Eating Acorns

In my youth, my imagination was (and debatably still is) even more hyperactive than my bladder. Growing up in the mountains ensured that playtime in the backyard included a heck of a lot more tree-scaling and squirrel funerals than hopscotch and swing sets. When I wasn't running through the hills singing "Colors of the Wind" I cultivated a disturbing fascination with edible wild plants. My childhood nickname, Baby Hoover, was no coincidence. While other little girls were reading Babysitter Club and Judy Blume I was lost in the SAS Survival Guide Handbook, trying to figure out how to sanitize my pee for drinking water.

Taking cues from my bushy-tailed friends, I stored an enormous stockpile of acorns with intentions of one day transforming my stash into a steaming batch of acorn mash. Considering the fact that raw acorns have an incredibly high tannic acid content that would turned my little stomach into cowhide, I'm lucky my overprotective mother confiscated my supply before it was too late.

Luckily, I seem to have outgrown this strange and possibly lethal absorption, but when I happened upon a strangely shaped shaped squash of the acorn variety, I just couldn't resist throwing it in the car, for old time's sake.



Turns out acorn mash goes perfectly with oat bran and "wild berries" as well as with roasted balsamic veggies with the world's best hummus (video review anyone) and green monster toast. The perfect fuel for this wild Indian princess.

With Love,

Emily