Acorn Bread with Iberico Lardo

Historically, acorns were a staple food source in Big Sur and many parts of North America.  Unfortunately they have faded out of fashion, likely due to the time consuming process involved in preparing them.  The first step in preparing acorns (after days of harvesting) is to leach them of their bitter tannins using a large amount of fresh water.  This is accomplished a number of different ways; burying them in a stream bank, submerging them in wicker basket and even a few accounts of people leaching them in the back of their toilets (clever but not something I recommend).  The idea is pretty rudimentary and any method of rinsing them under large amounts of fresh water will do the trick.  After a few weeks, when the tannins have been removed, the nuts are shelled, toasted and stone ground into a fine flour.  We are fortunate to have a reliable local source for fresh ground acorn flour.  The bread that we serve on the Taste of Big Sur menu is made with acorn flour and pinenuts.  Instead of pairing it with butter or olive oil we melt a translucent slice of acorn finished pork fat cured with sea salt and herbs.