Acorns and Hemp Seeds
Acorns and Hemp Seed are good eating. Acorns contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats, as well as the minerals calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, and the vitamin niacin. After processing they taste nutty and sweet.
Hemp seeds are particularly rich in healthy fats, including omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Both of these fats are known for improving heart health by reducing cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides. Hemp Seeds have a pleasantly nutty taste, like a cross between a sunflower seed and a pine nut.
Acorns
For our ancestors, the acorn was a major food staple. The ancient Greeks, Iberians, Japanese and English ate acorns, especially during times of famine when grains were unavailable.
Traditional and contemporary Native American and Korean cooking incorporates acorns in delicious dishes that you can still find today.
The Oak Tree, which is native to temperate zones around the globe produces the acorn as seed. There are some five hundred species of Oaks
Hemp Seeds
Hemp is considered one of the most ancient cultivated plants and due to its long history, it is difficult to identify the centre of origin.
According to studies based on molecular analysis of ancient and modern DNA extracted from archaeobotanical and modern samples, respectively, most researchers agreed that this plant species originated in central Asia and was introduced in Europe as a cultivated and domesticated agricultural plant during the Bronze age.
Recipes
Eating shelled or unshelled hemp seeds, the latter known as hemp hearts, is as simple as sprinkling a spoonful or two into soups, smoothies, cereals, salads, or yogurt. They also work in baked foods such as waffles, pictured above.
For my waffles I mixed in other grain flours. Just about any grain will work, gluten free or not. I like to have one glutenous grain to hold the baked mix together, although my local baker made a great acorn and hemp seed shortbread cookie.
Rip Van Winkle
"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It may be one of the best known American fairy tales.
It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, drinks their strong liquor and falls deeply asleep in the Catskill Mountains, awaking many years later as an old man.
So you might be thinking, why Rip Van Winkle, and what has he have to do with hemp and acorns? Well, in Rip's time, hemp and acorns were common foods, nothing special or out of the ordinary.
Today, as we know, both the acorn and hemp seed have been all but forgotton, and in the case of hemp, for a time even outlawed, and in part, in the murky world of federal regulations, still is.
So, if Rip were to awaken today, perhaps we would best welcome him with a couple of his and my favorite foods. Oh! And by the way, that's me impersonating Rip Van Winkle. You could say it is a bit of typecasting.