Gathering & Processing Acorns:
Our Ancestral Food
with herbalist & forager, John Slattery
Trees Matter
The McKinley Club
Phoenix, AZ
Saturday
February 1, 2020
3-6:30p
Registration: $50
*Early Registration (before Jan. 15) & Trees Matters Members: $40
Webinar Option (Live video feed): $30
*Scroll down to register
Bellotas, or Emory oak acorns
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If you’re from the northern hemisphere, your ancient ancestors relied upon acorns as a major part of their diet for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Acorns are an abundant food source in the urban centers of southern Arizona as well as in the mountains and canyons of central Arizona. A nutritious and delicious food source, they can be integrated into a modern diet.
In this class, forager John Slattery will share an overview of the history of acorn consumption, nutrition of acorns, and a detailed approach to gathering and processing acorns for consumption.
Shelling acorns
Imagine yourself in an ancient oak grove, exploring the majesty of these stout trees and the comfort simply their presence provides. The oak tree has had tremendous influence on our lives, throughout history, throughout the northern hemisphere, not just as food but as many utilitarian items and spiritual guidance and inspiration.
Native peoples of Arizona once (and still do) utilized acorns as a major food source as was done elsewhere across the northern hemisphere from New York to Tokyo to Lebanon to Lisbon.
Southern live oaks (Quercus virginiana) has been landscaped in southern Arizona for over 2 decades and are now producing prolific annual crops of acorns. With very limited to no consumption by animals this is a major wasted food source with tremendous culinary and nutritional potential.
southern live oak acorn
The virtues, history, and ethnobotany of oaks and acorns is vast and diverse. Walking through the portal, the doorway (from old Irish, “duir”, “oak”), of the ancient wisdom keepers, we'll begin our workshop with a discussion of the ancient significance of oak trees highlighting why oaks were so important and highly revered by our ancestors of the northern hemisphere and why we may have so greatly diverged from this once staple food source.
We’ll fully process acorns to prepare them for cooking, and enjoy a delicious acorn and foraged food meal to wrap up the day. All participants will get hands-on experience with processing acorns, and everyone will leave with the knowledge and experience to properly process all acorns for food.
REGISTER HERE
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Acorn burgers
There is no equipment or prior experience necessary to participate in this class. Just bring an open mind and willingness to learn. Each participant will receive handouts detailing the acorn processing procedures we'll cover in class.
Feel free to bring dried acorns to class for processing, if you have them.
Discounted Registration until January 15
REGISTER HERE or Webinar below
Also…
Join John for a discussion of native medicinal plants earlier that morning in Scottsdale (Feb. 1) or on a plant walk in the desert on Sunday afternoon, 2-4p (Feb. 2).
John J Slattery LLC
Tucson, AZ
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