykoreankitchen.com, an English site whose author, Sue Pressey, is a Korean native with an Australian husband. She likes to share her practical guide to Korean food and Korean fusion food on the blog.

As a child, Pressey went hiking with her mother and picked up fallen acorns in the hills. She says from memory, she did not like the seasoned acorn jelly because of its bitter taste but now she loves its slight sweetness and saltiness.

Dotorimuk is fairly bland and it is brown, and Pressey says it's best in a spicy salad with lettuce leaves, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, spring onion, chilli powder and minced garlic.

If any reader tries dotorimuk, let us know. Acorns are one of Canberra's largest crops and are tumbling around on our nature strips in many suburbs now.

Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.